This fern – print ad, Mono Lino Typesetting, Herb Graab, 1964

The concept behind this 1964 Mono Lino ad actually originated a decade earlier, when Carl Dair had used a fern frond to illustrate how rhythm in typography could be achieved through proper spacing.* In this ad, Mono Lino Type Director Herb Graab revived Dair’s analogy to show how their compositors were using it to teach apprentices the principles of spacing. Not that we doubt the story – but it does raise the question: was Dair’s fern analogy being used as a teaching tool in other type shops as well?

The ad also introduced Mono Lino’s new photo-lettering studio, Lettering Designs Ltd. The company had recently acquired the Toronto office of Lettering Inc. and renamed it when they moved into their new premises on Dupont Street. The addition of a full-service photo-lettering studio put Mono Lino on equal footing with Cooper & Beatty, who had brought in the Headliners franchise five years earlier. Mono Lino could now compete in the lucrative Toronto advertising market. Although Cooper & Beatty had a five-year head start – and some of the city’s best lettering artists – in less than a decade Mono Lino had captured a serious share of that market. – Rod McDonald

* Spacing, the fourth booklet for The E. B. Eddy Paper Company by Carl Dair, 1954.