Last LR 3 volume set printed with type

Interested in what people think on these dates.

Prior to 1975 mainly typeset by hand
Prior to 1990 mainly typeset by machine
After 1990 mainly produced by computer

Photo-offset was used over the entire period as well.

Thanks very much for that. Typesetting went on longer than I had thought. I'm guessing that would be in the Unwin editions, primarily.

Trotter wrote:

Interested in what people think on these dates.

Prior to 1975 mainly typeset by hand
Prior to 1990 mainly typeset by machine
After 1990 mainly produced by computer

Photo-offset was used over the entire period as well.

I thought computer typesetting begins with the 1994 HC edition because D. Anderson says "For the 1994 British edition published by HarperCollins, the text of The Lord of the Rings was entered into word-processing files...Unforeseeable glitches arose in other editions when the base computerized text was transferred into page-making or typesetting programs".

Trotter wrote:

Interested in what people think on these dates.

Prior to 1975 mainly typeset by hand
Prior to 1990 mainly typeset by machine
After 1990 mainly produced by computer

Photo-offset was used over the entire period as well.

I would agree with that assessment, as I know digital printing really took off during the 1990's so it stands to reason that all editions from the 80's backwards would have been produced without the digital typeset method.

OP is talking about the feel of impressed metal type (or any relief printing method) on paper. This does not equate to typesetting "by hand".

Most books were being typeset by hot-metal casting machines (e.g. Linotype & Monotype) in the early part of the 20th century, way before the dates being quoted. I doubt any Tolkien books are set by hand. H is the only candidate. Maybe confirmed in Hammond & Anderson? Phototypesetting is also a kind of "machine" typesetting. It's related to offset printing, but books that were typeset with metal type (by machine) could also be printed by offset.

The important point here (in relation to the OP's original query) is how a book was printed, not necessarily how it was typeset. These are related, but not the same. Phototypesetting was being used commercially from the 60's (developed in the 1940's); computer typesetting was in its infancy in the 70's; but basic computer typesetting was certainly being used in the production of books in the 1970's. Unwin Brothers, Clowes, Billing; these printers all had basic computer typesetters by this point.

Offset printing has been about since the 1870's.

Thanks for that. You are correct; my interest is in copies produced by forms of printing which leave a tangible impression in the page. So it may be the case that only the earliest editions were so printed, correct? I was hoping for sometime in the '70s, but that seems less likely now.