Books, Letterpress, Typography
Letterpressin’
Did I mention I was lucky enough to buy a letterpress several months ago? It’s true! I’m the proud owner of a Craftsmen Superior Pilot Clone (it sounds like it’s from space, but trust me, it’s not). I’ve named the letterpress ‘Tiny’ (because Tiny is actually huge), and Veekee Workshop will be pleased to print custom invites and stationary and whatever you heart desires very very soon. Sadly, right at the moment there’s a few issues one comes across with a 50-100 year old all-metal machine that just need to be fixed up. While Tiny awaits the attentions of a local machinist, it just sits in the shop taunting me everyday, and I cannot tell you how much I simply can’t wait to start printing. Stay tuned!
In the meantime, I’ve been reading up on tabletop and platen printing. Today I came across a really wonderful book called Personal impressions: The small printing press in nineteenth-century America by Elizabeth M. Harris. Not only it written by the former head of the Printing & Graphic Arts department of the Smithsonian Institution, but it’s gorgeously illustrated. Until I can get my hands on a physical copy, we’re all lucky Google Books has scanned it in. Enjoy!
Posted by Vikki on February 22nd at 8:03pm
Good font, bad font
A sweet reference on how to differentiate Helvetica from its evil twin, Arial. Go watch the movie too, if only to put faces to famous names. I didn’t know Hoefler and Frére-Jones were so young - I imagine most typographers to be old and wizened, and have fortunately been proven wrong over and over.
Posted by Vikki on February 12th at 8:23am
