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Formerly | Lanston Monotype Machine Company (1887–1936) Monotype Corporation (1936–1999) Agfa Monotype Corporation (1999–2004) |
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Company type | Privately held company |
Industry | Pre-press and pre-media services machinery industry and plant construction ![]() |
Founded | 1887 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | (as Lanston Monotype Machine Company)
Headquarters | , U.S. |
Key people | Ninan Chacko (CEO) |
Products | Fonts |
Parent | HGGC |
Subsidiaries | |
Website | www |
Monotype Imaging Holdings Inc., founded as Lanston Monotype Machine Company in 1887 in Philadelphia by Tolbert Lanston, is an American (historically Anglo-American) company that specializes in digital typesetting and typeface design for use with consumer electronics devices.[1] Based in Woburn, Massachusetts, the company has been responsible for many developments in printing technology—in particular the Monotype machine, which was a fully mechanical hot metal typesetter, that produced texts automatically, all single type. Monotype was involved in the design and production of many typefaces in the 20th century. Monotype developed many of the most widely used typeface designs, including Times New Roman, Gill Sans, Arial, Bembo and Albertus.
Via acquisitions including Linotype GmbH, International Typeface Corporation, Bitstream, FontShop, URW, Hoefler & Co. and Fontworks , the company has gained the rights to major font families including Helvetica, ITC Franklin Gothic, Optima, ITC Avant Garde, Palatino, FF DIN and Gotham. It also owns MyFonts, used by many independent font design studios.[2] The company is owned by HGGC, a private equity firm.[3]