Pick-up & delivery service – mailer, Mono Lino Typesetting, John Thimidis, 1961

The use of historical types and images may seem quaint, even lazy and irrelevant to the present day. But works such as this, from Mono Lino Typesetting in 1961, speak to something that is absolutely fundamental and indispensable to all typographic design: to be legible or recognizable, design must incorporate at least some aspect of historical form. This flyer shows an assortment of types and decorative borders popular with designers who had, once again, rediscovered Victorian engravings and ornaments.

The flyer also reflects Mono Lino’s emphasis on service and dependability – a point reinforced by John Thimidis, the company’s second Type Director (succeeding Sam Smart). While other major Toronto type shops also offered continent-wide delivery, Mono Lino made it a key selling point. Until the day the company closed, it continued to serve clients across Canada – particularly oil companies, financial firms, and federal agencies.

Walter Adamson, son of company co-founder Bill Adamson, joined Mono Lino in 1944 and became president in 1958. The Adamson family retained control until April 1985, when they placed the company in voluntary receivership. They had correctly anticipated the impact of personal computers on the typesetting industry – an industry that would vanish within a decade. – Brian Donnelly