For the Love of Letterpress: A Printing Handbook for Instructors & Students 9781350051270, 9781350051287

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To Muriel Underwood, who fell in love with letterpress in 1954, and is still in love today.

Acknowledgments Little did I know in 1985, that the student in the SAIC Type Shop working on her first book, To Be Read Aloud, would be my co-author twenty-seven years hence. Thank you, Martha, for your limitless research skills, your digital dexterity, and unwavering optimism. Appreciation to John Dunlevy for his photographic eye and masterful hand with a camera. Tom and Margaret Chiplis, for housing a 1,200 pound hunk of Vandercook press for so many years on their front porch. Thanks to the Chiplis and Dunlevy families, especially John, for their patience, love, and support. And to the Ruggie and Saunders families, especially Steve, Sarah and Rebecca, who provided words of encouragement, especially when most needed. Glenn Humphries and Michelle McCoy for sharing the printed treasures of the Harold Washington Library Special Collection with us. All of the artists whose letterpress work grace these pages. The Riverside Library, an Arts and Crafts architectural beauty, saw us through first drafts, multiple revisions, jurying of images, design and final edits for both editions. Immeasurable gratitude to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Visual Communication Design Department, for maintaining the commitment to letterpress in the education of artists and designers all of these years. Gratitude to Susan James, for first seeing the possibility of this book within us. And to Louise Baird-Smith and Claire Constable for their editorial help with the second edition. To everyone who read the first edition, and to those who offered suggestions for the second. Thank you Cathie, your tenacity and warmth have allowed the Type Shop to thrive. You have been an inspiration to me and to so many others, to work harder than you ever thought you could, and to follow your heart. And to our students: past, present, and to come.

To Muriel Underwood, who fell in love with letterpress in 1954, and is still in love today.

Acknowledgments Little did I know in 1985, that the student in the SAIC Type Shop working on her first book, To Be Read Aloud, would be my co-author twenty-seven years hence. Thank you, Martha, for your limitless research skills, your digital dexterity, and unwavering optimism. Appreciation to John Dunlevy for his photographic eye and masterful hand with a camera. Tom and Margaret Chiplis, for housing a 1,200 pound hunk of Vandercook press for so many years on their front porch. Thanks to the Chiplis and Dunlevy families, especially John, for their patience, love, and support. And to the Ruggie and Saunders families, especially Steve, Sarah and Rebecca, who provided words of encouragement, especially when most needed. Glenn Humphries and Michelle McCoy for sharing the printed treasures of the Harold Washington Library Special Collection with us. All of the artists whose letterpress work grace these pages. The Riverside Library, an Arts and Crafts architectural beauty, saw us through first drafts, multiple revisions, jurying of images, design and final edits for both editions. Immeasurable gratitude to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Visual Communication Design Department, for maintaining the commitment to letterpress in the education of artists and designers all of these years. Gratitude to Susan James, for first seeing the possibility of this book within us. And to Louise Baird-Smith and Claire Constable for their editorial help with the second edition. To everyone who read the first edition, and to those who offered suggestions for the second. Thank you Cathie, your tenacity and warmth have allowed the Type Shop to thrive. You have been an inspiration to me and to so many others, to work harder than you ever thought you could, and to follow your heart. And to our students: past, present, and to come.

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chapter one The Sensual, Printed Artifact

I

magine an erratically shaped room, tucked in the corner of the top floor of a 116-year-old building in downtown Chicago. Crowned with a pristine, steel-reinforced, modernist skylight that spans a quarter of the ceiling, brightness streams down. Clouds pass by. Skyscrapers tower as silent next-door neighbors, vanishing upward. Inside that space, another illumination of sorts takes place. A fifteenth-century printing technology is alive, and being introduced to twenty-first-century students. This is the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s (SAIC) Letterpress Studio, under the auspices of the Visual Communication Design Department. Professing an interdisciplinary curriculum, students from a myriad of departments walk through this door: print media, sculpture, ceramics, fiber and material studies, painting and drawing, performance, architecture, interior design and designed objects, writing, photography, film, video, new media and animation, visual and critical studies, and, of course, visual communication design. What brings them here? Young adults who have grown up with microchips, Google, and pull-down font menus are often unaware they can be simultaneously drawn to lead, tin, antimony, and copper. At first glance, it might seem contrary to the speed-of-light attention spans they have perfected, to stand at a type cabinet and plink, plink, plink one character at a time into a composing stick. But very quickly they recognize it as a welcome antithesis, deepening their spectrum of concentration. Semester after semester, we have a full house. Three sections of a dozen students each, all yearning for something.

(Opposite) The two windows 
of the SAIC Type Shop. Photo by John Dunlevy.

The Allure We ask them that question on the first day. And the answers are remarkably similar. Some come, bored and alienated with the digital environment. They long for an activity that slows the blind pace of auto-spacing and default kerning, and demands a rhythmic unity of mind and hand. In a more palpable sense, they want all of their senses to be engaged. Not just eyes reading a screen, but fingers touching and choosing an em space or an en space or a 3-tothe-em space. They want to pull a spatula through a viscous dollop of ink and watch it stream from the blade in a slow, molasseslike dance. The scent of a Type Shop is unmistakable and indelible. Bicep-building type-case lifting will be their calisthenics for the next 16 weeks. Working and studying in a Type Shop is a whole body experience, not for the lethargic or faint of heart.

Chapter 1: The Sensual, Printed Artifact

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(Top) The skylight. Photo by John Dunlevy. (Bottom) Entry to Type Shop. Photo by John Dunlevy.

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For the Love of Letterpress

Undoubtedly there is an innate human attraction to letterpress. We could go so far as to say “seduction” even. “Love at first glance.” Seeing the sculptural depth that a well-printed piece displays is enough to “take one’s breath away.” Turning the piece over and running one’s finger across the line of impression penetrates the skin as well as the eye, the mind, and the heart. There is little pleasure greater than the satisfaction gleaned from the humble punch of metal into paper. Other students come, wanting to learn the basics of typography via a hands-on approach. Mystified by a vocabulary that they use daily, a vocabulary they do not know the origins of, posits a doubt in their mind. They sense that they should know something, but they aren’t sure what. Why is it called leading? Why is a typical paragraph indentation considered an “em” space? “Really now, do you think you can teach my eye to discern the difference a hair space makes in kerning two characters?” Holding a ligature in one hand and both individual characters in the other might be the first time they touch—and thus understand—the improved aesthetic spacing. They witness the clarity of the sculpture in their hand, and “see” with their fingertips as well as their eyes. There is a historical enticement as well. These students join hundreds before them, each a link in a chain that stretches back more than 500 years. Extending beyond Aldus Manutius to Johannes Gutenberg in the Western world, and even farther in the Eastern, these distant relatives will become closer and more familiar as they touch an italic or gaze at a page of the 42-line Bible. And each time they dip their hand into a California case, they withdraw the same type that veteran compositors—both commercial and hobbyists— have used before them. What will they spell out with the same font used by R.R. Donnelley and Sons, a time-honored Chicago printing company? Or with the type that won Sherwin Beach Press international recognition in the Ninth Biennial Carl Hertzog Book Design Award Competition? Even just caressing the old lead characters retrieved from the garage of an 89-year-old World War II pilot can conjure up inspirational images. Every book tells a story, but every California case has many, many stories to tell. Some students come through our doors searching for a means of incorporating image and text. They might have been working with both in their studio practice, or even just one, and have come to a point where a more unified bonding of the two is necessary to lift their work to a higher level. Writers enter seeking a way to visually present their words in a more physically aesthetic manner.

Chapter 1: The Sensual, Printed Artifact

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(Opposite top) Sherwin Beach Press, Ballet for Opening Day. Written by Nelson Algren. Illustrated with etchings by Tony Fitzpatrick, printed at Big Cat Press. Text printed by Martha Chiplis on Twinrocker papers in Monotype Walbaum, set by Michael Bixler. Designed by Robert McCamant and bound by Trisha Hammer. 2002. (11" x 10" x 5 ½") Photograph by Jack Kraig. (Opposite bottom) Gaylord Schanilec, Lac Des Pleurs. The text is a commentary on passage through Lake Pepin (Lac Des Pleurs) by Louis Hennepin, George Featherstonhaugh, Henry Schoolcraft, George Catlin, Jonathan Carver, Zebulon Pike, Charles Latrobe, Henry Thoreau, and Oliver Gibbs Jr., with related excerpts from Harriet Bell Carlander, George Wagner, Robert E. Coker, C. A. Lesueur, Thaddeus Surber, Paul Harder, and Mark Twain; an introduction by Patrick Coleman and image captions & an epilogue by Gaylord Schanilec. Hand set from Bembo and Polipholis type, printed on vintage Barcham Greene and Wookey Hole, and St Armand Mill papers. Titling printed from wood type based on tracings by Russell Maret of characters from Aldus Manutius’s Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. Images printed on Zerkall paper. (continued on next page)

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Bookbinders, proficient with structural formats, come seeking the means to place content on those pages. Printmakers, tired of straining to write backwards on intaglio plates and litho stones, embrace the forward movement of job stick composition. The resurgence of the media of letterpress over the past few decades has also fueled our enrollment ranks. Curiosity about how these cast iron presses can transfer the delicacy of a hairline serif onto paper gets the better of them. The spectacle of their friend hauling a 1 ½ ton hulk of metal into his basement demands explanation. Even the thrill of winning an eBay auction for a vintage printer’s cut will require a “proof,” and once ink is under their fingernails, they are smitten. Other faculty members speak of it as a “good elective” for artists and designers. Each semester, as a recruitment device, we host visits or short workshops for their students to become acquainted with the Shop. Of course we publicize across the campus with handprinted flyers that are literally ripped down within hours of their posting. Some converts are gleaned from reviewing class evaluations at the Office of Student Affairs, but word of mouth—from student to student—is a faster channel of information. Certainly some just come because they heard “it was fun.” And indeed it is.

The Passion Once inside the Type Shop, students see a carefully organized studio, replete with vintage as well as contemporary equipment. Just as
importantly, they are introduced to instructors and teaching assistants convinced of the relevance of this media to their educational experience and the development of their artistic vision. It is no easy task to campaign for space, budget, and curriculum inclusion in an academic culture strapped for floor space, suffering from a tight economy, and wary of increasing the requisite number of credits a student must take to graduate. Tuition dollars most often dictate career pertinence and high-profile visibility. Letterpress has waxed and waned within societal, commercial, and academic contexts. Persistence and persuasion have proven to be an indomitable strategy in our efforts to keep 15 ½ tons of metal actively engaged within the hands of our students. Conveying the applicability of letterpress to other departments and enlisting them as allies has proven invaluable. And a supportive administration has been indispensable. But most essential is the passion modeled by the individuals who work in the Type Shop every day. This begins with instructors who love the media and love to teach it. It continues with teaching assistants and intermediate and advanced students who have

For the Love of Letterpress

Foldout map of the lake printed on kozo paper, and thirty “text figures” of fish were printed from the original electrotypes used in the 1920 publication Fishes and Fish-Like Vertebrates of Minnesota. Bound and boxed at Booklab II with cover paper marbled for the edition by Jemma Lewis. 2015. (10" x 15")

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emerged from one or more semesters of learning in the Type Shop. They simply “feel it in their bones” that they need to continue to be there, exploring more thoroughly all that it has to offer and sharing those discoveries with beginners. As for me, I love letterpress because I love books. My father, a man of few (spoken) words, read voraciously. As a child, I remember his bookshelves in the living room, filled with leather-bound tomes, gilt edges, a satin ribbon trailing down each spine. Dad refused to paste a bookplate between the covers, or place a book back on the shelf, until he had read through to the last page. The action of pasting the bookplate was a tacit agreement with that book that his hand had touched every page, his mind had considered every thought, and now it was time for the next individual to delight in what was between its covers. Many of those cherished books now stand on my bookshelf. I love letterpress because I love language. Typography is the vivification of language. Letterforms and alphabets can speak of Shakespearean sonnets or nursery rhymes. When my daughters were first straining to scratch out their ABCs with pencils in their tiny hands, I was overwhelmed with the beauty and consequence of their attempts. One of my favorite broadsides resulted from that moment of tender acquisition in their lives. I love the materiality of holding a character in my hand and assembling a row of “lead soldiers.”1 Tying up forms and tucking them into the galley until it is nearly too heavy to lift. The smell of ink. The pristine field of paper about to be kissed by an arabesque of a Garamond swash. Leafing through a stack of freshly printed pages in an edition is as thrilling as a child “unwrapping” Christmas morning. I love how it engages all of me. Eyes delighting in exact kerning. Fingertips sensing the perfect punch. Hands sliding a sumptuous sheet precisely under the grippers. Feet stepping in parallel cadence with the carriage as it rolls across the bed. Ears tuned to the click/ clack of the cylinder, a rhythmic heartbeat, synchronized with mine. They say printer’s ink gets in one’s veins. This is not a health and safety warning. Printing has a way of reaching deep inside and touching that innate human urge to “make” marks and “leave” one’s mark. The Lascaux cave paintings attest to the former. Stonecarved epitaphs attest to the latter. If, as Horace says, “the written word remains,”2 I believe there will always be printers who want to commit that word to paper. It is this historical legacy that I feel connected to in the studio, a process that was fundamental to the cultural evolution of the world. In a humbler context, it speaks to what I love best: sharing ideas. Most undergraduate students now have lived with computers all of their lives. For them to have the experience of creating a book Chapter 1: The Sensual, Printed Artifact

(Opposite top left) Hand on feedboard. Photo by John Dunlevy. (Opposite top right) Cathie Ruggie Saunders, R & S Alphabet Broadside. Hand set in Electra; printed on Twinrocker handmade 
 paper. 1992. (6 ⅝" x 6 ⅝") Photo by John Dunlevy. (Opposite bottom) Philippa Wood, Done. Letterpress and silkscreen printed on tissue paper. Unique. 2008. (10" x 8 ½" x ½") Photograph by Philippa Wood.

“Letterpress requires one to be thoughtful, to plan, to stretch, and I love work that is considered in this way. So much in the world today is not . . . I am also a believer that newer is not always better, faster is not deeper, and that process is as important as product. Letterpress addresses each of these concerns in different, and incredibly rich, ways. I also feel passionately about our collective need to slow, to breathe, and, as creative people, to work with processes that do not require any other electricity than that
provided by our bodies.” —Amara Hark-Weber,
 SAIC Teaching Assistant

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from concept to layout to production, with lead type, paper, ink, thread, book cloth, and glue, engenders a level of ownership and engagement that is rarely attainable elsewhere. Every aspect is a choice they make. Every decision is the result of a series of actions that rely upon one another, build upon one another. Guiding them in their plans, watching them problem-solve and troubleshoot, dialoguing every step of the way is where my love of furthering this media comes in. Teaching letterpress celebrates literacy, history, creativity, and the sensual artifact. Inherent in this pedagogy is a dynamic reciprocity. As instructors, we are communicating our expertise, challenging our students to think critically and imaginatively. But the act of learning continues to occur within us as well. Each time I am asked a probing question to which I do not know the answer, I am compelled to do research. And I am energized by the acumen of the student. In conversing with them one-on-one, we often excavate a concept that stimulates me to create a book. Composing each semester’s new syllabus, I am insistent upon developing improved projects, incorporating more historical references, and initiating more interactivity with contemporary processes. Could it be that the allure of letterpress and the passion for its practice reaches even deeper than we imagine? Could it permeate our subconscious? After Martha had taken her first semester of letterpress with me, she did not register for it the following semester. One night, well into that next semester, she had a dream. She was standing in the Type Shop, surrounded by type cabinets and printing presses. I was there, in the Shop in her dream, and asked her why she hadn’t come back. At that moment, she realized, this is what she was meant to be doing. Could it be encoded in our DNA? As a toddler, each time Martha visited her grandfather, a photo-engraver by trade, instead of playing with Lincoln Logs or Lego, she pulled out a box of wood furniture that he kept under his chair, building structures that children and printers alike would love. Two decades ago, I had been making frequent trips to retrieve donated type for the school, each time packing up my twin daughters in our van and squeezing type cases in between them and behind them. Once, when they were not quite four, I carefully placed a drawer of Palatino swash capitals on top of the pile of cases in the back. Sarah peeked over the seat, reached her hand into the case, picked up a letter, and exclaimed: “Oh Momma, what a beautiful font!” “It sure is!” I replied. And we headed home, treasure in tow.

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For the Love of Letterpress

Notes 1 “Give me 26 lead soldiers and I will conquer the world” is often attributed to Benjamin Franklin, but also Karl Marx, as well as an unknown French printer; http://typefoundry.blogspot.com/2007/05/with-twenty-five-soldiers-of-lead-he .html 2 Stone, Jon R. The Routledge Dictionary of Latin Quotations (Abingdon: Routledge, 2005).

Vida Sacic, Electric Biology #33. Printed on Mohawk Superfine Eggshell. “Electric Biology is a series of prints, created as an expression of the letterpress printing process. Each printed layer responds to the other, becoming a gestural motif that creates an organic composition. Compositions are finalized in the moment of printing. For a successful final print, I have to engage, evaluate and respond to my previous marks.” (12" x 19")

Chapter 1: The Sensual, Printed Artifact

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chapter two The Historical Legacy:

Connecting the Past and Future

F

rederic Goudy, born in Bloomington, Illinois, founded The Booklet Press1 in Chicago in 1895 with equipment he bought from Will Bradley, who was also a resident of Chicago at that time.2 In 1903 Goudy and Will Ransom,3 another Chicagoan, started the Village Press4 in Park Ridge, a close suburb northwest of Chicago. By the time of his death in 1947, Goudy had designed 123 typefaces, establishing himself as one of the best-known and most prolific type designers.5 Oswald Cooper, a printer’s devil in Kansas at age 17, moved to Chicago and studied lettering with Frederic Goudy.6 In 1918, his Cooper Old Style, designed for Barnhart Brothers & Spindler (BB&S),7 a well-known Chicago type foundry, became the first typeface with rounded serifs.8 His Cooper Black, “the boldest, blackest face ever to be released in type,”9 designed in 1922, was “one of the most popular faces used in advertising during that period.”10 After the American Type Founders’ (ATF) takeover of BB&S in 1929, Cooper drew the basis of Boul Mich (named for Chicago’s Michigan Boulevard).11 In 1939 he dedicated time toward developing the corporate identity for the Chicago Daily News newspaper.12 Robert Hunter Middleton studied letterforms and type design under Ernst Detterer at the Art Institute of Chicago in the 1920s, just as Detterer was implementing a new curriculum in the Printing and Typographic Arts Department.13 During his 49-year career at Chicago’s Ludlow Typograph Company, Middleton created one of America’s most respected type libraries, designing almost 100 of the faces in the library himself.14 Middleton was also influential in the revival of interest in the work of Thomas Bewick (1753–1828), the celebrated English wood engraver, whose work he printed at his Cherryburn Press in the city.15 Acquainting our students with these Chicago-based typographic luminaries instills considerable local pride, and positions them to understand the legacy Chicago has contributed to printing history. We encourage instructors and students everywhere to investigate the rich typographic history their location affords. Examining a character from Goudy Old Style or Cooper Black or Coronet, type designs from each of the aforementioned men respectively, students begin to comprehend precisely what Goudy himself expressed: “Each face has a spirit of its own. New types express the tempo of the times.”16 Of course, we hope this appreciation extends to our entire inventory. To facilitate that, index cards, with each font’s designer, original foundry, and date, are placed in many of the California cases, providing a mini history lesson to each student who opens that case.

Chapter 2: The Historical Legacy: Connecting the Past and Future

(Left) Cathie Ruggie Saunders, Curator, Littera Scripta Manet: The Written Word Remains. Handmade Box by Linda Lee with letterpress printed title containing studentgenerated digitally printed cards. Each 5" x 7" card chronicles a specific aspect of the 
history of printing and related fields. 2012. Photo by John Dunlevy.

