 Nick Schmitz used a combination of wood type, metal type and polymer plate to make this limited edition (only 50) poster. Check out the entire print here. |
Category: Letterpress
Vandercook Centenary
Earlier this fall, the Book Club of California had an exhibition celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Vandercook Universal, and my friend Cathy snagged me their commemorative keepsake — a papercraft Vandercook (see more pictures here, including the die used to make the model). I believe the model will also be included in the Fall Ampersand. There’s a similar design of an SP20 that you can download from Baltimore Print Studios.
Stories from Behind the Bar
I recently got a note from New North Press in London about their book The Travelling Barmaid. It featuring ‘stories from behind the bar’ written by Lisa Rahman and is hand-set and printed letterpress using the metal type the press has collected over the years. On the press’s website, scroll down to see the more spreads from the book, and the lovely cover.
Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies
In my letterpress classes I am constantly reminding students to use a ruler or pica pole to measure things — Is the type straight on the page? Is it really centered? How much furniture do they need for the lockup? Some resist (although everyone comes around by the end of the day), but others start immediately to reminisce about using a type gauge, like the Haberule ones on the left.
I looked up the Haberule the other day, to see if perhaps I could find one to show students. I immediately found the Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies, full of tools that were useful not-so-long-ago, but have been mostly supplanted by computers. Look here for info on the Haberule (be sure to look at the comments, which explain how it works).
More Lovely Wooden Type
These lovely specimens are from the Mano/Dean Wood Type collection at the a Mano Press in Hayward, California. There’s a flickr set chocked full of photos — they made me very happy to scroll through them!
Weiss Italic
At the Codex book fair last February, Leonard Seastone had an ABC print that particularly interested me. I asked him if I could reproduce it for the upcoming Ampersand and in addition to saying “yes” he also sent me a wonderful email with some background on the broadside:
I have long admired some of Hermann Zapf’s broadsides with homage quotes to type design….So several years ago when Graham Moss, of the Incline Press, and I were fondly talking of the early to middle 20th century, German type designs Graham informed me of his intention to publish a book about Emil Rudolf Weiss (Weiß). He requested I design and print a broadside using any type designed by Weiss that would then be tipped into his publication. I readily agreed thinking to use my collection of Weiss Initials in several point sizes. I also envisioned a hand-set broadside in the style of that early gift to me. Eventually I focused on a display of Weiss Initials II. Using Weiss Italic for the text was selected almost without thought. But what should the text be?
