Spot-on review by Princeton PRof. Rhodri Lewis of Chernow's frustrating Twain, chocked with facts, lacking analysis\. My upcoming cultural history of the Linotype, Hot Type, has more literary examination of Twain's work than this. "Chernow loses the signal while amplifying the noise."
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/70813/mark-twain-by-ron-chernow-review
@jeffjarvis Noting in passing that I'm an enormous fan of Linotypes, though I'll admit I've never seen one in person. I assume you'll be hitting the Burgess Meredith "Twilight Zone" episode ("Printer's Devil") that has one of the best non-documentary filmed showings of Linotype use I know of.
@lauren @jeffjarvis I used a Linotype a bit and worked around it (separating leads from slugs) at my father’s small printing business as a child. Fascinating. Also watched the switch to cold type (photographic). I take pictures of ones I see in museums to help remember. Awesome technology for its time. Different effect from keyboard - hold key down and multiple characters drop. The auto repeat of the day.
@danb @lauren
Dan,
My book, full title: Hot Type -- The Magnificent Machine that Gave Birth to Mass Media and Drive Mark Twain Mad (coming out from Bloomsbury in the spring) covers the transition from hand-typesetting into typecasting and then the transition into cold type and ultimately desktop publishing with PostScript, with many delightful excursions regarding Twain and his relationship with technology, the Swifts (competitive, high-speed typesetters), labor and the machines, and more.