“At 40, this short, plump, pinkish and puckish gentleman (Frederic Goudy) kept books for a Chicago realtor, and considered himself a failure. During the next 36 years, starting almost from scratch at an age when most men are permanently set in their chosen vocations, he cut 113 fonts of type, thereby creating more usable faces than did the seven greatest inventors of type and books, from Gutenberg to Garamond.” —Andrew R. Boone17

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For the Love of Letterpress

Project assignments also strive to instill knowledge of and respect for printing history far beyond the geographic location of Chicago. For many years now, each semester students are asked to create a double-sided, digitally printed card about an event, invention, or individual associated with worldwide printing history and its related fields. The card is to be designed “in the spirit of the times,” with the date prominently displayed on the front, resources cited on the back. Each card is then chronologically filed in an elegant box (handmade by a former teaching assistant), which serves as an archival timeline both significant and commonplace. Examples from our registry include the establishment of the Fabriano Paper Mill in Italy (1264),18 the first printed book in the English language (William Caxton in 1473),19 the first woman with a significantly known printing career, Charlotte Guillard of France (1502–1557),20 and the first printing press founded in North America (Mexico, 1539).21 The Archive is available in the Shop for students to study, and we are planning an exhibition of it: cards posted in a timeline format stretching around the walls of a gallery space. A student’s first semester in letterpress will include a project introducing them to two major historical design aesthetics: the classical and the modernist page layout. By setting and printing paired words, students learn to compose both centered and asymmetric layouts, understand the respective Roman and sans serif font use, and strive to relate the definition of each word to its appropriate format presentation. During critique, they are often awed by the powerful eloquence of a single word printed on a page. This project serves as an excellent means of conveying the expressiveness of negative space, and the necessity to evaluate exactly what needs to be printed and what does not. From this single sheet foundation, students carry these lessons on to their bookmaking projects throughout the remainder of the semester. (Refer to Chapter 10 for more information on this first project.) By extending learning outside the studio and viewing the abundant letterpress resources that the Chicago Public Library/Harold Washington Center, the Newberry Library, and the Art Institute of Chicago have in their collections, students see original printed examples. These artifacts imbue the viewer with insights about historical context, technical proficiency, and design aesthetics in a manner more impressive than any PowerPoint presentation. With gloved hands, they touch a page from the Gutenberg Bible, and peering sideways can discern the superlative imposition of that first piece of incunabula. The arts and crafts movement’s emphasis on the handmade nature of the entire book object takes on utter clarity when a student

Chapter 2: The Historical Legacy: Connecting the Past and Future

(Opposite top) The Essence of Beeing, written by Michael Lenehan. Printed by The Sherwin Beach Press. Illustrations by Alice BrownWagner. Ornaments by Albert Richardson. Printed on Fabriano Roma in Cooper Oldstyle. Designed by Robert McCamant. Bound by Ann Repp. 1992. (12" x 9 ¼" x ½") Photograph by Jack Kraig. (Opposite bottom left and right) Li Han, Selections from Ode to Typography. Libra, Goudy Text, Caslon Old Style, Bulmer, Bodoni, Clarendon, French Clarendon, Broadway, Boul Mich, Franklin Gothic Bold, Grotesque, Univers, Garamond, and Futura on Arches Cover, Rives BFK, Daler-Rowney Canford, and Crane’s Lettra. Ode to Typography by Pablo Neruda is strongly associated with typography and letterpress. Combined with the historic outline of typeface design, the book transforms into a timeline of the development of typography and printing. 2017. (8.5" x 11")

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(Top) Child Christopher and Goldilind the Fair. Printed by William Morris. 1895. Courtesy of Chicago Public Library, Special Collections. Photo by John Dunlevy. (Bottom) Fedir Shulga of Officina Daubmanni, Indulgence in the Name of Gutenberg. Hand set with Literaturmaya, Obyknovennaya, and No. 3 metal fonts. Calligraphy by Anton Mizinov. Editing by Mykola Kovalchuk. Thanks to Ivan Gulkov. Printed in Kyiv on a Chandler and Price press. Based on a 31-line Letter of Indulgence from 1454, revised as an absolution of typographical sins given to any practitioner of the black arts. 2011. (8" x 8 ¼") Photograph by Irina Kouyan.

“No other single typeface, before or since, has made quite the impression on the graphic design community as Cooper Black. Cooper’s hand lettering and advertising design became the very visible cornerstone of what was to become the Midwest design style of the 1920s and 1930s.” —Allan Haley22

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For the Love of Letterpress

holds William Morris’ 1895 little gem Child Christopher and Goldilind the Fair. Here they can measure its intimate proportions with the palm of their hand; hear the crackle of the deckled handmade sheet as they turn a page; see the printed blackness of the handcast type and the beauty of the Golden Section spanning an open spread. How more apparent and evocative can these typographic and design attributes become? What greater incentive might there be to research William Morris than to physically encounter one of his sensual printed artifacts? The current living generation of printing luminaries is part of the legacy we strive to honor and learn from as well. Muriel Underwood, an individual with the foresight to help establish a letterpress workshop in 1952 for the membership of the Society of Typographic Arts, continues to visit and print with the equipment that became our current shop’s seminal donation.25 The wealth of stories she has shared with our students, and the behavior she modeled—still setting type and printing at 89 years of age—is inspirational. If the United States had a similar tradition as Japan’s designation of deserving elders as “national living treasures,” Muriel would earn our vote. Camaraderie and generosity are hallmarks of letterpress printers. Individuals who have been printers most of their lives have such an affection for the media, they often will quote an inexpensive price (or free!) for their used equipment just to see that it goes into the hands of a younger generation, willing to continue the practice. This is an excellent means by which serious students can begin acquiring equipment to set up their own shops. Schools that teach letterpress are grateful recipients of donations. Equipment or type that comes our way is listed by donor in our inventory of faces and marked with a hand-printed label announcing its provenance. Movable type, by definition, was a “recycling” innovation vastly more efficient than wood block-books. Previously owned movable type confers another dimension upon that recycling concept. Young printers of today are re-using type from yesterday, creating books for the future. Libraries that have special collections are recognizing this and are adding both fine press and innovative artists’ books to their holdings. Among the more than 10,000 artists’ books, periodicals, zines, and multiples in the Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection in the SAIC Flaxman Library is a nascent collection of SAIC student work. Awareness of the past informs the present. Appreciation of the past confers a responsibility upon the present to ensure this media’s longevity into the future. With the accelerated momentum of digital printing technology, the continued vitality of letterpress relies upon

Chapter 2: The Historical Legacy: Connecting the Past and Future

Robert H. Middleton was dedicated to improving the industry in which he worked. He co-founded the Society of Typography Arts in Chicago in 1927 and was involved in establishing the Institute of Design (the New Bauhaus) in Chicago in 1937. He was also a member of the 27 Chicago designers, organized in 1934, and he was a member of the Caxton Club for 40 years.23 Middleton was among the first American members of the Association Typographique Internationale (ATypI) founded in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1957, which was one of the first proponents of typeface design protection.24

Fifteen years ago we accepted a donation from the daughter of a printer who had passed away. It is a beautiful collection of vintage type, carefully and obviously lovingly documented with the name of each typeface, foundry, and even purchase price. I kept these records and eight years ago, a young woman walked into the Type Shop and introduced herself as that printer’s granddaughter. She remembered working with him in his basement shop as a child and wanted to see where his equipment had gone. I could show her every­ thing. Interestingly, she is a professional designer herself. She emailed her entire family with pride: she had seen how Grandpa’s type is still alive, in the hands of a new generation of student printers.

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(Top) Muriel Underwood 
next to her Sigwalt press. Photo by John Dunlevy. (Center left) Muriel Underwood, On Dining (cover). From an 
article in Inland Printer 1911. Letterpress printed on Mohawk Superfine using a Sigwalt tabletop press. Set in 10 pt. Centaur. Bound in red and white checked dress cloth. 2002. (3" x 2 ¾") Photo by John Dunlevy. (Center right) Muriel Underwood, On Dining (spread). Photo by John Dunlevy. (Bottom) William Hesterberg, Announcing The Hesterberg Press. Printed on Okawara paper with hand set Jenson and Wilhelm Klingspor Schrift types. Wood block illustration. 1982. (11 ½" x 7 ½") Photograph by 
John Sundlof.

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For the Love of Letterpress

an acknowledgment and utilization of the distinct characteristics of each. Preliminary font choices, tentative layouts, and color trials are frequently done on laptops, side by side with Vandercooks and Chandler & Price presses in the Type Shop. Students consult search engines as their book concepts multiply, and research is done immediately, without breaking stride to walk to the library. Adobe Illustrator is at home here, as is the old-fashioned method of bending leading to shape a curved type form. Running out of type to set a page? Budget-conscious solution: print, distribute, and set again. Time at a premium? Set it digitally and have a plate made. Or even faster, send your digital file to the laser cutter and make a relief matrix yourself. Color choice for ink? You will get a better lesson in color theory by opening ink cans and making draw downs than clicking on a drop-down color menu. How does Hosho paper respond to the pressure of letterpress? Proof on a swatch of it. Or look in the drawer of student work for an example “in real time” and “actual size,” close up and in detail. Complicated lockup? Snap a picture of it with your smartphone or draw a quick diagram, strengthening your skills at furniture and reglet recognition.

Chapter 2: The Historical Legacy: Connecting the Past and Future

(Left) Emma Weber, Keel/ Teeming. Baskerville and Phenix on Arches and Canford paper. Keel/Teeming is an exploration into the relationship that two words can have together. A keel is an ancient fishing boat that rides very low in the water. Teeming, in this context, is meant to be the abundance of fish below the keel. An additional squiggly ornament suggests movement of sea life and water. 2012. (11" x 6") Photo by John Dunlevy. (Right) Rebecca Workman, Pineapple. Instructor: Cathie Ruggie Saunders, Symmetry/ Asymmetry Assignment. 2012. (6" x 9") Photo by John Dunlevy.

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(Top) Peter Rutledge Koch, The Lost Journals 
of Sacajewea (title page). (Center) Peter Rutledge Koch, The Lost Journals of Sacajewea (closed). Designed, printed and bound at Peter Koch Printers. Text printed on Twinrocker Da Vinci handmade paper. Images prepared by Jonathan Gerken and Donald Farnsworth. Printed on Kozo handmade paper at Magnolia Editions by Tallulah Terryll. Bound by Jonathan Gerken. Smoked buffalo rawhide cover paper was designed and handmade by Amanda Degener. Spine beaded with trade beads and .38 caliber cartridge cases. Images flatbed acrylic digital printer. Published in Berkeley, CA by Editions Koch. 2010. (15 ½" x 10") Photograph by Douglas Sandberg.

26

For the Love of Letterpress

(Opposite bottom left) Jessica Spring, Burnham Unfolds. Copperplate and ornaments printed with metallic ink on Plike. 2015. (Expanding origami fold from 3" to 6" square.)

Co-existence is letterpress’s best hope for the future. By emphasizing the attributes of both digital and analog printing technologies, one can make an informed choice as to which best complements their intended concept. Connecting the present generation of novice letterpress students with the elder generation of practitioners will help ensure its longevity into the future. Knowledge about the historical significance of this major invention, which “ignited the explosion of art, literature, and scientific research that accelerated the Renaissance and led directly to the Modern Age,”28 will help create citizens cognizant of the communicative potential of the printed word. Notes 1 Later renamed The Camelot Press. David Consuegra, Classic Typefaces: American Type and Type Designers (New York: Allworth Press, 2011), 141. 2 Proprietor of Wayside Press, poster artist and book, magazine, and typeface designer. Consuegra, Classic Typefaces: American Type and Type Designers, 96. 3 Designer of Parsons typeface, which he named for I.R. Parsons, an advertising manager for Carson’s Department Store, and used in all of Carson’s ads for many years. It was also among the most frequently used faces in motion picture titles and captions. James M. Wells, “Will Ransom,” in Heritage of the Graphic Arts, ed. Chandler B. Grannis (New York and London: R.R. Bowker Company, 1972), 109.

Chapter 2: The Historical Legacy: Connecting the Past and Future

(Opposite bottom right) Jessica Spring, Lockup for Burnham Unfolds. Architect and urban designer Daniel Hudson Burnham (1846–1912) directed the construction of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, known as the White City. His 1909 master plan for Chicago focused on the stunning lakefront and put every resident within walking distance of a park. His words, letterpress printed with hand set type on an expanding origami form diagrams the print: “Make big plans; aim high in hope & work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram will not die, but long after we are gone be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistence.” The type is laid out on a path around the form, set on diagonals to surround ornaments. Esther Smith and Dikko Faust/Purgatory Pie Press, Uruk: New York. Johannot paper, Japanet and Bernhard Gothic Heavy type, hand set metal typographic elements. Derived from Ancient Sumerian cone mosaic patterns as seen on New York City’s 1890’s glass sidewalk vault covers. 2011. (5" x 7")

27

28

For the Love of Letterpress

4 One of the first private presses in America and a popular meeting place for many important figures in the Chicago art world at that time. Neil Macmillan, An A-Z of Type Designers (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006), 154. 5 Macmillan, An A-Z of Type Designers, 92. 6 Consuegra, Classic Typefaces: American Type and Type Designers, 116. 7 Opened in Chicago in 1873 as the Great Western Type Foundry, it became BB&S in 1883; www.myfonts.com/foundry/Barnhart_Brothers_and_Spindler. 8 Consuegra, Classic Typefaces: American Type and Type Designers, 116. 9 Allan Haley, Typographic Milestones (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1992), 82. 10 Consuegra, Classic Typefaces: American Type and Type Designers, 116. 11 Haley, Typographic Milestones, 83. 12 www.linotype.com/351/oswaldcooper.html. 13 Consuegra, Classic Typefaces: American Type and Type Designers, 194. 14 Haley, Typographic Milestones, 122. 15 Macmillan, An A-Z of Type Designers, 135. 16 Andrew R. Boone, “Type by Goudy,” Popular Science, April 1942, 119. 17 Andrew R. Boone, “Type by Goudy,” Popular Science, April 1942, 114. 18 Heller, Jules, Papermaking (New York: Watson-Guptill Publications 1978), 187. 19 http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item126577.html. 20 “Charlotte Guillard, A Sixteenth Century Business Woman,” Renaissance Quarterly, 36: 345–367. 21 Galindo, Carmen, Magdelena Galindo (2002). Mexico City Historic Center (Mexico City: Ediciones Nueva Guia), 66. 22 Allan Haley, Typographic Milestones (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1992), 78. 23 Consuegra, Classic Typefaces: American Type
and Type Designers, 194. 24 Haley, Typographic Milestones, 122. 25 The Caxtonian, 5(5), May 1997. 26 Now 94, Muriel can no longer come to the Type Shop, but she continues to make miniature books on her computer at home, and continues to inspire us. 27 Geoffrey Dowding, An Introduction to the History of Printing Types (London: The British Library & Oak Knoll Press, 1998), 3. 28 John Man, Gutenberg: How One Man Remade the World with Words (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2002), book jacket.

(Opposite top left) Armina Ghazaryan, Da-Daniil Kharms. Wood & metal type, ornaments, Bio Top 250gr. Poster made for DADA ist 100 traveling exhibition celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Dada art movement. The text from Blue Notebook N 10 (1937) by Daniil Kharms is set in wood and metal type in English and Russian. Since we had no Cyrillic wood or metal type, the Cyrillic text was constructed from ornaments and brass rules. Printed in 3 colors at the MIAT museum in Gent (BE). 2016. (30 x 40 cm) (Opposite top right) John Christopher/Flowers & Fleurons, Dada Trumpet. Printed using a mixture of wood type: Clarendon A, Extended Antique, Poster Bodoni, French Clarendon Condensed, and Anon German Blackletter on Gmund Bier Weiss paper. Printed for a travelling exhibition marking the 100th anniversary of the Dada art movement. 2016. (35.4" x 11.8") (Opposite bottom left) Stephane de Schrevel, Je suis Dada. Poster for Dada ist 100, an itinerant exhibition celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Dada movement. (15" x 30") (Opposite bottom right) Elizabeth Fraser, Out of Character. Unique, collage elements, printed from wood and metal type on Fedrigoni Materica Limestone. Out of Character was accepted to Dada ist 100, a touring exhibition marking the centenary of the Dada art movement. (280 x 175 mm)

Chapter 2: The Historical Legacy: Connecting the Past and Future

29

3

chapter three Printer’s Primer

W

hen students enter the shop on the first day, they don’t realize the minutiae involved in letterpress printing. As we begin, we walk around the shop, showing and naming the many tools and materials they will be working with during their time there. Galleys, galley cabinets, type cabinets, type cases, type, composing sticks, pica rulers, spacing, leading. These are the terms they need to start. After the discussion of shop rules and the shop tour, we begin the discussion of type and the type case; what is type-high, what are points, picas, what are the parts of type: nick, face, body. Type from ATF, or from Acme in Chicago, or a slug cast on a Ludlow by a Chicago job printer, represents a portion of the history of printing and type design. Letterpress was a highly sophisticated analog technology that was made obsolete for almost all of commercial printing after about 1980. However, the commercial industry’s loss became individual printers’ and art schools’ gain.

Terminology and Measurement By necessity, the beginner must learn in increments. A student can’t learn all of the terms she will need to know on the first day. But by repeated exposure to the correct terminology, the beginner will eventually become familiar with the words and use them with ease. Points and picas are the units of measurement used in the Type Shop. There are approximately 6 picas per inch, and 12 points per pica. A metal line gauge, marked with inches, picas, and points, is the printer’s ruler.

Lay of the Case A large number of different type case layouts have been used since Gutenberg, but the California job case is the most commonly used layout in the United States. One California case is designed to hold one size of one typeface (for example, 12-point Bodoni Book). The full-size California case began production in the 1870s.1 The major innovation of the California case is that it combined upper- and lowercase letters with punctuation and numerals into one case. Before the California case, upper- and lowercase letters were in two separate cases, one placed above the other, hence the terms “upper” and “lower” case. In the California case, the caps are arranged in the right third of the case in alphabetical order, except the J and the U, which come after the Z. Although the J and U were added to the Roman alphabet before the invention of the California case, the order of the caps was never changed. Chapter 3: Printer’s Primer

(Opposite) Type cabinet with leading rack and a full-size California Case. Photo by John Dunlevy.

The Point System In 1874, John Marder of Marder, Luse & Co. Type Foundry in Chicago persuaded inventor and printer Nelson C. Hawks to go to San Francisco to establish a branch. Marder also asked Hawks to become a partner. At the time, type sizes from different manufacturers almost never matched each other; they each had their own proprietary way of sizing their types. Because of the non-interchangeable type sizes, spacing especially was a challenge. Can you imagine having separate spacing for each brand of type you own, for every size? It was great for the type foundries, since it encouraged brand loyalty. For the printer, it was a problem. Hawks seriously considered the need for uniform type bodies. When Marder visited Hawks in San Francisco for the first time in 1877, Hawks convinced him of the viability of the new system of type bodies. But there had to be a change to Hawks’ original system. The size of the (continued on next page)

31

pica was still in question. The pica used by Hawks (and a minority of type founders) was exactly ⅙ of an inch. It embodied a mathematical elegance that was not to be, because the most popular pica in use at the time (there were two), put in place by MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan Type Foundry, did not correspond exactly to the inch. It was .1660 inch and was named the “Johnson Pica.” Mr. Johnson came up with the eponymous pica early on in the foundry’s history, and it subsequently came into widespread usage. Ultimately, the most popular pica, not the best pica, was the one put into use. The marketing power of MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan was stronger than that of Marder, Luse & Company. Still, the newly adopted pica was an improvement over the old system. As foundries adopted standardized sizes, types from different manufacturers could be set together in 1879 for the first time with ease.5

Mnemonic Devices for Learning the Layout of the California Case b, c, d, e, i, s, f, g 
be careful driving elephants into small ford garages l, m, n, h, o, y, p, w ,
let me now help out your punctuation with commas v, u, t, a, r 
villains usually take a ride6

32

You might wonder, why not put the caps in alphabetical order now? The J and the U were added to the Roman alphabet generations ago. Perhaps it is the time investment required in changing an entire print shop of cases, sometimes hundreds, which prevents printers from doing so.2 On the left side and center, lowercase letters and punctuation are placed. Each letter, capital or lowercase, is kept in differing sized compartments based on their frequency of use. Since the letter “e” is used the most, it receives the largest compartment, which descend in size from there. Typeset by hand from a case was the primary method of preparing texts for printing from Gutenberg until the late 1800s, when the invention of the Linotype and the Monotype superseded it. Because of this, there are many different case layouts. Every language with a written system needed an organizational system for its case. Chinese, for example, is especially difficult to set by hand in metal type.3 One alternate case layout currently in our Type Shop is the ⅔ case. It is smaller than the California case, and has two sections in it instead of the three of a full-size California case. The section holding the lowercase letters is the same as in a full-size case, while the caps are arranged behind them at the back of the case. Another case layout that we have is for typefaces with capital letters only. All-capital typefaces are often kept in double, triple, or quadruple caps cases.4 The layout is generally the same as the California case but with the caps section only. The students experience the case for the first time with map in hand, or at least resting next to the case. Until the student has memorized the lay of the case, he will need to refer to the map when setting type. Our Type Shop is made up of type cabinets and cases of different sizes and layouts, from donors and printers with different purposes. Because of this, we tell the students to look inside the unlabeled compartments of the cases for unusual or special characters. For example, if the printer who bought the type requested “æ” or “œ” ligatures from the foundry, they will be found there. Sometimes, as a space-saving device, more than one type size or typeface is kept in one case. This is acceptable when the size and or face are easily differentiated. Some of our type is from the home shop of a commercial printer with excellent taste, Mr. John E. Sullivan of Little Pica Press, who stored his type in ⅔ size cases. Some was more recently acquired from a job printer, Mr. A.W. Meers, who kept his collection of equipment in three buildings in a gentrifying Chicago neighborhood. He showed his love for letterpress (and his cat) by covering the tops of

For the Love of Letterpress

Single Piece of Type

(Top) The basic unit: a single piece of type. (Bottom) Diagram of the California Case.

