Grafica Fildalga – Letterpress printers in São Paulo, Brazil

May 4, 2009 – 8:55 pm

Widely shared on Twitter, this movie is just too wonderful not to feature on my Blog. Filmed by Cool Hunting Video, it shows Grafica Fidalga, a trio of letterpress printers in São Paulo, Brazil, who print wood type posters on a 1929 German cylinder printing press.

By Justin Knopp | Posted in letterpress, printing, typography, wood type, woodletter | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

‘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 a comment) and the first correct identification of the typeface will be the winner. Sorry, but I will not be able to accept answers submitted via Twitter or email. Good luck!

Congratulations to the (joint) winners of this week’s competition, Sarah Spooner & Jon Gregory, who correctly identified the typeface as Reiner Script. This typeface was designed by Imre Reiner and introduced by the Amsterdam Typefoundry in 1951.

wfw_29thapril2009

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
Dr Otto Martin

Dr Otto Martin (centre).

Mainzer BuchKinder

Mainzer BuchKinder.

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 equipped with metal and wooden typefaces. Amongst the selection of presses in use were two manual proofing presses and a large iron hand press. There was a lot of activity in the workshop with visitors of all ages hand-setting type and printing (under the supervision of two technicians). Examples of the students’ work filled all the walls of the workshop and it was obvious that great pride is taken in the work produced, especially KIZ – Kinderzeitung, a large format newsletter, hand printed by the regular younger visitors. It is a very impressive collaborative piece and features stories of holidays and experiences, mainly in German and French and is illustrated throughout with multi-coloured lino-cuts.

The Druckladen was run by Dr Otto Martin until his retirement in 2007, upon which occasion he was presented with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, for his services to education. Dr Martin is now involved with running the BuchKinder-Werkstatt project, which is also located in Mainz and aims to promote the advancement of young people through art education and printmaking. The children are instructed on each stage of the typesetting, block-cutting and printing processes before they are able to create their own books, in small editions of between 20-25 copies.

The BuchKinder-Werkstatt is open Monday to Friday from 3pm to 6pm and at other times by appointment. Please check opening times before visiting and full contact details can be found below.

Dr Otto Martin
BuchKinder-Werkstatt
Mombacher Str. 6, 55122 Mainz, Deutschland
Tel: (+49) 06131 – 32 99 99 5
Email: [email protected]

BuchKinder hand-inking (left) and printed sheets hanging up to dry (right).

BuchKinder hand-inking (left) and printed sheets hanging up to dry (right).

Bonjour de ma

Letterpress broadsheet printed at the Druckladen des Gutenberg MuseumsLetterpress broadsheet printed at the Druckladen des Gutenberg Museums

Letterpress broadsheet printed at the Druckladen des Gutenberg Museums.

Gutenberg broadsheet printed at the Druckladen des Gutenberg Museums.

Letterpress broadsheet, with linocut image, printed at the Druckladen des Gutenberg Museums.

A poster printed at the Druckladen des Gutenberg Museums

A poster printed at the Druckladen des Gutenberg Museums.

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 p&p) from the selection on my Typoretum website.

Answers must be posted on this Blog, as a comment, and the first correct identification of the typeface will be the winner. Sorry, but I will not be able to accept answers submitted via Twitter or email. Good luck!

Congratulations to the winner of this week’s competition, Jens Jørgen Hansen, who correctly identified the typeface as Granby Inlined. This typeface was introduced by the Sheffield typefounders’ Stephenson & Blake in 1932.

wfw_22ndapril2009

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 of woods from which the letters are carved and each alphabet has its own unique qualities and cutting style. Some of the older wooden typefaces within my collection are even hand carved, rather than having been routed on a machine such as those used in the woodletter factory of DeLittle’s of York.

A few samples from my collection of antique wooden type.

The type styles shown on this sample sheet are as follows: Gill Sans, Latin Elongated, Old Style Grotesque, Expanded Antique, Elongated Sans Surryphs, Decorated French Antique, Decorated Sans Surryphs, Pointed Antique, Antique Old Style Bold, Expanded Grotesque, Bold Latin, Ornamented Wide Latin, French Antique and Grotesque.

