Before the printing press was created by Jonannes Gutenberg in the early 1450's, books were produced by scribes. This process of writing books by hand was labour intensive and time consuming. In 1454 Gutenberg mass produced the first book...the Gutenberg Bible.

The press process involved creating a steel punch with the mirror image of a letter which was then struck into a softer piece of metal. Molten was then poured into this indentation and type was created. This type was then arranged in a matrix to form a template for a page of text, rolled with ink and then pressed onto paper.

Within the first fifty years of this technology over a thousand printers opened printing shops in cities across Europe. Some of these printers were artisans while others were just opportunists, looking for a means to make a quick buck. These presses were the first instance of a mass medium that allowed for the free spread of ideas. Many groups wanted to control this technology. Religious authorities wanted to control what was printed. For centuries in some European cities these attempts were successful and books could only be printed with the approval of the Church. The Church found the printers , not the authors responsible for any unwanted ideas. Failure to comply could result in execution.

The technology of the printing press and typecutting barely changed between the 1500's and 1800's. At the end of this period however, the industrial revolution brought with it many changes. Rotary presses replaced hand operated ones, and photoengraving replaced handmade plates (printing). The introduction of line-casting machines transformed typesetting and an invention by Linn Boyd Benton (1855) automated the process of creating punches. This advancements great economic impact on the type industry.

It was also around this time that type was given point size. Previously, type of different sizes was given different names. These names were not standardized internationally which created a huge amount of confusion. In 1737 a man named Pierre Simon Foutnier proposed a comprehensive point system, which was later adopted and revised by Francois Ambroise Didot. The system put 72 points to each inch of type.

Photocomposition began to catch on in the early 1950's though they were initially developed in 1944. With this method the characters after being placed on film are projected to a photosensitive paper. Special lenses are then used to adjust the size of the image scaling it top its desired size.

The digital revolution began to affect type around 1973 when computer based typesetters emerged. These where a hybrid of the earlier photocomposition machines and later the pure digital output. The earliest digital machines had problems however because they did not handle graphics well, and all had their own font formats.

In the early 1980's Post Script became the standard for digital typesetting. This can be attributed to the better graphic capabilities of the new Apple LaserWriter printer. Most high end typesetting is still printed to film and then have plates made. This however is also becoming obsolete with the increasing use of high resolution printers. Today some computers can directly create printing plates.