Face

Counter

Beard Shoulder

Height to Paper .918 in.

Nick

x q

l v

m u

n t

e

h

i o a

s

f g

y p w , r

; : . -

æ œ

ff 9 A B C D E F G fi 0 em quad

z

d

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 $ £

en quad

!

c

Feet

H I K L MN O P Q R S T V W

quads

?

b

’ k

3-to-the-em spaces

j

4-to-the-em

ffi fl

5-to-the-em

Groove

X Y Z J U & ffl

Chapter 3: Printer’s Primer

33

(Opposite top) Roni Gross, Sweet Seventeen. Printed on Bockingford paper, hand set in Bell type, original text, edition of 55 copies. Text, design and printing by Roni Gross. Colophon drawing by Peter Schell, printed from a polymer plate. Sweet Seventeen tells the story of the life and death of a beloved dog. As the end nears, the spacing drops out and the letters become continuous–with only a few sentences standing alone, paralleling our experience of time in situations of grief. 2016. (10" x 12")

Measuring Wood Type Lead type is generally cast in sizes up to 72 point, after which the amount of metal needed for each character becomes too much and the accumulated weight of a set page too heavy. Wood type is manufactured for type sizes above 72 point. While foundry type is measured in points, wood type is measured in lines or picas. 1 inch = 6 pica = 6 lines 1 pica = 12 points 72 points = 1 inch

34

his beautiful oak type cabinets with cardboard to prevent them from becoming scratched. (And he let his cat sleep on the bed of the press.) The type acquired from these two men joined type in our shop from the Society of Typographic Arts (STA). The STA collected type and equipment for their members to use in the 1950s. Eventually, in 1984, when they could no longer keep it in its long-time home of the Newberry Library basement, it was transferred to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. This happened mainly through the efforts of STA member (and SAIC alum) Muriel Underwood. Some of the STA collection came from R.R. Donnelley, along with other commercial printers of the time. The following is from Muriel Underwood’s May 1997 article about the Shop for the Caxtonian: A 1952 listing of equipment shows that 30 cases of Futura were to have come from A-1 Typesetters, four cases of Bodoni from Runkle, Thompson, Kovats, and nine galleys of Garamond from Poole Brothers. Ludlow Typographic Company donated leads and slugs. RR Donnelley & Sons Company gave empty California job cases and cabinets, an imposing stone, a Vandercook proofing press, and other miscellaneous equipment necessary for typesetting and printing.7 The history of this collection is integral to its spirit. Our goal is to pass that spirit and history, and the care for it, on to the students. To aid in their use, the type cabinets and cases of type in our shop are inventoried, catalogued, and cross-listed four ways (alphabetically, and by size, style, and location). They are also shared both in a binder and digitally. In identifying the type in the inventory by style, the students slowly learn to distinguish them from each other. It is important to handle type cases with care. The powerful force of gravity is explained on the first day of class; it is best to be aware of it at all times. This may seem like an odd statement, but to students used to digital type, it is prudent to point it out. When handling cases, use both hands. Carefully, with each hand along the sides of the case, pull it incrementally out of the cabinet and lift with your legs/shoulders to place it on top of the slant-top cabinet. If the case is very heavy, get help from a fellow student. We avoid the method where the case directly below the case in use is pulled out halfway, in order to support the case directly above, because it isn’t quite as safe. Many of the rails in the old cabinets are wood and are failing, and therefore cannot support the weight.

For the Love of Letterpress

(Bottom) Arion Press, The Lulu Plays. Monotype Perpetua and Gill Sans type, with hand set Perpetua, Claudius, and Neuland, letterpress printed on Hanemuhle Biblio. Drawings by William Kentridge printed by four-color offset lithography. Hand-sewn binding with linen thread over linen tapes, with hand-sewn silk headbands in black and red, and bound in gunmetal grey cloth, in a slipcase. 2015. (13 1/4" x 9 1/2")

Chapter 3: Printer’s Primer

35

(Top) Caps Case. Photo by John Dunlevy. (Bottom) Diagram of leading and spacing.

1 2 3 4 6 12 18

SPACING: EMS AND ENS

36

em quad

2 em quad

en

3-to-em

4-to-em

5-to-em

For the Love of Letterpress

}

}

LEADING

SLUGS

Spacing and Leading Because they are invisible both in computer typesetting (referred to in Adobe InDesign software as “hidden characters”) and in the final printed piece, spacing material and leading are a revelation to students. On the student’s first day in the Type Shop, the invisible and hidden becomes visible to them, as solid matter filling the space between words and lines. Spacing and leading are shorter than type high, which in the United States is .918 inch, and therefore they do not print. Each size of type comes with its own matching size of spacing. The basic unit of spacing is the “em quad,” sometimes called a “mutton” to distinguish it from its half-size relative, the “en quad” or “nut.” “Quad” is short for quadrat, which is larger spacing, usually 1 to 4 ems wide. A 12-point type requires 12-point spacing, and the em quad of a 12-point type is a 12-point square. Similarly, a 30-point type em quad is a 30-point square. Completing the set are the spaces, 3-to-the-em (3 of these = 1 em in whatever size you are using), 4-to-the em (4 of these = 1 em, ditto), and 5-to-the-em (5 of these = 1 em). There are also 2 em quads (= 2 em quad) and copper and brass thin spaces. These last two are thin pieces of copper and brass—the copper is ½ point, the brass is 1 point. Copper and brass thin spaces are used for spacing out capital letters and for other very fine adjustments. In the past, printers would sometimes cut exceedingly thin sheets of paper down to make even finer spacing adjustments.8 Often we find these paper thins lingering in our type cases, waiting to be used again by a discriminating student. For space between words, the California case gives the largest space compartment to the 3-to-the-em. In many instances this is the most commonly used space between words in ordinary composition. In some shops, however, when closer spacing is desired, the 4-to-the-em space is the most commonly used.9 This cuts down on the possibility of unsightly areas of white in a page of text. These areas are called “rivers” when they make vertical lines of white and “lakes” when they make a visual hole in the text. Although it is true that typographers do not agree on exact standards in spacing, some say the ideal space between words in straight matter composition should be about the width of the counter in the lowercase “o.”10 In general, the books of Bruce Rogers are an excellent place to learn about beautiful typesetting and spacing; nineteenth-century job printing and composition, with their emphasis on speed, are not.

Chapter 3: Printer’s Primer

37

Leading and slugs are pieces of metal placed between lines of type, shorter than type high, to add space between them. The thinnest leading is 1 point. There are also 2-, 3-, and 4-point thicknesses of leading. Leading equal to or thicker than 6 points is called a slug. It can be cut with a slug cutter or lead saw to the desired line length. Leading is usually kept in a leading rack on top of the type cabinet. In our Type Shop we keep 2-point leading and 6-point slugs in lengths from 6 to 30 pica on hand in the leading rack, while leading and slugs longer than 30 picas are stored for use in special projects.

Setting Type by Hand “It would be well for the young compositor, learning how to distribute, to cultivate the habit of promptly picking up every letter he drops on the floor. Type is not improved by walking on it.”11 After type and spacing, leading, points, and picas have been explained to them, students are ready to set type by hand. We begin with the composing stick. The composing stick is an adjustable hand-held frame for holding lines of type. The first composing sticks were made of wood and used to set a single line length. The adjustable stick wasn’t invented for another 100 years. In 1645 the iron composing stick came into use. In 1810, the steel composing stick was made with a capacity (depth) increased to nearly 2 inches. It marks the line between ancient and modern composing sticks.12 Printer’s furniture are pieces of wood (often), metal (sometimes), or plastic (rarely) used to hold type in place in the bed of the press while printing. There are substantial differences between wood and metal furniture. Wood furniture is comparatively light and inexpensive. It has give, it expands and contracts with moisture and temperature. With heavy use wood furniture can acquire smashed corners, which reduces its precision even more. Metal (usually iron or steel) furniture is heavy, and can damage the bed of the press if dropped on it, but metal furniture is comparatively exact in its measurements. Because of this, it is especially useful for locking up multiple pages and close registration. Resalite (plastic) furniture has the benefit of not expanding and contracting, and of lightness. It has the advantages of wood and metal furniture, and none of the drawbacks. It is quite expensive, however, and not readily available. Furniture is stored in a furniture cabinet, with sizes ranging from 2 picas x 10 picas to 10 picas x 60 picas. Furniture, like spacing and leading, is shorter than type high, so does not print. It is cut in

Chapter 3: Printer’s Primer

(Opposite top) Stoffel Van den Bergh and An Eisendrath/ Kastaar, Reopening Museum Plantin-Moretus. A series of small cards, a combination of original sixteenth-century letters from the archive and modern typography, postcards, and other materials: all wood block illustrations from the collection of Museum Plantin-Moretus. Design and production by Kastaar: Stoffel Van den Bergh & An Eisendrath. Kastaar was given access to the archives containing the original sixteenth-century woodblock illustrations: thousands of hand cut printing blocks that were used in the books of Plantin and Moretus. The collection received the Museum Shop Award in Flanders, and a European Design Award in Porto. 2016. (Opposite bottom left) Joe Galbreath & Colin Ford, the printing process for Band and Show, Show and Dance. “From Globe Poster Baltimore’s hand-cut blocks. Printed without a press, as Globe ceased letterpress printing commercially in the late 1980s. This study in both form and language, recontextualizes the content of these blocks by creating a monumental column of exquisite lettering and disembodied phrases, allowing the viewer to more fully appreciate these workhorses of the twentieth-century American street poster.” 2009. (52" x 39") Photograph by Colin Ford. (Opposite bottom right) Joe Galbreath & Colin Ford, Band and Show, Show and Dance block print. 2009. (52" x 39") Photograph by 
Colin Ford.

39

(Opposite top) 1499 Dance of Death engraving depicting a composing stick. Claudin, Anatole, Histoire de l’imprimerie en France au XVe et au XVIe siècle. 1904. (Opposite bottom) Holding the 
composing stick. Photo by John Dunlevy.

40

standard lengths from 10 picas to 15 picas, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, and 60 picas. Furniture widths are 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 10 picas. It is easier for beginners to set their type on a standard furniture size line length, so they will have an easier time arranging the furniture around the type while devising a “lockup” for printing. In order to correctly set the line length in your composing stick, place a piece of furniture of the desired line length in the stick and close the “knee.” Remove the furniture without opening the knee. Once you set your line length, in order to preserve uniformity of tautness from line to line, do not loosen the knee of the composing stick to remove the type. Holding the composing stick in your left hand, place a slug in the stick of the same length. The slug should be slightly loose in the stick, not too tight. Listen to the sound of the slug in the stick as you move it back and forth. When the slug is too loose, you hear a different tone than when the slug is snug and not too loose. Try it. You want the tautness of the type and spacing, not the leading, to push slightly against the stick when the line is set. After you choose your type, be sure to keep a slip of paper in the galley, marked with the typeface name, size, and location. This tactile reminder aids in identification and distribution. Set your first line rag right. Begin with an em quad, place it close to the knee. Hold it in place with your thumb. Choose the first letter of your text. Reach into the case with your right hand, find the letter, feel the nick, and set it in the stick upside down with the nick up. The letter will read backwards. Then set the second letter and the third until you finish your first word. When you are holding your stick correctly, you will be reading your type upside down, from left to right. Place a piece of spacing material in the stick (for example, 4-to-the-em) and begin the second word of your text. Continue until you are close to the end of your line. Break your line and fill in with quads and spacing, ending with an em. Always begin and end your line with an em quad. This makes the lines easier to handle, and allows you to hang punctuation. Use the largest pieces of spacing you can, because too many small pieces of spacing, copper, and brass thin spaces make the line springy and difficult to lock up. “Less is more” is a good principle to follow here; if you use the fewest pieces of spacing possible, then you will have fewer pieces to put back in order if the line becomes pied (or spilled). To correctly fill out the line with spacing, remove smaller spacing and replace them with larger ones. Place larger spacing toward the outside and smaller spacing toward the type.

For the Love of Letterpress

Chapter 3: Printer’s Primer

41

(Top) Peter and Donna Thomas, Gypsy Wagon, Mohawk Superfine Cover. Wood type from the Hamilton Wood Type Museum. 2010. (12" x 9") Photograph by Peter and Donna Thomas. (Bottom) Galley slip. Photo by John Dunlevy.

42

For the Love of Letterpress

Again, whether right- or left-handed, you should be holding your composing stick with your left hand and reaching into the case with your right. Feel your line with your right hand. Does it feel tight? Loose? If it feels loose, fill in the line with spacing until it is tight, but not too tight. It should stand up on its own without falling over, but you should be able to slide it out of the stick without straining your fingers. To begin your second line, place a piece of leading of the same line length as the first on top of the line of type. Begin your second line with an em quad just like the first line, but on top of it. Set your text continuing on from your first line. If you are setting 12-point type, you should be able to set five lines or so in the stick, after which you can remove them and tie them up in your galley. If your lines are very long and your stick is therefore heavy, transfer your type to the galley after only a few lines. If you have more lines to set in your text, place the first group of lines in the closed side of your galley. Add lines until you are finished and then tie them up together in your galley. (See the section “Tying Up the Form.”) Wood type is normally too large to set in a composing stick, but it is still a good idea to match your line length with a standard furniture length. Do a trial lockup of the form in a chase or a galley; use reglets and leading for spacing. When setting a page of type, it is most efficient for all of the lines to be set on the same line length for ease of lockup. Then, when the page is in the bed of the press, all of the lines will create a uniformly taut form. All of the lines must be set with the same degree of tautness. If they are not, some lines will be loose and wobbly, while others will be too tight. Both cause the type to be “off its feet.” When type is off its feet, it is leaning to the side, which causes uneven printing, and sometimes broken type.

Alignment The way most readers are used to seeing type in newspapers and novels is justified left and right. This isn’t the most beautiful way to set type, but some argue it saves the most space. Some prefer rag right (left aligned) for its superior legibility. Like word spacing, there is an ongoing debate about the truth of this. Centered lines of type are also sometimes required. The student must know how to set type all of these ways.

left/right justified When

setting lines left/right justified, begin the line with an em as usual and set your type until you are

Chapter 3: Printer’s Primer

43

I love letterpress.

FLUSH LEFT I love letterpress.

I love letterpress.

FLUSH RIGHT CENTERED

close to the end of the line. Insert an em. How much space is left? Change 4-to-the-ems to 3-to-the-ems to “space out” and fill the line. Do the opposite to “space in.” The overall goal is to set a uniform page, avoiding visual holes. When looking at the space between letters, keep in mind their shapes; strive for visual balance. Do not use en spaces or spaces smaller than 5-to-the-em between words. Hyphenate words to create a pleasingly spaced page. “Spacing in” is preferred over “spacing out.”

rag right  After justified setting, you can easily set rag (text

that is left aligned). When setting rag right, keep the same word space throughout and break the lines to create a pleasing “rag” while avoiding “widows” or “orphans.” A widow is one word on a line by itself at the end of a paragraph. An orphan is a short line or one word appearing at the top of a page or column. While setting type, look at the edge created; an undulating line is preferred over one very long line followed by one very short line. Make adjustments until you have a satisfactory “rag” edge.

centered  In order to set a line of centered type, place an equal

amount of spacing material before the first word in the line and after the last word in the line. The shapes of letters can cause the line to look “off-kilter” even if mathematically correct. Adjust as needed with spacing material. Again, use the largest spacing material possible.

flush right  To set flush right, rag left, first set the line as you would rag right. When approaching the end of the line (where you plan to break it), slide type in the stick to the end of the line and fill out the beginning of the line with spacing and quads.

hanging punctuation  “Hanging”

quotes and other punctuation into the margin creates an aesthetically pleasing visual line. To hang punctuation in justified copy, remove the em quad

44

For the Love of Letterpress

from the end of the line with the quote marks (quote marks are the most common marks to hang) and replace with an en and a 4-to-theem. Adjust as needed.

choosing line length  Take into consideration the length

of the text, size of type, and standard furniture size. One rule of thumb is to not exceed the length of 1.5 lowercase alphabet in the size and style of the type used.13 “If you have liberty to choose, never set a solid text type in a measure of more than fifty ems of that text type. Long lines are hard to read.”14 Therefore, do not set 12-point type on a line longer than 50 picas. To aid in readability, if the line length is longer, increase the leading.

quadding out  When you fill up the line with spacing, you

are quadding out. Consider using leading to fill up space if you are short on quads. For example, two 6-point slugs of the correct length can fill up space in a line with 12-point type. Measure the length of the space to be filled and select or trim to the appropriate length of leading. Place the smallest space next to the letter or punctuation, the largest on the end of the line. Finally, before justifying, read and correct your line, and when justifying, do not force characters and spaces into the line. For tips on acquiring speed in hand setting, see the International Typographic Union book Lessons in Printing.15 Although the simple mechanics of setting type by hand can be learned in an afternoon, to do it really well and quickly takes years of practice.

Tying Up the Form When your composing stick is full, you are ready to transfer your type to a galley. In order to preserve your line length, especially if you will be setting many lines of the same length, do not unclamp the knee. Place your thumbs and first fingers against the ends of the line. Exert firm pressure. Angle or lean it out while squeezing. Avoid lifting the type if possible. Walk the type out carefully, sliding it onto the corner of the closed end of the galley. Add additional lines until your form is finished.16

tying up  Cut off approximately 36 inches of string from a cone

or reuse pieces from previous forms. You need enough to wrap around your form three times, and to wrap some onto your fingers.

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1. Anchor the string by wrapping it around your three middle lefthand fingers several times. 2. Place your anchored string fingers on the corner of the form away from the corner of the galley. 3. Wrap with other hand clockwise, returning to the corner with your anchored fingers. 4. As you turn the corner while wrapping your string, be sure to go below the starting corner, which will catch the string and hold it in place. Tighten the string at the same time. 5. Go around the form three times, tightening and catching the string each time at the same corner. 6. On the third time, again tighten and catch the string on the corner, then stop and tuck the string under with a short piece of leading. Pull the knot to the corner. This allows the string to be untied easily when in the bed of the press. If the knot is tied incorrectly, the form could pi when the string is loosened for lockup. After dressing the form (surrounding the type with furniture in the bed of the press), attempting to untie inappropriate knots is a needless frustration.

Ink William Morris chose the ink carefully for his books. After an intensive search, truly additive-free black ink was found in Hanover, Germany, made by the Gebrüder Jänecke ink manufacturer.17 Morris was able to achieve rich black printing with it, in emulation of the dense blacks of medieval manuscripts, which was an aesthetic long out of favor. Gutenberg, amazingly, is still our best model for a rich black ink. Today there are many different manufacturers of ink, although few of them make ink especially for letterpress. Good letterpress ink is stiff in body and highly pigmented. The ink must sit on the face of the letter and transfer easily to the paper, producing a sharp opaque print. Offset lithography inks are often too runny and not as densely pigmented as letterpress inks. Traditional lithography inks are mostly too stiff for letterpress. Etching inks are unsuitable because

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Tying Up the Form. Photos by John Dunlevy.

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(Top) Eric Baskauskas, Limited Edition. Ink made from car paint dust and burnt plate oil #3. Photograph by Eric Baskauskas. (Center) Eric Baskauskas, Limited Edition. Printed from polymer plates on 100 lb French white Recycled Construction cover stock. 2010. (12 ½" x 19") Photograph by Eric Baskauskas. (Bottom) Eric Baskauskas, Limited Edition. Pop-Up Art Loop installation on view at 33 West Randolph Street, Chicago. 2010. Photograph by Eric Baskauskas.

of their runny, oily nature, which allows the ink to sink into etched lines and be wiped off the surface of a copper plate, the opposite of what is desired for letterpress ink. Fritz Klinke of NA Graphics, the owner of the original Vandercook blueprints, sells ink especially for letterpress made by Victory Ink and by Great Western Ink. Van Son Ink has been making letterpress ink since 1872. Their rubber base ink has additives that slow the ink drying time and reduce washup. Oil-based letterpress ink (somewhat of a misnomer, because rubber base is also oil base) is also used. It doesn’t have additives to slow the drying process, and is often more densely pigmented than rubber base ink. It can start to dry on the press, however, which then requires additional washup. To remove the ink from the can, skim the knife over the surface of the ink, like frosting a cake, to remove it. Never dig in the can with the knife; keep the surface flat. Digging exposes the ink’s surface to air, which dries it out. Depending upon the paper, letterpress ink dries by oxidation, absorption, and/or evaporation. When letterpress was the primary method of commercial printing, a different formula of ink was used for each kind of paper. For example, “news ink” was a thin, freeflowing ink which “set” only by absorption into the paper; “bond ink” was a fast-setting ink for bond, ledger, or other hard finish paper which allowed for very little absorption into the paper.18

Paper for Proofing We will discuss paper in depth in Chapter 4. Briefly, use smooth white paper for proofing. Scrap bond/computer paper will work. Carbon paper can also be used as a “quick and dirty” proof, bypassing the need for ink. You need a galley for the type to be at the correct height in order to proof on a galley press. Adjust the packing on the proof press as needed. A kiss impression (one where the impression in the paper is barely detectable) is the most desirable in the proofing stage.

