Although the cardstock View-Master reels have always been printed by offset or other printing processes, the typography of the earliest reels was by hand; Sawyer's began typesetting the reels in 1946. The highest numbered, and presumably last issued, hand-lettered reel was 667, La Plata, Argentina.

With only a few exceptions, copyright dates normally were not indicated on hand-lettered reels. This practice was carried over briefly in the latter 1940s as production was converted to typesetting. By 1950 all newly-issued or -revised reels were typeset and most bore copyright dates.