American Radio Library has added a collection of old RCA magazines aimed at employees. One of them shows how the magazine itself is printed. Most of the steps are familiar; one is an unusual transitional technology.
These panels show (1) Photographs (2) Varityping (3) Fototype, the unusual gimmick (4) Offset layout.
The Fototype uses a Ludlow-like stick, with flat plastic slides instead of matrices to form a slug. The case includes a variety of spacers to justify the line. The flat slug is held together with scotch tape, then placed on the layout along with the photo film and varityped paper.
Later a more linotypish method was developed by Mergenthaler, dispensing and assembling letter slides under keyboard control for both small and display fonts.
Polistra's Mill 