Proofing For proofing on a galley proof press, tie up your form and place it in the corner of the galley. Check to be sure no string or any other object is under the type. Place two magnets, one on each side of the form, to hold the form firmly against the corner of the galley. Alternately, place your form in the center of the galley and surround it with four slugs, then four magnets. Use a planer to set the type on

Chapter 3: Printer’s Primer

“It took six months to remove the paint from my 1994 Nissan Sentra Limited Edition. Working in sections, I reduced each piece to bare metal with a hand-held electric sander before painting it gray. As I sanded the car, the layers of paint were reduced to dust. I saved as much of the dust as possible. When the process was complete, I sifted the pink paint dust into a fine powder and then mixed it with oil to produce ink. The ‘Limited Edition’ emblem from the back of the car was enlarged and turned into a plate for letterpress printing. During printing I used all of the gritty, viscous ink; my dust collection yielded a ‘Limited Edition’ of 243 prints. Due to the imperfect nature of the production methods involved, each print is completely unique. A car is a tool, a device that saves time and work for its owner. With a finite number of days to accomplish our life’s goals, things like automobiles allow us to move toward these ends most efficiently. The process of removing paint and collecting dust from my car was an attempt to explore the economy of time and the pursuit of goals. It was arguably a superfluous and cumbersome way to accomplish something (itself, arguably worthless) that could have been done far more quickly and easily, not unlike modern-day use of letterpress printing as an artistic form.”
 —Eric Baskauskas

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Vandercook 1 galley press. Photo by John Dunlevy.

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its feet. Before inking, place the planer flat on top of the type and tap gently on it with the quoin key. Always use black ink and white paper when proofing. The purpose of the proof is to find broken or wrong letters and to evaluate choice of typeface, letter spacing, and word spacing. Black ink on white paper provides the strongest contrast and makes the type the most visible. Use a brayer to roll out the ink on an ink slab. Roll the brayer over the type several times in different directions. Do not use too much ink. Do not push down too hard with the brayer; this will ink the shoulders of the type and produce an over-inked print. Place the paper carefully on the type. Without shifting the paper, take the handle of the press and roll the cylinder over the type and paper, taking the proof. Lift the paper straight up from the type. The first sight of a proof from type set by their own hands can cause the beginner’s eyes to widen, as they experience the delayed gratification the proof gives. Even if the first proof is not perfection, it conveys a humanity that a laser print from a digital file doesn’t. In the words of one-time letterpress beginner and SAIC letterpress teaching assistant Kelly Harris:

For the Love of Letterpress

Above my desk at home pinned to the wall I have the very first letterpress endeavor I set by hand; a 1 x 3 inch paper that states simply (in the ever prophetic words of Yoda): “Do or do not. There is no try.” Not only is this “piece” printed on cheap white computer paper; it’s torn crooked, the printing is obscenely non-uniform, and there’s a very conspicuous thumbprint on the back side. Arguably, it’s an exercise or draft [. . .] But to me, these qualities are what appeal to me the most—that these mistakes are so tactile—that their existence is possible only through a physical human presence (or in this case, error)—that is what I find most invigorating about working with type.

Students in the SAIC Type Shop, looking at their first printed sheet. 2012. Photograph by Amara Hark-Weber.

Notes 1 David Bolton, “Empty California Job Case,” the Alembic Press website. Available at www.alembicpress.co.uk/alembicprs/calblnk.htm (last updated April 15, 2009; last accessed July 25, 2012). 2 In fact, Graham Moss of Incline Press in Oldham, England has done so for his own shop. Yet Mr. Moss is greatly in the minority. David Bolton, “Incline Press

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Chrissy Laing, Our Shared Anatomy. Gothic Ultra Condensed wood type, Archer digital type; linoleum cut, polymer plates, pressure printing, hand lettered cover; accordion style binding. Printed on Reich Savoy 80# in Grey, Reich CT clear, and Reich CT Primary red. Prose poem written by the artist dedicated to her late father. 2015. (5" x 7")

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Improved Double Case,” the Alembic Press website. Available at www.alembic press.co.uk/typecases/ipdcase.htm (last updated March 3, 2009; last accessed July 25, 2012). 3 “The effect of printing was different in East and West because of the nature of the Chinese language. The Chinese language, when it is written, uses characters or graphs, sort of like ideograms. It is not an alphabet like we know it. As a consequence, there are literally thousands of Chinese characters. . . . In Chinese writing, you had to have a very large number of characters, each individually carved to set in the press. So even though they invented movable type [in the 11th century], it actually was never as useful as wood-block printing—carving the blocks of each page separately and independently.” Robin D. S. Yates, Professor of History and East Asian Studies, McGill University. Available at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh /nova/ancient/song-dynasty.html (last accessed February 8, 2018). 4 Ralph W. Polk and Edwin Polk, The Practice of Printing Letterpress and Offset, Seventh Edition (Peoria, IL: Chas. A. Bennett Co., Inc., 1971), 29. 5 Richard L. Hopkins, The Origin of the American Point System for Printers’ Type Measurement (Terra Alta, WV: Hill & Dale Private Press, 1989), 27. 6 Glen U. Cleeton and Charles W. Pitkin, General Printing: An Illustrated Guide to Letterpress Printing, revised by Raymond L. Cornwell (Peoria, IL: McKnight & McKnight Publishing Company, reissued Saratoga, CA: Liber Apertus Press, 2006), 23. 7 Muriel Underwood, “For the Love of Letterpress, a Tradition Continues in Chicago,” Caxtonian: Journal of The Caxton Club of Chicago, Volume V, No. 5, (May 1997), 1,5. 8 “For non-distribution systems (in which machine composition is used and the metal melted and recast), the ½ point spaces are paper, while the 1 point thickness is cut from manila tagboard or 1 point strip metal spacing.” Ralph and Edwin Polk, The Practice of Printing, 33–4. 9 Ralph and Edwin Polk, The Practice of Printing, 46. 10 Cleeton and Pitkin, General Printing, 29. 11 International Typographic Union (ITU). Lessons in Printing, compiled into Student’s Manual, ITU Course of Lessons in Printing, Unit 1, Lesson 5 (Indianapolis, IN: Bureau of Education, International Typographical Union, 1934), 26. 12 “First History Ever Written of Composing-Sticks from the First to the Last and Best, 1450–1914,” Star Tool Manufacturing Company, Springfield, Ohio. The American Printer (New York: Oswald Publishing Co., Volume 60, No. 1, March 1915), 91. 13 Ralph and Edwin Polk, The Practice of Printing, 195. 14 Theodore L. DeVinne, Manual of Printing Office Practice, reprinted from the original edition of 1883 with an introductory note by Douglas C. McMurtrie (New York: Battery Park Book Company, 1978), 19. 15 International Typographic Union, Lessons in Printing, Unit 1, Lesson 5, 18. 16 Cleeton and Pitkin, General Printing, 52–3. 17 Arts & Crafts Museum, “Kelmscott Press.” Available at http://www.artsand craftsmuseum.org.uk/Arts_and_Crafts_Movement/Emery_Walker_Library/The _Private_Press_Movement/Kelmscott_Press.aspx (last accessed February 8, 2018). 18 Ralph and Edwin Polk, The Practice of Printing, 129–30.

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4

chapter four Press and Printing

G

utenberg printed on paper and vellum. His paper was made from cotton rags, surviving the 500 years since, forever sealing the relationship between sublime printing and rag paper. Handmade paper, luscious, soft, able to take on many colors, custom-made, thick, pleasingly human, is the top choice for many letterpress printers, just as it was for Gutenberg.

Paper Commercial paper today, used for large runs of magazines, books, and newspapers, is made from trees. After the tree is de-barked and chipped, it needs to be chemically treated in order for it to be made into paper. To get away from this process, seen as environmentally unfriendly, alternatives to paper made from trees have been sought. “Tree-free” paper can mean paper made from cotton, bamboo, or hemp. Although cotton paper is certainly “tree-free,” it is also seen by some as non-sustainable because of the large amount of resources, such as water and pesticides, utilized when growing it.1 Bamboo is touted by some growers and paper manufacturers as a better alternative.2 Bamboo paper for letterpress has been offered by paper mills such as Legion in the United States, Lana Papiers in France, Hahnemühle in Germany, and Awagami in Japan. For so many manufacturers to introduce paper made from bamboo indicates a demand for an environmentally sustainable letterpress paper. However, bamboo is classified as an invasive plant in some places, and cotton paper has not lost its appeal. Boxcar Press recently offered an all-cotton paper to the public that is suitable for letterpress, with a coating for HP Indigo printing. The company states that the paper is made with wind energy, and has carbon-neutral manufacturing.3 The search for the most eco-friendly paper continues. Letterpress has the ability to accept many different materials for printing, especially if the matrix is a photopolymer plate. Photopolymer plates made from digital files tend to be much more resilient than lead type, which is especially true when a heavier punch is desired. The ideal paper for letterpress is soft and smooth, with minimal sizing. Handmade paper fulfills these criteria easily. It is the top choice for letterpress as well as the most expensive. The next best choice is mold-made paper, made on a machine from rags or cotton linters. Least expensive is machine-made paper from wood pulp. Between these three options there are many different possibilities. The grain of paper is evident in machine-made and mold-made paper. Handmade paper has no grain, because the grain of the paper is created when the majority of the fibers line up parallel to each other

Chapter 4: Press and Printing

(Opposite) A Noble Fragment, Being a Leaf from the Gutenberg Bible, 1450‒1455. Courtesy of Chicago Public Library, Special Collections. Photo by John Dunlevy.

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in manufacturing. This happens when the paper pulp is poured onto the moving mold and the fibers line up, like logs floating down a river.4 In the formation of handmade paper, the fibers behave more like leaves in a pond, floating freely in all directions, and so do not form a grain. The effect of grain is that the paper wants to bend, fold, and tear much more easily in one direction, with the grain, rather than the other, against the grain. For this reason, the grain of the paper should always be parallel to the spine of the book, so the pages will bend and fold in harmony with the turn of the page. The two sides of the sheet are different for most paper. One side is the rough mold side. The other side is the smooth felt side, which is normally the top side. Take note of the position of the watermark if there is one. When the watermark is right reading, this is the front or top of the sheet. In some papers the difference between the mold and the felt side is much more pronounced, while in others it is less. Wash your hands before you cut or tear the paper to size. Use a paper knife or a tear bar for a soft edge. Employ a guillotine or a paper cutter for a sharp edge. Stack the paper printing side up. Traditionally, the deckles are at the bottom or the right side of the sheet. This works well for feeding on a Vandercook, since it is better to feed paper into the grippers from a uniform cut edge, rather than an irregular deckle. Be sure to tear to size some newsprint for proofing as well. Allow extra paper for setup. One rule of thumb is to expect 10% to 20% spoilage. When printing an edition of ten, consider buying half as much more of the edition paper. Be prepared for spoilage in each step: in the printing of each color, every time the paper goes through the press, and in the binding. A student’s biggest expense is paper; buy as much as you can possibly afford. For more on paper, see the section “Choosing Appropriate Paper” in Chapter 8.

The Vandercook Proof Press: “The Editioning Press” Originally, Vandercook presses were not made to be used the way we use them: to teach art students who are almost always absolute beginners. The presses, manufactured in Chicago beginning in 1909, were originally designed for accurately checking the printability of type and plates.5 Vandercooks are capable of producing very-highquality printing even when the operator knows comparatively little about the process. We refer to our four Vandercooks that have grippers and adjustable inking systems as “Editioning Presses.” This is to distinguish

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(Top) Tear bar in use. (Bottom) Vandercook Presses. Photos by John Dunlevy.

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(Opposite top) Diagram of a Vandercook Universal 1. (Opposite bottom left) The cylinder undercut is found on the side bearing. Photo by John Dunlevy. (Opposite bottom right) A “draw down” and a “tap out.” Photo by John Dunlevy.

them from our small gripperless Vandercook No. 1 that has to be inked with a hand brayer. We named them for the way the majority of Vandercooks still in existence today are used: for editioning. Vandercook without a doubt is the most recognized name in the world for proof presses . . . The first press was a “rocker” proof press, made with a geared cylinder. Up to the development of this press all proofs were either made on a roller press that depended on gravity for impression or on a Washington Hand Press.6 We have five Vandercooks: a Universal I, a Universal IAB, a No. 4, and a No. 3. The fifth Vandercook is a No. 1, a small galley press without grippers. After the students set type by hand, print proofs on the No. 1, and make their corrections, we print the type together in a broadside on one of the editioning Vandercooks. Before you begin on any press, wipe down the bed and bearers with a slightly oily rag. Refer to the press manual for oiling and lubrication instructions. Be sure all moving parts are oiled. (In the SAIC Shop, staff oversee this task to be sure every student is not oiling the presses in our Shop.) Buy a manual from NA Graphics, or check the list of manuals downloadable from the Boxcar Press website.

packing  The

goal of packing is the perfect impression. Too much packing and your “punch,” or impression, will be too strong, possibly damaging the type and press. Too little and the ink won’t fully transfer to the paper. At one time the “perfect” impression was a “kiss” impression: no indentation in the paper was visible or felt. This is traceable to 1801, when the Fourdrinier papermaking machine was patented.7 With the adoption of this thinner paper made from wood pulp, the kiss impression allowed faster printing and resulted in less wear on the type.8 Our contemporary aesthetic is an impression just distinguishable on the back of the paper and just visible on the front. This differentiates letterpress from the flat printing of lithography and digital printing. In our Shop we use oiled tympan paper for packing. Follow the recommended thickness for your press; read the cylinder undercut stamped on the cylinder of the press. When the carriage is at the feedboard, the numbers are visible stamped on the operator’s side. The Universal I has a cylinder undercut of .040 inch. Keep in mind the .040 inch thickness recommended by the manufacturer is measured from the bare cylinder to type high, which includes the paper on which you are printing. So if you are printing on very thick paper,

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Vandercook Universal 1 B

D

C

E F

G H

A

I

M

L

N

F J

K

O

P

A – Feed Board

E – Cylinder

I – Form Roller

B – Side Guide C – Paper Guides D – Grippers

F – Bed & Cylinder Bearers G –Vibrator Roller H – Rider Roller

J – Press Bed K – Dead Bar

M – Inking Roller Trip Lever N – Cylinder Carriage O – Cylinder Trip (Print)

L – Toggle Switch

P – Gripper (Foot) Pedal

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(Top) Maria Jose Prenafeta, Fit o no Fito. Letterpress printed with wood type, linoleum blocks, and photopolymer plates. 2009. (8 ½" x 8 ½" x ½") Photograph by Maria Jose Prenafeta. (Center) Pamela R. Barrie, Cover Them Over. Suspended flags and bound pamphlet. Hand set type with typographic flowers on white Frankfurt Laid and blue Larroque Mouchette paper. 2008. (8 ¼" x 12 ¾" x ¼") Photograph by Catherine Gass. (Bottom) Pamela R. Barrie, Cover Them Over. Cemetery installation. 
2008. Photograph by Catherine Gass.

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you must reduce the thickness of the packing by removing sheets; add packing when printing on very thin paper. Measure the total thickness with a micrometer. Oiled tympan paper becomes compressed with use, so be sure to change it periodically. Some printers, such as Claire van Vliet,9 use a Mylar draw sheet in place of, or on top of, oiled tympan paper. Two of the advantages of Mylar are that it is easily cleaned off when it gets ink on it and it doesn’t need to be changed often. Follow the directions in your press manual when changing the packing: Repacking Cylinder. The cylinder is ground for .040" packing. It is very important the correct amount of packing is carried on the cylinder. Incorrect packing is apt to cause misregister, slurs, and wrinkles. . . . For most work the best cylinder packing consists of all hard manila sheets. Thickness of packing may be adjusted by placing thin sheets next to the cylinder. To change or adjust packing, move cylinder to center of bed (on trip if there is a form or plate on the bed) so the reel rod is in the up position. Unlatch reel rod ratchet with wrench . . . and loosen drawsheet from reel. With left hand, grasp packing and as cylinder is returned to feedboard, lay packing on feedboard. If necessary to change the drawsheet, loosen the fillister head screws in the packing clamp gripper bar. Unless overlays are being used, only the drawsheet is held by the bar. When moving cylinder to center of bed to secure packing, hold packing in position by smoothing it out with left hand. Be sure packing is tight to cylinder at both sides of gripper edge.10

mixing ink colors  In our Shop, students primarily mix

ink for short runs, using the color wheel or the Pantone swatch book as a guide. The Pantone book is manufactured for offset printers, but it can be used for choosing letterpress colors. It is handy for finding out what base inks are needed to mix a particular color. For example, you can’t achieve certain colors if you don’t begin with reflex blue or process yellow. Offset printers use an ink scale to measure out amounts of ink for mixing colors. The Pantone book’s ink mixing proportions assume the printer has one. If you don’t have an ink scale, you are still mixing by eye, but with a useful guide (the percentages) and a goal (the printed swatch). If you need to mix a special color consistently, be sure to mix a sufficient quantity. Or, order the ink already mixed from your ink supplier.

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(Top) Nick Loaring, Golden Cabinet Gig Posters. Laser-cut MDF and hot metal type, Square Gothic, Fedrigoni Materica Gesso, designed and printed by The Print Project for Golden Cabinet, Shipley. Posters from Golden Cabinet's 2015–2016 season at The Kirkgate Centre, Shipley's community centre. 2015. (353 x 500 mm) (Center) Lily Chen, Letters. Printed from wood and metal type on Rives BFK in an edition of 10. 2017. (5" x 8") The artist wrote the collection of letters to serve as a reminder of the intricacies of her relationships; each letter was then paired with a a typographic glyph (“letter”). Photo by John Dunlevy. (Bottom) Angie Butler, et. al, Greetings: Letterpress animation. Multiple photographic stills and letterpress printed materials at the Print Centre, The University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol, UK. Printed by: Angie Butler, Hazel Grainger, Lucy Guenot, Ken Hugill, Ian Knight, Andrew Morrison, Lucy May Schofield, Tom Sowden, Elizabeth Willow, Philippa Wood. Printers worked in pairs to produce sequential letterpress printed materials and photographic stills that could subsequently be made into an animation. Animated by: Claire Baillie-Cloke. Music by: Si Butler, Simon Smith. Thanks to: Sarah Bodman, Paul Laidler and the original “Len,” Len Buck RIP.

