HOW TO DUPLICATE A CIRCULAR-LETTER PROBAnLY no department of printing has been developed so largely dining the last few years as that concerned with the printing of imitation typewritten letters. Indeed, such a state of perfection has been reached that although when only a few copies are required it may still be the best plan to have them typed by hand in the ordinary manner, it is now quite possible to produce many thousand copies of a letter in an hour or two, and each copy will be practically indistinguishable from an individually type written letter.
This great advance is due to the perfecting of several devices which allow the letters to be printed through an actual ribbon, similar in composition to that used in a typewriter, instead of from type inked by a roller in the manner of the ordinary printing press. There are now several of these devices on the market, of which probably the best known is the " Gammeter Multigraph," sold by the International Multigraph Co. of Holborn Viaduct. As these machines print through an actual ribbon of similar colour and strength to the ordinary typewriter ribbon, it is usually possible to obtain an almost perfect match when filling in the nemes and addresses, provided always that sufficient care is taken to see that each of the typewriter ribbons has been used as much as and not more than that in the machine.
These machines, however, are somewhat expensive, and although large users of form-letters find them a very profitable investment, the firm using letters only occasionally will need to consider the matter carefully. A large number of printers have, however, added these machines to their plant, and where the quantity of form-letters used is not sufficient to justify the purchase of the machine, letters can be obtained from these firms. If such a firm is not available in any town, a number of names can be obtained from the lists of advertisers in the various business magazines, among which might be rnentioned the Facsimile Letter Printing Co., Ltd., of Tudor Street, London, E.C., as a firm that is known to do good work.
Although some device which prints through a ribbon is indispensable if really good work is to be turned out, some firms still continue to use (apparently with profit) various stencil-cutting devices, and ordinary printing in purple ink from typewriter " types, but such work can never be compared in quality with the ribbor -printing machines ; and even if the latter are somewhat expensive the improvement in quality well repays the extra cost.