As I’ve contemplated what to do with this week’s word, I’ve also been reading, on one of the letterpress discussion boards I subscribe to, a lively discussion about whether anyone cares about the history of printing, letterpress and bookwork, or is the revival of letterpress printing only about stamping greeting card designs into thick paper.
Initially I thought “filiopietistic” seemed a rather negative word. But in the context of the discussion on the letterpress list, understanding where we’re come from can be awfully helpful and instructive. So for this week I decided to revisit a project I started last summer but couldn’t get any momentum going to finish.
Soon after I got my large letterpress, I bought a full set of 12 point Bembo roman, thinking I would have lots of occasions to hand-set type. Well, I’ve had almost none, using photopolymer instead. And to a large extent I’ve used my press for my artwork, rather than bookwork.
After carefully moving the type (in its type case) from California to New Mexico, I promised myself I’d write a short story, use my Bembo to hand-set the type and make a small edition of chapbooks. I finally got around to starting the story last summer, but didn’t get very far with it. So in response to this week’s word, I finished up my story and laid out the book in InDesign. That’s only the beginning, actually starting to set the type is the next hurdle!
The next word: exoteric, adj; Suitable for or communicated to the general public; Popular; simple; commonplace.