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Using the Pantone Uncoated Formula Guide, look at the percentage indicated next to your chosen color. As the NA Graphics website states: “The basic color chart for mixing PMS colors for printing—note these are printed by offset and letterpress typically lays down a much thicker layer of ink than offset. PMS colors printed letterpress typically print darker than . . . the Pantone sample books will show.”11 Some printers compensate for this difference by using opaque white instead of transparent white. Others will use transparent white, as the Pantone Matching System (PMS) book directs, but will aim for one shade lighter than the chosen swatch. Opaque white tends to be more blue-white and is a good choice if you do not want the paper to show through or want the color to cover something else. Transparent white is a vehicle with no pigment in it, but has a yellowish hue because of the oils in it. It spreads out any pigment it is added to, giving it a watery look, and allows the paper and any other printing underneath to show through. The authors of The Practice of Printing advise, “Start with the lightest color first, then add other colors sparingly. If the lighter color should be added last, it would take much more ink to secure the proper proportions, and would result in an over-supply of the mixture.”12 Pigment amount and density is much greater in inks other than white. Therefore, you will create much more ink than you need and waste white ink if you do not follow this rule. Another guide for mixing ink is the color wheel. Explore hues and tints by mixing a color with black or white. Complementary colors can be added to a pure color to reduce brightness or to darken value. “There are times when a dark ink other than black may be used for subduing colors . . . Violet, for instance will deepen yellow and not turn it green as a blue-black is very apt to do.”13 To make an inking slab to mix your ink, place white paper on a flat, comfortable height work surface, then place a thick piece of glass with finished edges on top. Tape down the edges. The area for mixing ink should be clean and well lit, with natural light if at all possible. Remove the ink from the can, skimming the surface with an ink knife. The amount removed will depend upon the number of prints, the absorbency of the paper, and the size of the form. Scrape the ink onto the inking slab and “work it” by drawing the knife down through the ink, turning the knife and drawing it through the ink again. Pick out any dried bits of ink with the knife. Check the consistency of the ink. Drip the ink from the knife to the slab. It should flow slowly down. When in a pile on the slab, it should slump a little, not result in a flat puddle. If the ink is too thick, work

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(Opposite top left) Wesley Kloss, Autophobia. Posted on a mailbox. Printed in two editions: 75 on white and 75 on red. French Paper: Aged Newsprint 80 lbs, Red Construction 80 lbs. Each poster is numbered and all distributed posters have a corresponding location to edition number, which is cataloged in a printed book. 2010. (19" x 12 ½") Photograph by Wesley Kloss. (Opposite top right) Wesley Kloss, Autophobia. Posted on a door. 2010. (19" x 12 ½") Photograph by Wesley Kloss. (Opposite bottom) Wesley Kloss, Autophobia. Posted in a Laundromat. 2010. (19" x 12 ½") Photograph by Wesley Kloss.

it with the knife until it is loosened. If needed, add a small drop of reducing oil to loosen it further. If the ink is too thin, add a very small amount of magnesium carbonate. For example, if you have a 1-inch-diameter circle of ink on the slab, add ¼ teaspoon of magnesium carbonate. Color perception is subjective. The ambient light in which you are looking at a color affects it greatly. Test your ink color by making a draw down or a tap out. For a draw down, take a clean, flat-edge inking knife and dip the corner into the mixed ink. Dot the small bit of ink onto your piece of paper. With the flat edge of the knife, scrape the ink down the sheet, first pressing hard at an 80-degree angle and then changing to a 45-degree angle. This is in order to evaluate the result of both a thin film of ink and a thick one. Make your draw down on your actual printing paper to see how the paper color affects the ink color. For a tap out, dip a clean index finger into the mixed ink. Tap your slightly inky finger on the paper, creating a dense area of ink. Continue tapping until you have a less dense area of ink as well. Evaluate the result—compare to the Pantone swatch and make corrections to the mixed ink if necessary. If you have ink left over, wrap it in aluminum foil, folding the packet tightly. Attach your draw down and mixing guide as a label. To add ink to the rollers, add a small amount at a time. Using the inking knife, take a small amount of ink and dab it in even “dots” across the rider roller. Begin with less ink than you think you need. It is easier to add more ink than to take it away. Turn on the motor or manually turn the crank until the ink is evenly distributed across all of the rollers.

adjusting the roller height  After adding ink to the

rollers, use the correct roller gauge for your press to check that your form rollers are the correct height. In our case, it is a .918-inch roller height gauge. It is best to do this with no type in the bed. With the rollers in print position, push the gauge under each inked roller in turn and look at the resulting ink stripe. The ink stripe should be about the thickness of a nickel (the manual specifies 1⁄16 to 3⁄32 inch). Check the front and back rollers, far side, and operator’s side. Turn the four black roller adjustment knobs (Universal I) or loosen the two set screws and turn the four large flat screws (No. 4 and No. 3) to raise and lower the rollers (clockwise to raise, counterclockwise to lower). Repeat until the roller height is correct at all four points. For No. 4 and 3, after setting the roller height, tighten both set screws.

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(Top) Measuring from cylinder side bearing. (Center) Ink on rider roller. (Bottom) A good lockup is essential to 
good printing. Photos by John Dunlevy.

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Lockup Pica ruler in hand, begin the lockup. The principles of a good lockup are: 1. The fewest pieces of furniture are used. 2. Stable construction. 3. The quoins are not over-tightened, causing the type and furniture to rise. 4. The form remains immobile, with no workups (type or spacing that has worked up above type high).

positioning paper and type  The puzzle of the lockup

is fun. Enjoy it, use math, don’t rush. To determine the placement of type in the bed, place a computer printout of your design, or a complete proof cut to the same size paper as the edition, into the grippers from the top edge. Measure in picas from the top edge of the sheet to where your type will begin. Depending on the setting of the paper guides, if type or plates are placed in the way of the grippers, they can be smashed. To allow for the grippers, place a 3-pica piece of furniture at the head of the bed to prevent this (see example below). With these measurements, you can place your type in the bed of the press correctly and quickly. If possible, lock up the form in the center of the press bed. You will fill in the entire bed with furniture; it adds stability to the form and aids in registration. Keep in mind that you cannot print a bleed on the edge of the sheet where the grippers hold the paper. If a bleed is required, position it away from the grippers, or cut the sheet down after printing. The type should be placed in the bed with the same amount of space you measured on your proof from type to top edge. If you are feeding from the top of your sheet, the top of your first line of type will be toward the left in the bed of the press, as you face the bed from the operator’s side. Example: If there are 6 picas from the position of your type to the top of your sheet, place a 3-pica width piece of furniture at the head of the bed. To center the lines of the paper left/right, allow space (about 4 picas) for quoins (metal wedges for tightening the form) on the operator’s side, and fill up the near and far sides of the form with an equal measure of furniture.

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(Top) Lead Graffiti, By the Nos. Caterpillar book printed from hand set wood and metal type on Mohawk Superfine. 2012. (5" x 4" x 1") This book is the result of a full-day ‘creative’ letterpress workshop with design students. Photograph by Lead Graffiti. (Bottom) Lead Graffiti, By the Nos. Lockup. Photograph by 
Lead Graffiti.

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At the feedboard, measure from the cylinder side bearing to the sheet. Measure from the bearings on the sides of the press bed to calculate the placement of the form. The two measurements align. Move the side guide to gain the correct position, or move the form in the press bed. In the furniture cabinet, each piece fits in its own slot, many marked on the end with the length. Add and subtract the standard sizes in order to complete your lockup in an efficient manner. For stability, the furniture should be arranged around the form like a frame. At the head and foot of the form, the furniture is parallel to the rollers; on the sides of the form, the furniture is perpendicular to the rollers. As you face the bed, the quoins are always placed on the side closest to the press operator, and on the right. When the quoins are tightened, they push away from you and toward the head dead bar. Deviation from this rule results in poor lockup and difficult registration. Once the form is loosely dressed, with furniture arranged around it, untie it. Keep the string in the galley if you want to use it again. The lockup can now be completed by filling in gaps with furniture or reglets and tightening the quoins (details in the next section).

quoins  A

quoin is a small metal wedge that expands when tightened, tightening or locking up the form. There are many different designs for quoins. One consists of a pair of triangular wedges of metal that are pushed apart with a matching quoin key. A second kind is the Challenge “high-speed” quoin. It is rectangular and expands evenly when the matching quoin key is used. When teaching beginners, the advantage of the wedge-shaped quoins is the obvious mechanics of the design. On the high-speed quoins, the mechanical innards are covered up. To tighten the quoins, use the matched quoin key. Turn the key only to finger tight; too much will cause the form to rise up and result in inconsistent printing. Plane your type to set it on its feet before tightening the quoins. Do not plane type when it is inked. Place the planer on its side when not in use, so bits of debris do not stick to its face and subsequently cause damage to it or to the type.

Press Operation Keep safety in mind at all times when printing. Tie back long hair and remove any long necklaces. The Vandercook Universal I and No. 4 have motor-driven ink drums that can catch dangling items.

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(Opposite top) Russell Maret, Specimens of Diverse Characters. Letterpress and Intaglio on a custom making of Velke Losiny paper using digital and foundry typefaces designed by Russell Maret. Type and images printed from photopolymer plates, except for Iohann Titling, Nicolas, and Lisbon Ornaments, which were cut and cast in new foundry metal by Micah Currier at the Dale Guild Type Foundry. 2011. (16 ½" x 11 ¼" x 1 ¼") Photograph by Annie Schlechter. (Opposite center) Flatland by Edwin Abbott. Arion Press. Accordion-fold of 56 folded panels, with an introduction by Ray Bradbury, and illustrated with fourteen line drawings and ten diecuts by Andrew Hoyem. Watercolors added by hand. Univers, composed in Monotype, then reset by hand. T.H. Saunders hot-press paper. Bound in aluminum covers, in a hinged and clasped aluminum container. 1980. (14" x 7" x 1 ½") (Opposite bottom) Peter Kruty, I Had a Blueprint of History. Thirty pages of images by Lesley Dill that incorporate the entire text of the poem. The book is a collaboration between Lesley Dill, Sue Gosin, founder of Dieu Donné Papermill in New York, poet Tom Sleigh, of Dieu Donné’s papermaker Paul Wong, and Peter Kruty Editions. “Trompe l’oeil filmoplast tape tricks the eye into thinking horse and rider are a cutout. (continued on next page)

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Place your sheet of paper on the feedboard and step on the gripper pedal. If you are printing on the Vandercook No. 3, which has no gripper pedal, advance the cylinder until you hear a click, then bring the cylinder most of the way back to the feedboard. As you do so, the grippers will open. Feed your paper before the grippers close. Use two of the paper guides (next to the grippers) and the side guide. The paper guides are adjustable. Turn the knobs attached to the paper guides to adjust them. For the side guide, loosen the knob to move it; tighten it in position.

inking, trip/print  Be sure the bed of the press is free from

any obstruction (i.e., random type, string, wrench, pica ruler). Turn the handle with your right hand and arm while holding the paper lightly with your left hand against the cylinder. As you turn the handle, step toward the end of the bed; follow the paper with your left hand. Release the paper as it passes over the type. As the carriage reaches the end of the bed, you will hear a “click” and a “clack” when the grippers release the paper. As you hear the sound, take your printed sheet out of the grippers and place it on the feedboard. In addition to the sound of the grippers releasing, you will hear the sound of the automatic trip mechanism. Holding the handle of the press, turn and walk back to the feedboard. As you do so, the press will be in Trip mode (inking only), and will not print on the tympan.

more on trip/print  When

in forward motion, the carriage of the press will be in Print mode, unless the operator overrides that function by flipping the Trip/Print knob to Trip. If this override is not used, then once the gripper pedal is depressed, the carriage will be in Print when in forward motion, and when returning to the feedboard, it will be in Trip. In Trip, the cylinder is actually in a raised position and therefore does not print; in Print, the cylinder lowers, bringing the type in contact with the paper. If you accidentally print on the tympan, wipe the ink off with a rag and a small amount of odorless mineral spirits. Rub the area with baby powder (or magnesium carbonate) to prevent the ink from transferring to the back of your edition paper.

Checking the Impression Evaluate your first proof by looking at it with a loupe. When the rollers are too low, ink is pushed into the counters of the letters and an outline appears. When the rollers are too high, some letters or parts of letters are not inked at all. If the ink looks blurry around the letter instead of sharp, the type is over-inked. If you see a partially printed For the Love of Letterpress

Paul Wong makes tissue thin abaca, elegant transparent abaca/cotton, metallic abaca silver, gold, copper and a mysterious butter yellow for the last page, each of these latter sheets dried against metal for a unique surface rustication.” 2012. (18 ¾" x 14 ½" x ⅜") Photograph by Taylor Photo.

(Opposite top left) Peter Fraterdeus, ATypi São Paulo 2015 Zapf Commemorative Banner. Printed on translucent Japanese Echizen Unryu-shi. Woodtype, Optima & Sapphire printed on the Vandercook 219 NS at SlowPrint Letterpress. “On the verso is a passage from Hermann Zapf's About Alphabets in commemoration of my teacher who passed away in 2015, hand set in his renowned typeface, Optima and Optima Italic. The banner is designed to be hung vertically by a single filament or ribbon so that the transparency of the paper and text will be seen as the piece turns through the light behind.” 2015. (6" x 25") (Opposite top right) Caren Heft, Crossing the Tigris (two spreads). Collaborative work with Jeff Morin and Brian Borchardt on Barcham Greene paper. Arabic dictionary endpapers. Gold stamping. 2011. (10 ½" x 6 ¾") Photographs by Jeff Morin. (Opposite bottom) Mark Lintott/Verdigris Press, Les Fruits Defendus. Mezzotint plates by Judith Rothchild of known and lesser known fruits, accompanied with original texts in French by Marie Rouanet. Mezzotints printed on Hahnemühle paper by the artist. Hand set Vendôme romain composed and printed by Mark Lintott on Rives BFK. 2016. (15" x 14")

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letter, check for type off its feet, broken type, or under-inking. If there is slurring on the proof, check the lockup to be sure type and form are held firmly in place. Slurs are blurred impressions caused by the sliding of the paper on the printing surface. Check packing; it may be too much. Read over your copy again for spelling errors; have a “fresh eye”—a fellow student—look it over. Check the back of the sheet for impression/punch. Feel it. Run your fingers lightly across the indentation. A slight indentation is desirable; too much impression damages the type. Add or remove packing sheets as required. Generally, if both sides of the sheet will carry printing, less impression is desired. If only one side will be printed on, more impression is tolerated.

Makeready “Makeready” means preparing the form to print evenly. When they were new, Vandercook presses were advertised as requiring no makeready; the claim was made with the understanding the printer was using new type and plates, all type high. In practice, some areas of the form may require more ink than others. For example, make­ ready is necessary if a cut below .918 inch is being printed at the same time as type. As an example, consider a paragraph of 10-point type composed with a two-line drop cap. The amount of ink deposit ideal for the 10-point type will likely not be enough for the two-line drop cap. With makeready, the impression for the drop cap can be increased by adding a thin tissue to the spot where the drop cap comes in contact with the tympan. Now, more of the ink from the drop cap will transfer to the paper. The opposite practice can be applied if more of the form requires less ink or punch on only a small area. In that case, cut out the area on the tympan requiring less punch. Another method of makeready, called underlay, brings an area below type high up to height by placing tissue underneath. Just be sure the added height does not raise the area above .918 inch.

Registering Multiple Colors Set all the type together in one form. Take a proof; finalize the placement. Then print on a piece of tracing paper cut to the size of your edition paper. Remove from the form only the type that is not part of the first color run. Fill the resulting gap with furniture. Print another

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proof. Lay the tracing paper proof over the proof to be certain your type is still in the same position. Make a sketch and take a photo of the lockup if multiple runs (or different print sessions) are required. Be sure to write down the exact measurements of the furniture as well as any reglets or leads used.

Editioning An edition is a set of books or prints that are all exactly the same. The ability to make multiple copies is one of the great joys of letterpress printing, and traditionally, one of its goals. When editioning, always handle your paper with care. Use clean hands. Do not allow stray ink or fingerprints in the margins. Be aware of the back of the sheet; keep it just as clean as the front, using a pink pearl eraser or an X-Acto knife to remove stray marks. Once you have the press set up, take a proof on your edition paper. Examine the impression and adjust as needed. When the print is exactly as you want it, mark it and keep this print to compare all subsequent prints. This print is referred to as a “bon a tirer,” meaning “good to print.” Irregular inking sometimes occurs when editioning. To avoid it, compare your “approved” proof to each print or page as you print. Always check for any broken letters or “workups.” Squint your eyes to see if the overall “color” of the text block is the same. Do not add too much ink as you print. One extra trip between each print is recommended, especially for a large form.

After Printing: Cleaning the Press When you are finished with your printing session, turn on your ventilation system or open a window. Clean off your type with a rag and solvent. Use the type brush if needed to remove excess ink. Do not allow ink on type or cuts to dry. Make a sketch of your lockup if you plan on using it again. Be sure to write down the measurements of the furniture, reglets, and any other leading used. Return furniture to its proper place in the cabinet, tie up type, and return to galley. Clean the press with vegetable shortening followed by odorless mineral spirits. In our Shop, we subscribe to a rag service that picks up the soiled rags, cleans them, and brings them back. Finish off with a final wipe-down with solvent and a white rag to be sure all of the ink has been cleaned. Check for stray ink on the press bed and on the bearers. Leave the press as clean as you would like to find it. If you won’t be printing the form again, distribute your type sooner

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rather than later, so that it can be used in other projects. This is particularly important in a communal shop where multiple individuals are using the type.

Platen Presses (Chandler & Price) Chandler & Price presses (C&Ps), driven by a foot treadle, were originally used for job printing. In the late nineteenth century, Harrison T. Chandler, an Illinois banker, while negotiating to buy an interest in the Cleveland Type Foundry, met William H. Price, son of a builder of printing presses. They founded the Chandler & Price Co. of Cleveland to build printing equipment. In 1884 the partners introduced their famous jobber. They sold their presses competitively until the early 1960s, when the tremendous growth of offset printing, plus competition from two other press manufacturers, Kluge and the Heidelberg, eventually doomed the production of all models of the C&P.14 Although C&Ps aren’t made anymore, because of their relatively indestructible construction, they are still found in shops today. The motorized models are particularly valued in some shops for longer runs. In our Shop, we have two non-motorized Chandler & Price presses: an 8 x 12 and a 10 x 15. Intermediate or advanced students can learn to print on them, but beginners do not. With care and attention, students can operate platen presses safely, especially manual table-top models. When operated with safety in mind, the C&P is appropriate for printing cards, invitations or small posters, and books. The C&P, and platen presses in general, accommodate stiffer paper stock since the paper does not need to conform to a cylinder. Chipboard is a favorite on this press, as well as coasters and business cards. The platen press is also good for embossing titles on book-cloth-covered boards. The coordination of eyes, hands, and feet necessary to operate a C&P efficiently demands considerable practice. For specific operating instructions, we recommend Elementary Platen Presswork by Ralph W. Polk and Platen Press Operation by George J. Mills. When mastered, the rhythmic union of printer and press is a delight to behold. Notes 1 “Cotton is considered the world’s ‘dirtiest’ crop due to its heavy use of insecticides, the most hazardous pesticide to human and animal health. Cotton covers 2.5% of the world’s cultivated land yet uses 16% of the world’s insecticides, more than any other single major crop.” Environmental Justice Foundation,

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(Opposite top left, top right, bottom left) NewLights Press: Aaron Cohick, Kyle Schlesinger, et al, What You Will (detail, cover, interior spread). Poems by Kyle Schlesinger. Object by NewLights Press: Aaron Cohick, et al. Letterpress printed on French Paper from photopolymer plates. “The covers were made by printing every single plate from the pages in white, on black paper, in exactly their position on the page, showing the entire open book at once. The jacket contains all of the 
information that would normally be on the jacket of a book (title, author’s name, press name, etc.) collapsed and layered into single lines and in two 
reversed arrangements. The book functions in, and demonstrates, both 
idealized, spatialized time, and indivisible, overlapping duration.” 2011. 
(8 ¾" x 9 ⅛" x ⅜") Photographs by Aaron Cohick.

“The deadly chemicals in cotton” (London: Environmental Justice Foundation in collaboration with Pesticide Action Network, 2007). 2 “Bamboo stands out as one of the most renewable resources available.” Legion Paper website. Available at www.legionpaper.com/legion-bamboo/ (last accessed July 25, 2012). “Made with a mix of 80% bamboo and 20% recycled kozo (mulberry) Awagami’s BAMBOO papers represent the finest eco-alternative archival papers for fine artist everywhere.” Awagami Paper Press Release. www.prlog .org/11782175-awagami-japan-expands-their-fine-art-bamboo-paper-collection .html (last accessed January 25, 2012). 3 Boxcar Press, “Flurry Cotton,” https://www.boxcarpress.com/letterpress-paper/ (last accessed February 8, 2018). 4 ITU, Lessons in Printing, Job Unit IV-Lesson 6 (Indianapolis, IN: Bureau of Education, International Typographical Union, 1938), 17. 5 “Although the Vandercook is usually thought of as a proof press it is much more. Designed as an engraver’s test press, it is a hand/power operated cylinder press with power driven ink distribution and designed in every detail as a precision tool for test proving both single and multicolor plates. . . . [It is] a testing instrument for accurately checking the printability of type and plates.” Fred Williams, “The ‘Vandy’! A Splendid Press,” Type & Press (Issue No. 67, Winter 1991). Available at vandercookpress.info/downloads/articles/T&P%20articles/t&p-williams. pdf (last accessed July 25, 2012). 6 Harold E. Sterne, “A Short History of Vandercook.” Available at vandercookpress .info/articles.html (last accessed July 25, 2012). 7 R. H. Clapperton, The Paper-Making Machine: Its Invention, Evolution, and Development (Oxford: Pergamon Press Ltd., 1967), 24. 8 Amelia Hugill-Fontanel, “Impression.” Available at https://letterpresscommons .com/impression/ (last accessed August 20, 2018). 9 “The Gourmet Vandercook: Printing on a Press Never Really Designed for Printing,” The Devil’s Artisan, A Journal of the Printing Arts, 17, 1985. Available at devilsartisan.ca/pdf/DA17.pdf (last accessed July 25, 2012). 10 Vandercook Manual: Operation–Maintenance, Parts List No. 4. (Chicago, IL: Vandercook and Sons Inc., n.d.). 11 NA Graphics, “Ink.” Available at order.nagraph.com/ink.html (last accessed July 25, 2012). 12 Ralph W. Polk and Edwin Polk, The Practice of Printing, 7th ed. (Peoria, IL: A. Bennett Co. Inc. 1971), 132. 13 Fred W. Hock, A Handbook for Pressmen (New York: Fred W. Hoch Associates, Inc., 1939), 149. 14 Fred Williams, “C&P—Pressman’s Favorite,” Type & Press, Summer 1977. Courtesy of the Amalgamated Printers’ Association. Available at http://www .apa-letterpress.com/T%20&%20P%20ARTICLES/Press%20&%20Presswork /Chandler%20&%20Price.html (last accessed September 8, 2018).

