Monthly Archives: April 2009

‘What Face Wednesday’ No.2

April 29, 2009 – 12:43 pm

Welcome to the second ‘What Face Wednesday’ metal typeface identification competition! This week I am offering the prize of a handsome letterpress poster (including free International p&p), hand-printed by The Occasional Print Club, of which I am a member. The prize can be viewed here. As before, answers must be posted on this Blog (as […]

By Justin Knopp | Posted in letterpress, typography, What Face Wednesday | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (7)

Educational printing workshops in the home of Gutenberg

April 27, 2009 – 7:33 pm

Since the foundation of the Druckladen des Gutenberg Museums (Printing Workshop of the Gutenberg Museum) in 1990, the city of Mainz has hosted educational letterpress and printmaking workshops for visitors and children of school age and upwards. I visited the Druckladen some ten years ago and found its’ workshop occupying two floors and very well […]

By Justin Knopp | Posted in Education, letterpress, printing, printmaking, typography, wood type | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

How to use a Composing Stick movie

April 27, 2009 – 12:52 pm

I am grateful to Johno over at We Love Typography for letting me know about this movie. Enjoy!

By Justin Knopp | Posted in craft, letterpress, Typesetting | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

‘What Face Wednesday’ Competition

April 22, 2009 – 7:50 am

Today I am launching a weekly series of typeface identification competitions, entitled ‘What Face Wednesday’. I will announce the start of each competition via my Twitter feed at a random time each Wednesday. A different prize will be offered each week and this week’s prize is any one hand-printed letterpress greeting card (including free International […]

By Justin Knopp | Posted in letterpress, typography, What Face Wednesday | Tagged , , , , | Comments (6)

Woodletter samples from the Typoretum

April 16, 2009 – 8:27 am

I am in the midst of taking proofs of my entire collection of woodletter and it has become a monumental undertaking! In the meantime I have designed and printed a poster that, although not exhaustive, shows the primary type styles held within my collection. The range of type styles is matched by the wide range […]

By Justin Knopp | Posted in letterpress, typography, woodletter | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (5)

The Letterpress Exchange Group

April 14, 2009 – 8:42 am

The Letterpress Exchange Group was formed around 1992 by Claire Bolton of The Alembic Press as a forum that was exclusively letterpress, and small enough to make the task of printing not too onerous. Membership is strictly limited to twenty-five members and operates a policy that if one does not contribute, one does not receive […]

By Justin Knopp | Posted in letterpress, printing, typography | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (3)

O thou beneficent Art & Mystery

April 8, 2009 – 3:16 pm

Here is an interesting example of hand typesetting; from the back cover of the Spring 1937 edition (Volume XXXVI, No. 1) of The Monotype Recorder. Personally, I feel the mix of Albertus Titling (Series 481) and Sachsenwald-Gotisch (Series 457) is rather clumsy, although it is undoubtedly a striking piece of letterpress typesetting.

By Justin Knopp | Posted in letterpress, typography | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

Accents in hand typeset letterpress printing

April 1, 2009 – 2:22 pm

A short while ago some mystery objects fell into my possession and it soon transpired that they were, as I had suspected, tools used in the craft of letterpress typesetting. The tools in question are two beautifully handmade filing blocks, in which a piece of metal type can be firmly held so that the back […]

By Justin Knopp | Posted in letterpress, typography | Tagged , , | Comments (1)