Tag Archives: hot metal

I am the leaden army that conquers the world. I am type.

Of my earliest ancestry neither history nor relics remain. The wedge-shaped symbols impressed in plastic clay by Babylonian builders in the dim past foreshadowed me: from them, on through the hieroglyphs of the ancient Egyptians, down to the beautiful manuscript letters of the mediaeval scribes, I was in the making. With the golden vision of […]

Jesús Morentin’s Bunkertype typography & letterpress studio.

Over recent months I have greatly enjoyed following  Bunkertype on Pinterest –  http://pinterest.com/bunkertype/ – in part due to our common admiration and respect for the letterpress work of  H.N. Werkman. Based in Barcelona, Jesús Morentin’s  Bunkertype letterpress studio produces beautiful and experimental letterpress work in small editions manually from metal and wood types. Bunkertype on […]

Pencil to Pixel – Exhibition of artifacts & artwork from the Monotype archive.

The history of  Monotype dates back to the late 19th Century, when it introduced groundbreaking new technology that revolutionised the production of metal type for letterpress printing.  Tolbert Lanston, the inventor of this technology and founder of The Lanston Monotype Machine Company, patented this mechanical typesetting system in 1887 and introduced the first hot metal […]

Presstival & Whittington Press Open Day, 1st September 2012

Located five miles east of Cheltenham in the shadow of an Elizabethan manor, the family-run Whittington press (established by John Randle in 1971) will be throwing open its doors on Saturday 1st September, accompanied by Presstival, an annual event for the delectation of printing and typography enthusiasts. Pat Randle, mastermind behind the event, has printed […]

Silent Poster Sale – 2nd May 2012

This event is a collaboration between  St Bride Foundation and BA Graphic Design students from Central Saint Martins to fundraise both for the Library and for the 2012 Graphic Design Degree Show. Wednesday 2nd May 2012, 6.30-9.30pm, in the Bridewell Hall of the  St Bride Library. More information can be found at  http://stbride.org/events/silentpostersale and  http://silentpostersale.tumblr.com/

Upside Down, Left To Right: A letterpress film

A short film by  Danny Cooke about letterpress and one of the few remaining movable-type printing workshops in the UK, situated at Plymouth University, featuring Paul Collier. plymouth.ac.uk

‘Ink & Paper’ documentary by Ben Proudfoot

A short documentary about the  Aardvark Press, one of the last letterpress printers in Los Angeles and  McManus & Morgan Paper, Los Angeles’ oldest artist paper distributor.

The Ludlow Project – Saving Hot Metal Typecasting History

We’ve received an appeal from our friends at the  International Printing Museum to help spread the word about  The Ludlow Project, an effort to augment their collection of Ludlow matrices to be as complete as possible. They have brought the campaign to Kickstarter, where there have been a significant number of successful letterpress-themed projects. You […]

Typecasting at The Whittington Press

I recently had the great pleasure to return to Whittington again to exhibit at the  Whittington Press Open Day 2011 and was delighted to watch – through the fug of fumes from the  Monotype casters – brand new type being cast by Neil Winter (ex-Libanus Press). Since John Randle bought his first  Monotype caster and […]

Hot-Metal at the Crescent Card Company

Just over a week ago I attended a Hot-Metal open day at the Crescent Card Company (Tiptree), where Len Friend and Dave Boden provided a hands-on Ludlow typecasting workshop. I came away having learnt a great deal about the process and proudly clutching the prize of a freshly cast ‘slug’ of type. I also managed […]