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5

chapter five Relief Matrices

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n relief printing, ink is laid on the high parts of a surface; the lower areas are not inked. The surface of the relief matrix must be flat, with the highest parts of the surface type high (.918 inch), in order to receive consistent inking from the rollers. The only relief matrix we have discussed thus far is metal type set by hand. There are other ways to set type however, and other relief matrices.

Foundry Type Foundry type is made of lead, tin, antimony, and sometimes copper,1 and is the hardest of the cast types. Gutenberg and early printers cast their own type by hand, one letter at a time with a hand mold. Once type foundries became a separate industry in the sixteenth century,2 they grew larger and more consolidated, finally collapsing under their own bureaucracy. The invention of Linotype in 1886 and Monotype in 1896 hastened their decline.3 Today, the foundry type torch is carried on by Rainer Gerstenberg Foundry in Germany.4 Mr. Gerstenberg casts from Stempel, Deberney, and Peignot matrices and others. All of his fonts come on a Didot body; finishing to U.S. or any other type height is included in the price. Didot spacing material is available on request (German type is normally .928 inch instead of .918 inch). Used foundry type of varying conditions can be acquired from different sources online or local dealers. Next best to foundry type is type cast on Thompson Type Casters, viewed by some as “a very close second to the foundry automatics.”5 Foundry type is the main kind of type we work with in our Type Shop. We are actively using the vestiges of the main foundries of Chicago and beyond: Barnhart Brothers & Spindler, Marder Luse & Co., and Western Type Foundry among them. We do our best to care for our foundry type, emphasizing to our students its relative fragility, as well as the difficulty (in some cases, the impossibility) of replacing it.

(Opposite) Flowers and Fleurons, The Shipping Forecast. Four sheets of Somerset Velvet printed letterpress with original Gill Sans wood type. 2010. (82" x 14") Photograph by Flowers and Fleurons.

Monotype There are two machines needed for Monotype casting: a keyboard and a caster. The keyboard records the text as holes in a roll of paper, and the caster reads the roll of paper, not unlike a player piano, casting the type. In this way an entire book can be set.6 The type is cast in

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(Top) Muriel Underwood, The Type Louse (title page). A long-neglected tale from Chicago Industrial Folklore. Set in 8/11 Linotype Century Schoolbook by Leonard Creswell, Line Typesetting Co. 2000. (3 ½" x 2 ¾") Photo by John Dunlevy. (Center) Muriel Underwood The Type Louse (spread). Photo by John Dunlevy. (Bottom) Alan Brignull/ Hedgehog Press, BPS Convention Keepsake. SB Consort, Monotype Grot 215. Miniature sheet of commemorative stamps printed for The British Printing Society Convention (Bristol, 2016) keepsake competition. Printed on gummed paper with type and magnesium blocks in four colors (the olive green is an overprint of the blue on orange) using an Adana 8-5 press, then perforated on a vintage Excelsior perforator. 2016. (137 x 80 mm)

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order by machine, producing individual types set in lines, superseding the need for hand setting. Monotype was originally designed to be printed once and then melted down for re-casting. For this reason, its metal composition was formulated to be softer than foundry type, which is intended to be set, distributed, and re-set many times. It is not, however, as simple as that. How long type lasts depends not only on its hardness, but on how it is handled and under what conditions it is printed.7 Monotype machines can also cast type durable enough for hand setting, which is then distributed into a case, re-set, and printed multiple times.8 Monotype spaces are not standard spaces. If re-spacing is required, do not mingle it with standard spacing. Throw the Monotype spacing into the Hell Box (a box for holding broken or damaged type) and replace it with the appropriate standard spacing material. Some printers who don’t trust the automated machine spacing even “run it through the stick,” that is, treat the type like foundry type and set each line with standard spacing in the composing stick.

Linotype Linotype was invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler, and first introduced in 1886 at the New York Tribune. Born in Germany in 1854, Mergenthaler emigrated to the United States in 1872, and obtained his first patent at age 20.9 Linotype, and its close competitor the Intertype, which appeared in 1913, are cast on a single line (lineo-type) after the copy is typed into the machine from a keyboard.10 If an error is found in the line, the entire line must be re-cast. From the point of view of the printer, aside from the type designs, there is little difference between Linotype and Intertype. They are each a single machine with a keyboard, above which molten lead is poured into type matrices, simultaneously casting the type and spacing the line. The solid lines are then assembled into a type form, which, after being printed, can be melted down again. Mergenthaler reportedly got the idea for the brass matrices that would serve as molds for the letters from wooden molds for making Springerle, which are German Christmas cookies.12 Linotype is still available today.

(Above) Western Type Foundry em quad. Photo by John Dunlevy. “etaoin shrdlu” is defined in Merriam Webster as a combination of letters set by running a finger down the first and then the second lefthand vertical banks of six keys of a Linotype machine to produce a temporary marking slug, not intended to appear in the final printing. Farewell etaoin shrdlu is the title of an excellent 1978 film created by Carl Schlesinger and David Loeb Weiss documenting the last day of hot metal typesetting at The New York Times.11

Ludlow A Ludlow is a type-casting machine that produces slugs from lines of assembled matrices. The matrices are kept in cases and set by

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(Opposite top) Sherwin Beach Press, Saving His Life. Written by Lee Sandlin. Illustrated with family photos from the collection of Nina Sandlin. “Sandlin tells the story of the extraordinary life and bewildering illness of his father-inlaw, Russian immigrant Nick Cherniavsky.” Letterpress and photo-etching, designed and printed by Martha Chiplis on Twinrocker Taupe using Monotype Ehrhardt set by Michael Bixler. Binding designed and executed by Trisha Hammer. 2008. (9 ½" x 11" x 2") Photograph by Jack Kraig. (Opposite center) Sherwin Beach Press, Saving His Life. “A map of Nick's lifetime of travel, drawn by Deborah Reade, serves as the front endpaper.” Photograph 
by Jack Kraig. (Opposite bottom) Richard Kegler, Anonymous Midwest Landscape # 1. Printed from backs of wood type blocks on Magnani Incisioni. Inspired in part by the documentation of saw patterns on the backs of wood type by David Shields, the discovery of misused broken wood type blocks; and the imagery of manufacturing by-products and neglect become something more formal and beautiful. Add in the inspiration of flying cross-country on a clear day and staring out at the flat landscape, and this is how this series came to be. 2014. (19.5" x 13.5")

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hand in a special stick. Since the product of the Ludlow caster is a solid slug, the type is always new. Once printed, the slug is melted down and the matrices are distributed. One of its most prominent advantages is its space-saving attribute, because of its small footprint on the type shop floor. It was originally developed for display composition and is capable of producing letters up to 144 point and figures up to 240 point. More often its type faces range from 6 to 48 points.13

Wood Type In 1834, William Leavenworth and A.R. Gillmore adapted the pantograph, a mechanism for copying draftsmen’s drawings, by combining it with Wells’ lateral router. The combination of the router and the pantograph allowed for the mass mechanical production of wood type . . . The combined router/pantograph produced wood type well into the decline and closing of the industry in the late twentieth century.14 Author and collector Rob Roy Kelly on wood type: With their multitude of inventive and imaginative forms and designs, they were expressive of their makers and of the people and spirit of the period. They were used prolifically, announcing ship sailings and auctions, serving for land notices, wanted posters, theatre handbills. Even today their power to evoke an image is evident.15 J. Edward Hamilton founded the original Hamilton factory, called J.E. Hamilton Holly Wood Type Company, in 1880, and within 20 years became the largest manufacturer of wood type in the United States.16 The plant was well situated for wood-type manufacturing, as it was built at the crux of two rivers. The waterway could bring logs downstream from the forests of Wisconsin and Lake Michigan, giving excellent access to ships from further afield. Hamilton eventually branched out into printers’ cabinets, then gas dryers, then medical furniture, but continued to make wood type until about 1985.17 After years of declining interest, printers are again acquiring and using wood type, driving prices up. Because individual letters are desirable to non-printers for decorative purposes, prices can be

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(Top left) Tracy Honn, Silver Buckle Press, IO (II). Van Lanen and Van Lanen Streamer wood type printed on Somerset. “It’s thrilling to get to work with a twentyfirst century wood type . . . Matthew Carter is interested in the ways his Van Lanen types can be manipulated on press to produce visual surprises . . . I composed forms I could print, work and turn, shift and overprint to create patterns exploiting the Latin type design . . .” 2011. 
(12 ½" x 7 ½") (Top right) Stacey Stern, “Typeface” Poster for Chicago Premier. Digitally designed and printed with polymer plates. 2010. (12 ½" x 19") Photograph by Kimberly Postma. (Bottom) Tina Arsenault, Ornamental Maple Leaf. Julianna Oldstyle type, designed and hand tooled by the late Jim Rimmer, Canadian Award Winning Graphic Designer and Typographer, printed on French, Madeiro Beach papers. “Commemorating Canada’s 150th Anniversary–a curious selection of 371 pieces of 19th century movable metal type and ornaments were brought together to form my country's iconic maple leaf flag. From anchors to bees, you will find many little hidden symbolic representations of our Canadian East Coast.” (12" x 12")

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high and therefore can make buying enough to print a poster costprohibitive. Happily, new wood type is once again being made: Virgin Wood Type in New York, Moore Wood Type in Ohio, and the Hamilton Wood Type Museum in Wisconsin are some examples.18 Printers are also making wood type for themselves, some with laser cutters and other non-traditional tools. Although wood type in itself is incredibly appealing to print with, we also challenge our students to integrate it into their books as an abstract shape. By using the largest size available, they begin to examine both positive and negative areas of each character and its relationship to the format (see the letterpress assignments in Chapter 10).

Images Almost since print began, lettering, then type, has been combined with images. Before printing, the images were the letters—pictograms and hieroglyphics. As writing developed and the alphabet became separate from images, humans began to utilize the expressive power of each. The methods to create and print the images have evolved over time, but the human desire to communicate, and to do so beautifully, has remained constant.

Ornaments “Metal-flowers were the first ornaments used in printed books to be set at the head of the first page and the tail of the last page.”19 “We can use these ‘ivy leaves’ or ‘flowers’ properly only by remembering that typographic ornament must harmonize in line and treatment with its accompanying letterpress. Before making a choice of ‘flowers,’ it is a good plan to study the specimen books of Caslon, Fry, Fournier, Didot, and Bodoni, which will reveal many good designs and give hints for employing what might otherwise seem useless material.”20 Printers’ ornaments have gone in and out of favor in typography, just as ornament has in architecture and art. For example, writing in the 1920s, printer and historian Daniel Berkeley Updike had a fondness for them,21 but poet and typographer Robert Bringhurst, writing in 1996, seemed to prefer ornaments not be used at all.22 Contemporary artists and printers such as Jen Farrell of Starshaped Press use ornaments constructively for image-making. However, embracing ornaments doesn’t have to be a denial of modernism.

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Like architect Louis Sullivan’s ornamentation, clean lines can form their underlying structure.23

Woodcuts Woodcuts existed before moveable type. The earliest dated woodcut is the Diamond Sutra, a printed book with both text and image. It is a Buddhist text, written in Chinese, and dated A.D. 868.24 In the West, “among the first surviving records of European woodblock printing is a fragment of a block depicting a Crucifixion. This block . . . has been dated about 1380, and since it is too large for the paper produced at that time, was probably intended for printing on cloth.”25 The fragment is carved on both sides, and includes carved uncial letters as well. Woodcuts are created by cutting on the cross grain of the wood. The wood grain is visually present as one of its main characteristics. The cutting tools, called gouges, are various kinds of sharp knives, v- or u-shaped. Gouges can cut away parts of the wood, leaving only the raised portions to print. The wood typically employed is pine and basswood. Artists who practice Ukiyo-e, the Japanese woodcut technique using water-based ink, prefer wild cherry, which is fine grained and hard.26 Artists who make their own woodcuts will want to consider the living organic presence of the wood. To see the grain better, try inking up the blank block before drawing or cutting on it, in order to utilize it in your composition. Keep in mind that both sides of the wood can be carved.

(Top) Paul Brown, Ten. Bembo and wood borders from the collection of Hamilton Wood Type Museum on Arches. 2009. (19" x 13") Photograph by Kevin Montague. (Bottom left) Samantha King, Little Book of Ornament. Grey card stock, news sheet, Menko kraft paper. Monotype borders No. 203 & No. 205; Caslon printed on an Adana QH flatbed press. Photographed by Samantha King at the Red Eel Press. 2017. (55 mm x 55 mm) (Bottom right) Cabaret Typographie with Officina Typo, Typo Game Poster. Printed with Fregio Mecano, a modular wood typeface designed and made in Italy in the 1920s. 2011. (20" x 27") Photograph by Cabaret Typographie.

Wood Engraving In 1770, Thomas Bewick in England began the revival of woodcuts by developing the technique of using a special engraving tool for cutting on the endgrain of the wood instead of the crossgrain.27 The tools for wood engraving, as it was called, are burins and gravers. Wood engraving, made popular for the mass market by newspapers because of its natural affinity with type, became widespread in the 1800s.28 Since they are cut on the endgrain, which is harder and closer grained than the plank side, wood engravings have a crispness and delicacy of line, allowing them to harmonize well with type. The wood is most often boxwood or, although slightly less desirable, maple.29 Wood engravings tend to be smaller than woodcuts because of the smaller girth (as opposed to the length of the planks cut from the tree, as in woodcuts) of the trees favored, and the larger

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(Top left) Cliché Letterpress Studio, Cliché Christmas Card. Designed by Ivan Gulkov. Savoy Bright White 220 lb 100% cotton paper. 2011. (7" x 5") Photograph by Cliché Letterpress Studio. (Top right) Cliché Letterpress Studio, Cliché Christmas Card (detail). Photograph by Cliché Letterpress Studio. (Bottom left) Gina Paolini, Typo Memory Game. A memory game consisting of 32 figures and 64 cards, and also a game of discovery because each represented figure was made with letters, numbers and punctuation (the bike consists of two O, one A inverted, a rotated y and an inverted L). Designed, composed and printed with movable type on a manual press by Ebe Babini at Officina Typo in Modena, Italy. Edition of 80 copies. 2016. (7.5 cm x 7.5 cm) (Bottom right) Michael Hepher, Both Sides. Wood and metal sorts, borders and ornaments printed on Cranes Lettra. “My goal was to use existing sorts, borders and ornaments from my collection and re-purpose them in a multi-layered piece that emphasizes their abstract graphic qualities, rich with color and movement.” (220 mm x 254 mm)

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amount of work involved in preparing the blocks for cutting and printing.30 “Wood engraving is primarily a ‘white line’ approach to relief printing; that is, the graver makes a thin, fine gouge in the wood that remains white as the surface takes ink.”31 Those who make wood engravings today have the choice of non-wood materials as well. Resingrave is a synthetic medium invented by Richard Woodman in Redwood City, California that approximates the qualities of boxwood for engraving.32 Artist and wood engraver Barry Moser has used it extensively for his work.

Linoleum Linoleum was invented in the early 1860s and first used for printing in 1890 Germany for the manufacture of wallpaper. The earliest linoleum cut, or linocut, is dated 1903 by Erich Heckel, the first major artist to adopt the medium. He and other members of the artist’s association Die Brücke regularly used linocut through the next dozen years. It was subsequently used by Picasso and Matisse to great effect.33 Linoleum is “made with powdered cork, rosin, and linseed oil, with a burlap backing.”34 It is available mounted type high, and has no obvious grain. It can be cut the same way as wood, with the same cutting tools. When cutting linoleum, remember, just as in type, the image is reversed when printed. Many artists find it easier to cut curves in linoleum than wood. Drawings can be transferred to the surface of the wood or linoleum by coating the back of the drawing with graphite or Conte crayon and re-drawing. Alternatively, there is the direct method. Draw on the wood or linoleum with ink or pencil and interpret the drawing as you cut it out. Print flats of color with uncut blocks. Heat the linoleum with an iron to make it easier to cut.

Plates: Magnesium, Zinc, Copper, Photopolymer When photography was invented in 1839, it led to the development of photomechanical processes used for printing35 such as photoengravings, which are plates, mounted type high, for printing halftones and line drawings. Halftones, which appeared first in New York in 1880,36 consist of a system of different-sized dots that print one color, but cumulatively make up a tonal scale. Photoengravings are made from “original images such as drawings, paintings, photographs, and letter forms, which are converted into relief printing

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image carriers (plates).”37 Metal printing plates can also be ordered unmounted, and then raised up by the printer either with wood or with a mounting system (such as a honeycomb base and toggle system).38 Copper and magnesium are the two common photoengraving metals. Zinc was formerly among them until environmental laws forced most engravers to abandon it.39 Zinc was for line engravings and coarser halftone screen engravings. Copper, which is harder than zinc, is the most expensive and is for the highest-quality work. Magnesium, which has largely taken the place of zinc, is harder than zinc, but not as hard as copper.40 OWOSSO Graphics, one of the largest manufacturers of letterpress plates, states on their website, “Magnesium can yield cost savings, and is often best used on smaller areas with smoother papers, while copper is typically beneficial for larger areas, more heavily textured papers, and extra long runs.”41 You don’t need a computer to order a plate; just mail a line drawing to the platemaker, and they will turn it into a plate. Copper plates cost more and last longer; magnesium can corrode over time if not stored correctly. To store magnesium plates for longer periods, spray a light film of oil on the face and place it in a plastic bag. Photopolymer is one of the newest materials for letterpress plates. A photosensitive plastic, it can be washed out in water with a brush by hand after exposure. Some printers invest in their own photopolymer platemaking machines, and so are able to control their own platemaking. A new all-in-one platemaker can be bought for $7,000 to $10,000. Used platemakers come on the market for substantially less. The SAIC Type Shop acquired one in 2014. The machine contains an exposure unit, a wash out unit, and a drying unit. Once you have a photopolymer machine, you still need to purchase the electricity to run it, a water hookup, unexposed photopolymer material, and negatives. The highest-quality negatives are made with silver process. The technology and the equipment required to support silver negatives is becoming scarce, however, because digital printing is replacing analog printing. Because of this, letterpress printers look for alternatives. Schools and individuals substitute silver process negatives with laser-printed and inkjet transparencies. Whichever method is used, be sure that the negatives are a dense opaque black. Photopolymer plates, like everything printed letterpress, must be brought up to type high. Normally, a metal base accomplishes this task. There are several competing brands, including Bunting, PatMag, and Boxcar. All are aluminum or steel, and two are magnetic (Bunting and PatMag). For a non-magnetic base, adhesive is needed to attach the plate to the base. The Boxcar Press website is

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(Opposite top) Tara Bryan, The Great Wall of China. Printed on double Xuan paper with Monotype Bembo cast by Michael Bixler and linocuts by Duncan Major. Iris bookcloth on boards with inset title and ornament. Story by Franz Kafka translated by Ian Johnston, with an essay by Vihanga Perera. “I printed this Kafka story to celebrate the 30 year anniversary of my return from teaching in China, and because of the incessant discussion in the US about building a ‘really great’ Wall. Using the traditional concertina structure with ink painting paper was a new challenge. I asked Duncan Major to make numerous linocut images reminiscent of Chinese ink paintings to create a scrolllike image for the back, and I designed the composite image printed in 5 colors.” (13 9⁄16" x 6 13⁄16" x ¼") (Opposite bottom left) Cabaret Typographie, Elastic Type. Letterpress and linocut poster printed at Officina Typo. “Starting from a classic sans woodtype, we visually contaminated it by adding new linoleum stretching, to give a new dress to the alphabet, making it more contemporary.” 2016. (50 x 70 cm) (Opposite bottom right) Helen Ingham, Now Cometh The Spring. Woodletter (two color DeLittle Art Sans) and two color linocut. 2012. (16 ½" x 11 ½") Photograph by Helen Ingham.