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

The Letterpress Exchange Group

April 14, 2009 – 8:42 am
LEG Notice printed by Alan Brignull

LEG Notice printed by Alan Brignull

Ben Brundell

Ben Brundell – www.britishletterpress.co.uk

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 the bundle, to make it fair on those who do contribute. Twenty-six bundles are produced, thrice yearly, with one copy being archived at the Department of Typography and Graphic Communication at Reading University, so as to encourage future printers, designers and students of letterpress. The current (April) bundle marks the 50th exchange of letterpress printed work.

Alan Brignull at The Hedgehog Press now coordinates the distribution and he can be contacted by email at [email protected] for more information or membership enquiries. Currently, there is a small waiting list for membership.

Incline Press – www.inclinepress.com

Incline Press / Graham Moss & Kathy Whalen – www.inclinepress.com

Ericius Press (left) & Alan Brignull / Hedgehog Press (right)

Ericius Press / Peter Criddle (left) & Alan Brignull / Hedgehog Press (right)

Justin Knopp – www.typoretum.co.uk

Justin Knopp – www.typoretum.co.uk

Palliser Press / William Taylor

Palliser Press / William Taylor

Incline Press / Graham Moss & Kathy Whalen

Incline Press / Graham Moss & Kathy Whalen

The Happy Dragons’ Press / Julius Stafford-Baker

The Happy Dragons’ Press / Julius Stafford-Baker – www.happydragonspress.co.uk

The Old Forge Press / John R. Smith

The Old Forge Press / John R. Smith

Hedgehog Press / Alan Brignull

Hedgehog Press / Alan Brignull

The Old Forge Press / John R. Smith

The Old Forge Press / John R. Smith

The Happy Dragons’ Press / Julius Stafford-Baker

The Happy Dragons’ Press / Julius Stafford-Baker – www.happydragonspress.co.uk

The Old Forge Press / John R. Smith

The Old Forge Press / John R. Smith

Hedgehog Press / Alan Brignull (left) & Ericius Press / Peter Criddle (right)

Hedgehog Press / Alan Brignull (left) & Ericius Press / Peter Criddle (right)

The Happy Dragons’ Press / Julius Stafford Baker – www.happydragonspress.co.uk

The Happy Dragons’ Press / Julius Stafford Baker – www.happydragonspress.co.uk

Ericius Press / Peter Criddle

Ericius Press / Peter Criddle

Palliser Press / William Taylor

Palliser Press / William Taylor

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.

O thou beneficient Art & Mystery...

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

Accents in hand typeset letterpress printing

April 1, 2009 – 2:22 pm
Blocks for filing metal letterpress type.

Blocks for filing metal letterpress type.

Filing away the back of the type.

Filing away the back of the type.

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 of the type can be filed away to accommodate an accent. These filing blocks could also be used to remove portions of the body from drop capitals or for adjusting letters to facilitate kerning.

The image below is taken from Georg Kandler’s excellent book Alphabete – Erinnerungen an den Bleisatz and shows how a separate accent is floated above the filed letter. In this example, it is likely that the letters would have been cast on an irregularly shaped body but the same effect can be achieved by filing away a portion of a standard letter.

In addition to supplying founts of type with accented characters, typefoundries also supplied sets of separately cast accents, often cast on extremely small body sizes.

Accents

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

Letterpress work from JMG on Le Cool

March 26, 2009 – 7:38 pm

I was delighted this morning to happen upon a wonderfully creative piece of letterpress work, by Ross Shaw and Jon Kielty of JMG, on the cover of the current edition of Le Cool.

Letterpress cover by JMG, for the Winter (96) edition of Le Cool

Letterpress cover by JMG, for the Winter (96) edition of Le Cool

Jon Kielty and Ross Shaw, aka JMG

Jon Kielty and Ross Shaw, aka JMG.

Ross, Jon and myself collaborate under the guise of The Occasional Print Club, along with Pat Randle, producing experimental letterpress work in addition to maintaining our own solo and joint projects.

Le Cool magazine is a free, weekly magazine presenting a selection of concerts, djs, exhibitions, odd movies and other cultural events and happenings. It is intriguing that a magazine that will only ever exist in digital form should feature a cover created entirely by hand using the ancient craft of letterpress, although this is further evidence of renewed interest in the process.

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