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(Opposite top) Alessandro Zanella, Ecce Video. Poems by Valerio Magrelli. Eight linocuts by Lucio Passerini. Set with digital type Legacy Sans. Title page and poem’s titles set in Monitor typeface designed by Alessandro Zanella. 
Printed on Tyvek® from photopolymer plates in black. Bound at the press by Alessandro Zanella. Accordion binding with Tyvek® and black heavy paper. Flexible cover with linocuts printed on front and back; enclosed in a transparent plexiglass case 2006. (13" x 8 ⅔") Photograph by 
Alessandro Zanella.

a good source of information for their eponymous base, and for plates and platemaking.42 After processing, photopolymer plates work very much like magnesium or copper. With its shallower depth (the distance between the printing face to the low part of the plate), photopolymer is less forgiving of uneven or too-low rollers and of overinking. Two of the main differences between metal plates and photopolymer plates are (1) metal plates will keep for a long time if stored correctly, while photopolymer is not meant to be kept, and (2) metal plates can be ordered already mounted; photopolymer comes unmounted. To learn more about photopolymer, the definitive text (since 1998) is considered to be Gerald Lange’s book Printing Digital Type on the Hand-Operated Flatbed Cylinder Press.

Laser Cut Materials Laser cut materials are a natural extension of woodcuts carved by hand, and of type manufactured with a pantograph. Students who are already familiar with the computer software find it an easy switch to using the laser cutter made available to them at SAIC. Other students who are more familiar with the wood shop utilize the equipment there, such as routers. SAIC’s laser cutters have been a real advantage for those students who are interested in type design, or in printing from large type, and for those who want to save money. In fact, if you aren’t making photopolymer plates in-house, it can be less expensive to laser cut an image in Masonite than it is to order a photopolymer plate, once you add in negatives and shipping costs.43

Conclusion Whether new or old, all of these relief matrices can be combined. Although there are now far fewer type foundries casting many different typefaces in metal, there is surviving casting equipment. There are people who are proficient with it and want to teach others. Photopolymer allows us to print digital type on old presses; some say it is responsible for the current revival and popularity of letterpress. Perhaps in the future, 3D printers, with their potential to “cast” type more economically, will have a larger role in creating matrixes for letterpress. Meanwhile, there is still interest and passion for making new type by combining digital and analog technologies. In Erin Beckloff’s

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(Center, bottom) Wilson Allen, Hand Atlas (printed piece and matrix). Bodoni printed on Canson Opalux paper. Text and line work taken from the 1978 reprinting of the 1901 Gray’s Anatomy, and Carl Sagan. Hand Atlas uses text from Gray’s Anatomy that is formed into images, creating the layers of the human hand, beginning with with the Surface anatomy of the hand, then Veins; Fasciae & Muscle; and Bones. The layers connect the complexity of representing image with text, and the intertwining which happens from overlapping transparencies, to a deeper idea, about the desire to understand the human body or natural world. The technique employed of creating images out of small text is called micrography and has a history tied to ancient Jewish manuscripts where religious text would sometimes be entwined to form images. 2017. (19 ¾" x 14 ¾")

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(Top) Rebecca Chamlee, Study for the Possibility of Hope. 2010. (6 ¼" x 6 ¼" x ½") Photograph by Rebecca Chamlee. “The images of native California plants and the San Gabriel mountains on three double gatefold spreads connect to the view from the poet’s porch where the poems originated.” (Center) Rebecca Chamlee, At Low Water. Deepdene and California Old Style, photopolymer plates printed on Awagami Kozo with Niyodo Kozo overlays. Drum leaf sewnboard binding, Ginga backcloth with printed St-Armand Old Master paper covering the boards. “At Low Water looks back to the beginnings of my passion for exploration and observation of native species to a time when I collected sea animals gathered at low tide to bring home and live in an aquarium in my girlhood bedroom. A poem, told from the viewpoint of the child in the moment of discovery, runs through the book on translucent leaves that overlay closeup images of the intertidal habitat. Field notes contain data from the year spent in the tide pools of Southern California researching and collecting images for the fourteen detailed plates of marine specimens and twelve habitat images found throughout the book.” (5" x 8" x 1")

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Pressing On: A Letterpress Film, we see Rich Hopkins, founder of Monotype University and the American Typecasting Fellowship, casting type with a vintage computer as one half (the keyboard) of a Monotype machine. In 2016, New-York-based printer Russell Maret designed a new face called Baker, cast by Swamp Press & Letter Foundry.44 Jen Farrell of Starshaped Press and Jessie Reich of Three Ton Bridge Type Foundry have collaborated as designer and typecaster, respectively, to create new metal type ornaments for letterpress printers. Three Ton Bridge operated out of the superlative Michael & Winifred Bixler Letterfoundry45 in New York. As long as people with the ongoing passion to create matrices for newly designed type and cast it in lead continue, we have renewed hope that this technology will survive far into the future. Notes 1 Theo Rehak, Practical Typecasting (New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Books, 1993), 60. 2 Frederick G. Kilgour, Evolution of the Book (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 92. 3 Kilgour, Evolution of the Book, 116. 4 https://www.rainer-gerstenberg.de/?lang=en (last accessed February 8, 2018). 5 Rehak, Practical Typecasting, 35. 6 Ralph W. Polk and Edwin Polk, The Practice of Printing, 7th ed. (Peoria, IL: Chas. A. Bennett Co. Inc., 1971), 145. 7 Fry’s Metals Ltd., Printing Metals (London: Tandem Words, 1972), 26. 8 “Rebuilt Monotype casters . . . will, when customized and used with intelligence, produce type that cannot be distinguished from foundry-cast type.” Rehak, Practical Typecasting, 23. 9 Zion Church of the City of Baltimore, “Ottmar Mergenthaler.” Available at http://www.zionbaltimore.org/history_people_mergenthaler.htm (last accessed September 28, 2012). 10 Kilgour, Evolution of the Book, 113, 116. 11 https://vimeo.com/127605643 (last accessed February 8, 2018). 12 Margaret Genovese, “Presstime, Mergenthaler’s Marvelous Machine Turns 100 This Year,” American Newspaper Publishers Association, Newspaper Association of America, 8(1–6): 16, 1986. 13 Victor Strauss, The Printing Industry: An Introduction to Its Many Branches, Processes, and Products (New York: Publisher Printing Industries of America and Washington DC: in association with R.R. Bowker Co., 1967), 90–91. 14 “Production” [unsigned], The Rob Roy Kelly American Wood Type Collection (The RRK) website, The University of Texas at Austin, School of Design and Creative Technologies College of Fine Arts. http://rrk.finearts.utexas.edu /?page_id=452 last accessed September 8, 2018).

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(Opposite bottom) Jose Resendiz, A MAKING OF A PAST | A MAKING OF A PEOPLE. Custom made archival boxes containing loose-leaf binders, perfect bindings, smyth sewing and several printing/production methods. Letterpress archive documents printed using lead type and photopolymer.“A MAKING OF A PAST recuperates a missing archive of Lower West Side, Chicago student activist history from 1968– 1972. Personal interviews and graphic campaigns shed light on student responses to the pressures of assimilation and acculturation, and the stresses of maintaining social and cultural representation in education at Harrison High School. The series presents a collection of designed fact and fictions in the form of photographs, diplomas, manifestos, and assorted high school ephemera. A MAKING OF THE PEOPLE imitates paper trails which continue the stories of several students from the activist archive and their divergent lives. Visual aids fill in the archive’s holes, absences, and erasures. The collected memorabilia has been redesigned and produced by incorporating letterpress, risograph, relief, inkjet, and screen printing methods. Archives, typography, and printmaking have served alongside selected imagery to communicate cultural dialogues and foster community interaction.”

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(Opposite top) Leslie Nichols, Typeface. Printed from wood type on Rives BFK at Women's Studio Workshop in Rosendale, New York. "Typeface is created with the letterforms found in the phrase “my dear sister,” referencing the salutations of early women’s rights activist Sarah Grimke in her Letters on the Equality of the Sexes. I pulled letters—such as the Ys, Ds, and the Es—that make the phrase from a variety of different fonts. As I arranged six forms of wood type, I considered how the layers would progressively build light and shadow. The combined forms create density in the image while the character of individual letters adds detail and rhythm.” 2015. (7.5" x 7.5")

15 Rob Roy Kelly Research, “Wood Type.” Available at http://www.rit.edu /~w-rkelly/html/05_obs/obs_wood2.html (last accessed August 6, 2012). 16 Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, “History.” Available at http:// woodtype.org/about/history (last accessed November 26, 2012). 17 Bill Moran, “Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum” Design Observer, 05.09.12 (September 5, 2012) https://designobserver.com/feature/hamilton -wood-type-and-printing-museum/28248 (last accessed September 8, 2018). 18 https://www.virginwoodtype.com; https://moorewoodtype.com (last accessed February 8, 2018). 19 Daniel Berkeley Updike, Printing Types: Their History Forms and Use: A Study in Survivals (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1923), 238–239. 20 Updike, Printing Types, 241. 21 Updike, Printing Types. Fournier le jeune’s Modeles des Caracteres, 1771, showed “ingenious and charming” ornamental arrangements, 252. 22 “Ornaments can be placed in the paragraph indents, but few texts actually profit from ornamentation.” Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style (Point Roberts, WA: Hartley & Marks, 2004), 40. 23 “His famous axiom ‘form follows function,’ became the touchstone for many in his profession. Sullivan, however, did not apply it literally. He meant that an architect should consider the purpose of the building as a starting point, not as a rigidly limiting stricture. He himself employed a rich vocabulary of ornament, even on his skyscrapers.” Biography of Louis Henri Sullivan previously available at www.landmarks.org/sullivan_biography.htm , now archived at archive. org (capture  as of June 24, 2016)—available via https://goo.gl/8ceT8C 24 Donald Saff and Deli Sacilotto, Printmaking: History & Process (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1978), 8. 25 Saff and Sacilotto, Printmaking, 9. 26 Saff and Sacilotto, Printmaking, 38. 27 Glen U. Cleeton and Charles W. Pitkin, General Printing: An Illustrated Guide to Letterpress Printing, revised by Raymond L. Cornwell (Peoria, IL: McKnight & McKnight Publishing Company, reissued Saratoga, CA: Liber Apertus Press, 2006), 162. 28 Saff and Sacilotto, Printmaking, 69. 29 Saff and Sacilotto, Printmaking, 70. 30 Read about the Chicago connection to Thomas Bewick in W. Hesterberg and T. Bewick, Thomas Bewick, the Blocks Revisited: The Story of the Blocks in Chicago and the Provenance of the Nine Blocks at the Hesterberg Press (Evanston, IL: Hesterberg Press), 2002. 31 Saff and Sacilotto, Printmaking, 69. 32 R. Michelson Galleries website. Available at “Moser at Seventy-Five: New, Recent, & Unexpected Works” R Michelson Galleries http://www.rmichelson.com/artists /barry-moser/moser-at-seventy-five-new-recent-unexpected-works/ (last accessed September 8. 2018).

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(Bottom left, bottom right) Hanna Bogue, Reversing Voids. Vida Sacic (instructor) Northeastern Illinois University. Balloon wood type, monotype letterpress on handmade paper. “Ms. Bogue created a series of 6 prints, printing wood type on a Vandercook 320 printing press. The prints feature self-portraits constructed through a masking process, allowing for controlled impression of type on paper. The prints are a meditation on identity. In them Ms. Bogue, an adopted young woman of Vietnamese heritage, contemplates her origins, her relationship to her lost birth mother and her own body as a symbol of her estranged culture. Through fostering a relationship with physical type, the printing press and its relationship to her own body, Ms. Bogue speaks of that which is otherwise unsayable.”–Vida Sacic. 2017. (20" x 30")

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(Top) Jennifer Farrell/ Starshaped Press, Urbs In Horto. Rustic, Railroad Gothic, Copperplate, Pen Print Bold type and metal ornaments on French Speckletone (18” x 14”) 2012. Photograph by Jennifer Farrell. (Bottom left) Lina Nordenstrom, M4. Water based ink on handmade paper imported from Thailand, Berlings Antikva type, the letter M, 102 cicero, monoprint/open edition with variations, hand printed. (80 x 54 cm)

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33 M.B. Cohn, “Linocut,” Oxford Art Online, January 15, 2018. Available at https:// doi.org/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T051233 34 Saff and Sacilotto, Printmaking, 82. 35 Kilgour, Evolution of the Book, 120. 36 Kilgour, Evolution of the Book, 120–121. 37 Strauss, The Printing Industry, 209. 38 To download the Sterling Toggle catalog, which explains the system, go to https://www.sterlingtoggle.com/pages/support  (which links to PDF: https:// cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1520/3814/files/DPS_Catalog.pdf ) (last accessed September 8, 2018). 39 “We no longer use zinc because of the Michigan environmental laws pertaining to this material, which makes it impossible for us to use.” Email to M. Chiplis, August 7, 2012, from Brandie Albring, Customer Service Specialist, OWOSSO Graphic Arts. 40 Strauss, The Printing Industry, 214. 41 https://www.owosso.com/products/magnesium-dies/ (last accessed September 8, 2018). 42 Boxcar Press website. Available at www.boxcarpress.com (last accessed February 8, 2018). 43 SAIC currently has six laser cutters: three 120 Watts, two 150 Watts, and one Multi-Wave Fiber Watt Laser. They are Trotec Speedy 400, Universal PLS6.150D, and Universal PLS6MW, and are identical in almost every way except for the power of their respective laser tubes. 44 http://russellmaret.com/ (last accessed February 8, 2018). 45 http://www.alphabettes.org/caster-masters/ Caster Masters by Indra Kupferschmid posted August 28, 2016 (last accessed October 18, 2018).

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(Opposite center right, bottom right) Stephanie Carpenter, Interpretation. Printed on a sign press with Gothic wood type. French Frostone, edition of 3. “While printing I enjoy breaking down words and letterforms to smaller modular components, then rearranging them to communicate in a different way. This piece uses 33 pieces of wood type in two rows, stacked on top of each other to make one word. For example, the E is created with an F stacked on top of an L. This print was largely the result of exploration while I was printing. I created thumbnail drawings exploring the idea of using two rows of type to create a taller word that is still readable, but wasn’t sure what the final piece was going to look like. I decided to use Gothic wood type since its stroke weight doesn’t have much contrast and would allow the pairings of letterforms to match up. Once I got onto the press I wanted to push the idea that these are two letterforms coming together. I printed the white type in one session, then the purple in another.“ 2016. (22" x 30")

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chapter six Contemporary Processes

O

nce you have become familiar with the fundamentals and traditional practices of letterpress, you can venture into contemporary processes and experimental techniques. These processes and techniques are not just meant to show how you can break the rules, and have fun doing so; they also prompt further exploration. They tap into non-linear thought processes and appeal to painters and others coming from less rigidly structured disciplines. The goal is to keep letterpress vital and in the world today. Some of these processes have been practiced in printmaking since the 1950s and earlier. Many are more easily carried out on a flatbed cylinder press such as a Vandercook or a handpress, but some can be executed with a platen press or a sign press. In the late 1940s and 1950s, interest in the use of color in the relief print increased . . . In France, Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) was responsible for another major innovation in the 1950s. Using one block for multicolor linocuts, he was probably the first person to devise a reduction method: cutting and printing each color from one block until only the last color portion remains on the block.1

(Opposite) Sara Langworthy, Morpho Terrestre (spread with poem). Printed from polymer plates on Sakamoto paper with hand-painted Sumi ink. 2006. (11" x 20" x 1") Photograph by Tom Langdon.

These processes are contemporary because even though they have their base in printmaking, some are currently widely practiced in combination with traditional letterpress techniques. Others are just catching hold in letterpress and have yet to become widespread. Innovation comes when the aesthetics and processes from one medium cross to another. We urge our students to connect typography and imagery with their own creative exploration, to result in new and exciting combinations. These processes are all based on the principles of relief printing and a type-high matrix. A matrix is a plate used in printing; more generally, it is a supporting structure.2 An experimental matrix is a matrix created using non-traditional techniques. Some of these techniques are used in printmaking for collagraphs, which is “a print made from a collage of various materials glued together on a cardboard, metal, or hardboard plate. Plastic, such as Lucite or Plexiglas, can also be used as a support for the glued materials.”3 One reason to create an experimental matrix is to achieve effects not possible or as easily achieved by traditional means. It is often also less expensive, and it offers an excellent opportunity to explore. To give our students a place to start, we made some bases out of Plexiglas mounted on wood. These are just under .918 inch (type

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(Opposite top) Janice M. Cho, Honesty Trumps Fame. Metal type, quoins, and wood furniture printed on Rives. 2012. (11" x 30") Photo by John Dunlevy. (Opposite center) Janice M. Cho, Unsung Heroes. Photo by John Dunlevy. (Opposite bottom) Radha Pandey, Anatomia Botanica. Handmade cotton/hemp paper, Hahnemühle Biblio, Bembo metal type, polymer plates, reduction linoleum. Anatomia Botanica draws its inspiration from botanicals (sixteenth- to eighteenthcentury European and American herbals), Mughal Indian ornamentation and sixteenth-century anatomical flap books. Flaps reveal the inner workings of the flowers. The texts are a combination of personal histories and experiences and scientific and factual information. The scientific voice is set in roman and the personal voice is set in italics. Illustrations were printed using a combination of reduction linoleum and mylar as a stencil. (9" x 4")

high) and can be used for any of the processes calling for a blank matrix. This way, when found objects or other material are added on top, the total height will add up to .918 inch and no higher. Forms higher than .918 inch will damage the press. To measure the height of your matrix, use the roller gauge, a plate gauge, or even more simply, place your matrix on a level surface next to some large type to see and feel the height.

Found Objects and Other Materials Anything relatively flat can be brought up to type high and letterpress printed. Should the materials not be completely flattened and sealed, however, they could cut the rubber rollers as they pass over them. Materials can be cut out, assembled, and mounted on top of a base. The materials are then sealed with an acrylic varnish or medium, such as Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic. Be aware of the health issues with any spray paint or varnish. Spray in a well-ventilated area, in a spray booth if possible. Found objects good for printing from are coins, washers, gaskets, tin cans, embossed signs, copper, aluminum, or plastic screens.4 Besides found objects, other materials to try are matboard, Masonite, masking tape, stick-on stars, telephone wire, doilies, string, ribbon, confetti (cut out with scrapbook punches), crinkled paper, cut paper, sheet magnets, vinyl letters, Legos, dice, Styrofoam, and Flexi-Cut.5 Materials from the letterpress studio, such as furniture, can be used as well. In the words of Janice Cho, “it was their chance to make it onto paper.”

Pressure Printing Pressure printing is also known as stratography. In pressure printing, a multi-level collage, or collagraph, is created and placed underneath the printing paper as it conforms to the carriage in a printing pass, or, alternatively, is adhered to the packing. The latter has the advantage in editioning, because of its superior consistency. This technique came to me when a piece of string got trapped under my printing sheet while printing a color “flat.” . . . I’ve since been told that other printers had made a similar discovery, such as the late Joe Wilfer who referred to this image as a “stratograph,” and German printers who refer to it as “Zurichtungdruck.”6

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(Opposite top) Felicia Rice, DOC/UNDOC Documentado/ Undocumented Ars Shamánica Performática. Guillermo Gómez-Peña performance texts, Felicia Rice relief prints and typography, and commentary by Jennifer González. Deluxe edition housed in aluminum case containing a video by Gustavo Vazquez, an altar, and a cabinet of curiosities. Opening the case triggers light and Zachary Watkins’ interactive sound art are housed with the book and pamphlet in a clamshell book box. Printed on Wookey Hole handmade paper in Helvetica Neue types. What does it mean to be documented or undocumented? How do these terms work across borders and boundaries, languages, and nations? DOC/UNDOC combines nineteenth-century print technology with twentyfirst-century digital typography; performance art and poetry; video and sound art; Old World traditions of the cabinet of curiosities with New World Mexican and Chicano traditions of altar making. (17 ¾" x 11 ⅛" x 1 ¼" — extends to 31'6".) (Opposite center, bottom) Alyssa Arnesen, Mithridatism. DIN Next Pro and Mrs. Eaves, photopolymer plate, laser printing on French Speckletone. Information sourced from The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithridates, Rome’s Deadliest Enemy by Adrienne Mayor and Appian’s Roman History. (continued on next page)

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Some of the visual characteristics of pressure printing are allover color (good for backgrounds), low contrast (“atmospheric” soft edges), and interesting textures. It also has the potential for very sensitive and nuanced effects. Pressure printing works best with smooth, thinner paper and is often used in combination with other printing processes. Small changes (i.e., different paper, different packing) can make a big difference in the result. Lower relief collage works better than higher. Some collage elements that are good for pressure printing include paper, masking tape, stickers, doilies, string, dried glue, cut paper, and vinyl letters. These can be combined and printed multiple times on the same sheet to create a complex background. Students who take the time to try pressure printing, or stratography, are rewarded with a simple low-cost way to create delicate backgrounds and imagery.7

Split Fountain Also called “rainbow roll,” split fountain is an inking process where multiple colors are added to the rollers simultaneously, then allowed to blend together through the oscillation of the rollers. The predominant visual characteristic of a split fountain is color or value gradation. When executing a split fountain, consider the color wheel. Choose colors that will create a desirable third color. Take into account the 1- to 1 ½-inch roller oscillation, which creates the blend. Facilitate the mix by balancing color relationships. The split fountain process works best with larger areas of spread or blend. It may require multiple initial proofs to achieve the maximum gradation. The longer you print, the more the colors mix together. The most difficult split fountains are at opposite ends of value scale, such as a blend from black to white. Keep in mind that dark colors can overcome light colors quickly in a split fountain, leaving the result unbalanced. When replenishing the rollers, add the ink to each area of color sparingly to maintain the gradation. The rainbow roll is parallel to the grippers; place your form in the bed correctly in relation to them.

Debossing Don’t forget the beauty of inkless printing, also known as debossing, especially when considered with the tone of the paper. Inkless debossing is the hardest to see on black paper, since you are relying on light to illuminate the debossing, and the range of tone with

For the Love of Letterpress

“This piece presents a narrative constructed from two parallel stories: the life of a young woman diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and the tale of Mithridates VI, an infamous Roman emperor known for ingesting tiny amounts of toxic solutions to build up immunity and evade being fatally poisoned by his enemies. These stories are structured chronologically in the form of a medical log that tracks the evolution of the woman’s condition and is annotated with analogous instances from the life of Mithridates, the first noted practitioner of immunotherapy. These stories climax when both characters find the perfect antidotes for their needs, however they soon realize that these remedies have consequences: the young woman builds up a tolerance to her medicine, rendering it ineffective, while Mithridates dies by sword after a failed suicide attempt—he had simply built too high a tolerance to be able to successfully poison himself." (8 ½" x 11")

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(Top) Adrienne VandenBosch. Back Home. Close-up with straight pins and embroidery floss. Stonehenge pearl grey. 2010. (27" x 38") Photograph by Adrienne VandenBosch. (Center) Adrienne VandenBosch, Back Home. Debossing. Photograph by Adrienne VandenBosch. (Bottom) Adrienne VandenBosch, Back Home, Matrix. Photograph by Adrienne VandenBosch.

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black paper without ink is dark grey to black. The maximum tonal range, and therefore the highest visibility, is achieved from debossing on white paper. An alternative to printing without ink is printing with an ink color that is very close to the color of the paper. In this way, “overpunching” is avoided, which can be very hard on vintage metal type and presses. Beginners in general tend to “punch” too hard, so if a student wants to do inkless printing, they are cautioned to be aware of the fragility of the materials.

Damping or Dampening In his book Printing with the Handpress, Lewis Allen states that “damping techniques are as intriguing and as debatable as recipes for mint juleps.”8 Damping (or dampening, as some call it) paper makes printing and debossing easier on the type and press. The goal of damping paper is to open up the paper fibers so that the surface receives ink more readily. In this way, substantially less ink can be used, and there is less wear on the type. At the moment of printing, the paper should feel cool to the cheek, not dripping wet. More information, including step-by-step instructions, can be found in Allen’s book.

Monoprint Every monoprint is one of a kind, non-repeatable. Rembrandt made a kind of monoprint (called a monotype) when he intentionally left a smoky haze of ink on his etched plate, giving his scene atmosphere and emotion. Matisse discovered he could lay down a flat film of black ink on a plate and scrape the ink away in a smooth, expressive white-line gesture, creating beautiful outlines of female bodies and sensual bowls of fruit.9 In a monoprint, ink is applied to an uncut type-high matrix, such as Plexiglas or linoleum. Paintbrushes are most often used, but the image can be created with brayers, brushes, sponges, or rags. The effect is painterly and loose, and a perfect way to create gestural or textural marks to combine with type or ornaments. To work “additively” in a monoprint, first thin the ink with a small amount of reducing oil to increase its flow and malleability. Apply the ink to the clean blank matrix with your chosen tools. Print quickly before the ink dries (disengage or raise the rollers to avoid smearing the inked-up matrix). Apply the ink sparingly so that the pressure of the cylinder does not compress and spread the ink,

Chapter 6: Contemporary Processes

Back Home “I am interested in exploring the idea of mapping the self—something that is always shifting and changing. I try to pinpoint the catalysts for change and the underlying constants of our self-identities. In Back Home, I have used letterpress techniques to print a topographic map of the world and mapped by hand the personal migrations of friends and family. Taking the concept of mass migration and narrowing it to those people I know . . . allows me to see patterns . . . including the overwhelming pattern of returning back home. The printed map serves as a foundation for the migration patterns. The variations in elevation are designated by feel and shadow, leaving color reserved for the demarcation of paths. The depth and tangible form letterpress gives . . . lends itself to visually mapping and describing terrain. Debossing . . . expresses variations of space and depth; to not just delineate landmasses, but to mirror and reinforce the pattern of overlapping layers in individual migration.” 
 —Adrienne VandenBosch

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causing it to bleed and run. To work in a “reductive” manner, first ink up a blank matrix. Use a cuticle stick or similar tool to draw through the ink, displacing it and creating a line that will print as white. To remove larger areas of ink, use sponges or Q-tips soaked with solvent. Within this concept of “one of a kind,” some artists deliberately choose not to edition their books. Given the complex degree of handwork involved in its illustration or binding, they create unique pieces.

Hand Inking Hand inking is inking by hand with one or more brayers. It is used for monoprinting, in order to print more than one color at a time, or for presses without automatic inking. In a method we call “Puzzle Pieces,” brayers are used to ink up the form to print multiple colors in one pass.10 Individual forms that are separated by some distance in the press bed can be inked up with separate colors when locked up in the bed of the press. If the forms are in very close proximity, one might need to be lifted out, inked, and replaced in the press bed.

Splatter Splatter is a monoprint technique based on the abstract expressionism painting style. It has an energetic visual appearance, which can be a beautiful contrast to solid ink coverage and to the traditional ideal of the completely even typographic page. Modify the ink with a small amount of reducing oil, use a toothbrush to splatter ink of various colors onto the block, and then print. Be sure to raise the rollers when you print, so as not to smear your work. You can also ink up the form, then splatter with solvent as a subtractive. Create a paper guard before you begin to prevent the ink from getting everywhere. A more controlled gestural mark making may be accomplished by hand-painting directly onto individual pages.

(Opposite top) Lisa Beth Robinson, Untitled. Pressure printed on French paper to represent the ocean’s continual overlap, mirroring Colm Toibin’s writing about the movement of waves. 2011. (12 ½" x 18") Photograph by Lisa Beth Robinson. (Opposite bottom left) Paco Vela/Oficina Tipográfica Marvel, A un día monótono. Printed by hand without a press, from wood type on Korean hanji, a paper made of mulberry fiber made by master papermaker Jang Seong Woo. 2015. (50 x 70 cm) (Opposite bottom right) Pamela Paulsrud/Stacey Stern, You Are the Bird of My Heart. Translated greeting of the Peruvian Q’ero people. Brush lettered by Pamela Paulsrud. Polymer plates made by Stacey Stern. Letterpress printed over blind embossed Shipibo pattern on Lana Gravure. 2010. (14" x 11")

Ghosting Ghosting is printing without re-inking. To make a ghost print, raise the rollers. Each successive print becomes lighter and lighter. Alternatively, re-shuffling the pages in the final book could make the ghosting sequence become darker and darker. This method is ideal for a background, or sequential, time-based imagery.

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Backwards Transfer There are two methods of using the principal of transfer. One can create a reverse from forward type (Reversing Type Method); the other can transfer a decorative pattern (Floriated Initial Image Transfer). Before you begin, check the height of your matrices to be sure that they are the same, and to allow for the difference in packing required for paper vs. Mylar.

reversing type method 1. Print type onto frosted Mylar. 2. Replace the type with a type-high uncut block in the bed of the press. 3. Lay the frosted Mylar ink-side up on the un-inked block. 4. Place printing paper face down. 5. Print. Around 2006, the author, Cathie Ruggie Saunders, and her teaching assistant at the time, Linda Lee, used this method for the first time to print a Shop poster. It is a contemporary process, but it refers to the decorated initial caps of manuscripts and incunabula. Once understood, the method is simple, but until then, even experienced printers look at the result and wonder “How did they do that?”

floriated initial image transfer 1. Place a decorative halftone image block in the bed of the press. 2. Print it onto frosted Mylar. 3. Take the block out of the press and replace it with a large wood character. 4. Place the Mylar face down on the wood character. 5. Print, transferring the halftone to the wood character. 6. Remove the Mylar and lay the printing paper on top. 7. Print.

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Backwards Transfer: Reversing Type

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Mylar

–Frosted Mylar (frosted side down) –Inked wood type –Print

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–Paper –Mylar (inked side up) –Un-inked type high block –Print

K Printed paper with reversed type

Floriated Initial Image Transfer

Mylar

–Frosted Mylar (face down) –Inked halftone –Print

K –Frosted Mylar: place face down on wood type –Type (un-inked before transfer) –Print, transfering ink to wood type

Paper

–Paper –Type (inked from transfer from Mylar) –Print, transfering ink to paper

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(Top) Masking halftone. Photo by John Dunlevy. (Bottom) Wolske, David, Synæsthetica No. 1. Wood type printed on Mohawk Superfine. Collaborators: Hatch Show Print. Printed using the wood type collection at Hatch Show Print, the world renowned poster shop in Nashville, TN. One of six prints in the Synæsthetica series. 2016. (26" x 40")

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Brayer Roll-Outs A press is not needed for this process. In a brayer roll-out, the result can be either positive or negative. For the negative image: take a “charged” brayer, roll it over the form, and then roll the brayer directly onto the paper. For the positive image, a clean brayer is rolled over an inked form just once, then rolled out onto a sheet of paper. The repetition of the inked form depends upon the diameter of the brayer. On longer sheets of paper, the image will “ghost” with repeated brayer rotations.

Stencil A stencil, or mask,11 blocks off areas of the matrix so that they won’t print. A stencil has cut out areas that allow ink to be pushed through. Stencils can be made of paper or a material such as Mylar. The advantage of Mylar is that it is reusable.

stencil, negative use 1. Printing with a stencil—place an un-inked stencil on top of an inked-up matrix. Print. In this case, the stencil is being used as a mask. or 2. Lay down the stencil on a blank matrix, apply ink through the stencil, and then remove it. This creates an un-inked area on the matrix. Print.

stencil, positive use 1. Ink up the stencil and place it on top of an un-inked matrix. 2. Print. Another use of stencil allows you to print a free-form shape from a found rectangular halftone plate. In this way, the illustrative content of the halftone can be edited by the printer.

printing a free-form shape from a found halftone plate 1. Place a Mylar mask down on top of the inked form. 2. Tape along the side of the mask closest to the feedboard, to attach it to the head dead bar or the furniture. This is so that

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(Opposite top left, top right) Jennifer Farrell/ Starshaped Press, Cooper Black Ampersand. Part of The Well-Traveled Ampersand portfolio. Print and form. Printed on French Kraftone White. Cooper Black by Oswald Cooper is nearly synonymous with Chicago; aspects of the city are built within the image as tribute. (12" x 12") (Opposite center, bottom) Wilber H. Schilling, Panthers. Photopolymer and Cyanotype on handmade paper. Spread, binding and box. 2007. (4 ½” x 6 ½” x 2”) Photograph by Wilber H. Schilling.

the rollers don’t pull the mask off as they pass over it. Print, with raised rollers. 3. Remove the mask before returning the cylinder to the feedboard. Note: Take into consideration the thickness of the Mylar—3 mil is recommended.

Setting Type on a Curve Setting type on a curve is not a new idea, but it is one that lends flexibility to the typographic vocabulary. In the nineteenth century, socalled artistic printing12 became popular when letterpress printers wanted to imitate the look of lithography. Special “curved quads” were manufactured to aid compositors, along with other equipment such as rule benders. Some contemporary printers find this soughtafter gear (not always an easy task when mixed in with other letterpress odds and ends in online auctions), while others make up their own methods to print type on a curve, as described below.

custom cut furniture “The form was built from cut wood pieces and then filled with metal type and ornament. . . . After the pattern is sketched out, I trace it onto wood and trim it in sections with a bandsaw to fill the galley. Some of this custom made furniture, the non-printing wood supports, is sanded and refined, then double stick taped onto the galley. If needed, I run a paper strip around all seams to smooth the joins.” –Jen Farrell, Starshaped Press, on building her Well-Traveled Ampersand forms.

specialty furniture “This handy set of 44 pieces of wood furniture plus 2 acrylic rings can be used to set type in curves or angles, ready for letterpress printing on cylinder or platen presses. . . . Daredevil Furniture mixes easily with your existing furniture and quads, allowing you to save the cost of photopolymer plates and use the type you have for real daredevil printing.” –Jessica Spring, Springtide Press, press materials for her Daredevil Furniture.

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Katherine M. Ruffin, Portrait of a Universal One: Vandercook No. 23654. Mohawk Superfine. Wood and metal types. Photograph by Steve Gyurina. “I can see that I was responding to constructivist typography, and oil portraits of individuals, to which I always gravitate in art museums. Most significantly, I was able to express my excitement about printing (note the use of exclamation points for the main operator’s controls).” Original edition of 100; reprinted in an edition of 800 with Jesse Marsolais of Firefly Press, Boston, MA. 2008. (9 ¾" x 14")

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custom cut furniture with frisket “To set type precisely on a curve, a jig can be cut [from ½-inch plywood] using a Trotec laser cutter. The type is [dropped into the channel cut in the plywood and] held together using frisket (masking fluid) as a type of glue. The frisket goes on in a watery state and dries to a flexible, elastic rubbery texture than can be easily peeled from the type without damage.” –Wilson Allen, on the process for his Hand Atlas. All of these processes can and should be explored. Once the student has tried them, she can decide which of them resonate with her own thought processes, strengths, and work habits. The processes should all be used in service of, and in harmony with, a concept, and can be combined in many various ways to create innovative work.

For the Love of Letterpress

(Top left, right) Lindsay Schmittle, Winter Solstice Card. Print and form. Metal ornaments and sans serif type. Printed in four colors on French Speckletone Madero Beach. (6" x 6") (Bottom) Wilson Allen, Method of Holding Type Together in a Laser Cut Jig Using Frisket. Bodoni type. Jig: laser cut ½-inch plywood on Trotec Speedy 400. Text from the 1978 reprinting of the 1901 Gray’s Anatomy, and Carl Sagan. To set type precisely on a curve, a jig can be cut using a Trotec laser cutter. Vector outlines are created at exactly the point size of the type and cut into half-inch plywood. The width of the laser itself burns the opening slightly larger than the design, leaving just enough room for the type to slide in easily. Because the pressure of the quoins will not translate to the type, it must be held together using frisket (masking fluid) as a type of glue. Frisket is a fluid adhesive used in watercolor to create a waterproof barrier between paper and paint that can be easily removed without damaging the paper. It goes on in a watery state and dries to a flexible, elastic rubbery texture than can be easily peeled from the type without damage. The type must be planed on a completely level surface before applying frisket.

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(Opposite top) Ines von Ketelhodt, Alpha Beta. Printed from polymer plates on cellophane, two volumes with printed jacket, contained in a Plexiglas slipcase. Printed in Flörsheim, Germany. Text is a passage by Michel Butor that describes a portrait of a universal library. The “Alpha” volume contains the original French text, and the “Beta” volume features the German translation. The text could fit onto a single page of each volume, but instead it is broken down into its letter components. Each of the 26 letters that makes up the text is printed separately on its own page in each volume. All of the A/a letters are printed on the first page, all of the B/b letters on the second, etc., with each letter in the same position it would have on a complete printed page. Because of the transparency of the cellophane pages, the entire text can only be read on the first page. If both volumes are paged through at the same time, the reader can compare how frequently various letters appear in the respective languages. 2017. (28.6 x 20.3 cm) (Opposite bottom) Ryan Basile, Number Study: Nonlinear Typesetting and Textural Exploration. Conceived at Double Trip Press and taught at Spudnik Press on a Vandercook Universal No. 4 and a Line-O-Scribe as a class sample. Mohawk Superfine Cover printed in a metallic charcoal, then ghost printed as a work and turn to create depth, overlays, and texture. (12" x 18")

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Notes 1 John Ross, Clare Romano, Tim Ross, The Complete Printmaker: Techniques, Traditions, Innovations, revised and expanded edition (London: The Free Press, 1990), 8. 2 Definition of matrix: “A supporting or enclosing structure” (Oxford English Dictionary). “Matrix: plate used in printing, such as the zinc copper or aluminum plate used in etching or the collage plate used in collagraph.” Ross, Romano, Ross, The Complete Printmaker, 347. 3 Ross, Romano, Ross, The Complete Printmaker, 131. 4 Ross, Romano, Ross, The Complete Printmaker, 141. 5 Available from Dick Blick. 6 Barbara Tetenbaum, A Guide to Experimental Letterpress Techniques (Portland, OR: Triangular Press, 2004). One translation of “Zurichtungdruck” is “makeready print.” “Grooms got to work with Joe Wilfer before his untimely death and made two unusual prints, Elaine de Kooning at the Cedar Bar (1991) and A Light Madam (1992), using Wilfer’s stratograph technique of building up paper to form a relief 
surface similar to a woodblock. Where a woodblock often reveals the texture of the wood, a stratograph reflects the more muted texture it receives from the paper, which suits the darkly-lit settings of these subjects.” Available at “The Prints of Red Grooms,” by Vincent Katz http://vincentkatz.net/abc2 /books_abc2_Grooms.htm (last accessed September 10, 2018). 7 Thanks also to Tracy Honn for information on pressure printing. Southern Graphics Council Conference, March 20, 1999. 8 Lewis M. Allen, Printing with the Handpress (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1976), 48. 9 Ross, Romano, Ross, The Complete Printmaker, 246–249. 10 “Edward Munch . . . often printed from one block that was sawed into separate pieces, very much like a jigsaw puzzle.” Ross, Romano, Ross, The Complete Printmaker, 32. 11 Doug Clouse, Angela Voulangas, The Handy Book of Artistic Printing: Collection of Letterpress Examples with Specimens of Type, Ornament, Corner Fills, Borders, Twisters, Wrinklers, and Other Freaks of Fancy Paperback (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2009). 12 “There are two types of stencils: positive and negative. With a positive stencil, the block-out material fills in the background and the actual image is printed. With a negative stencil, the image is blocked out and the background is printed.” Ross, Romano, Ross, The Complete Printmaker, 157.

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chapter seven Creating a Concept

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uch as a painter might stare at a blank canvas, hesitant to put the first mark upon it, a letterpress student can easily become overwhelmed by the multitude of typefaces in a letterpress studio. Too many possibilities can result in inactivity, waiting for the best choice to reveal itself. Mistakenly, they think that only one typeface can be the “correct” one. In other instances, the student’s own desires betray their efforts. They want their solution to an assignment to be superior, and revise a preliminary idea repeatedly, hoping each iteration will be their magnum opus. The opposite also occurs. Armed with rudimentary knowledge of how to set type and operate a press, the urge to “get printing” overtakes them. “What” gets printed is hardly important; “how well” it is printed is considered even less. Balancing these learning approaches is a tenuous act for an instructor, but a critical one. It should be addressed in the first weeks, since it sets the tone for the entire semester. And because the Type Shop is a communal space, this range of temperaments must be accommodated by the students as well. Fostering an environment where all feel comfortable and respect each other’s individualities is the first step. The second is to establish a standard of performance that must be met, no matter what a student’s disposition might be. By modeling an attitude of personal interest in each student, the instructor can introduce such a milieu. The students’ return to class after the first assignment is given out is a prime occasion to further develop this. It is also the start of numerous conversations, both group and individual, that will shape the process of critically and imaginatively developing possible conceptual solutions to the assignment.

(Opposite) John Risseeuw, For Luis and Domingos. Letterpress, woodcut, polymer relief on paper made from the clothing of Mozambican mine victims mixed with traditional African fibers and the shredded currencies of mineproducing countries. 2004. (13" x 16 ½") Photograph by John Risseeuw.

Sources of Inspiration As I sit with each student and listen to their initial description of what the project objective prompted them to think about, I look for clues. What are they interested in? Did they draw from their personal life for a possible direction? Have they kept a journal of personal writing or a sketchbook of images? Is their cultural heritage a significant motivator for them? Could content in any of their other classes provide stimulus? Are they responding to current events or social phenomena influencing their world? Often there is a layering of intent at play. One international student discussed doing a recipe book for the freshman college student. With gentle but probing further conversation, it became clear that

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(Opposite top) Amelia Bird, Holes. Pamphlet structure, enclosed in cloth, Japanese portfolio with embossed title. Original essay hand set in Joanna with hand painted sumi and India ink on partially waxed Japanese paper. “The short essay in Holes is about the artist’s younger brother’s relationship with digging holes in the yard when he was a child. Carson’s holes, like many youthful games, start out as innocent experiments but end up being repurposed in ways he never could have anticipated, and they give insight to what kind of man he will become. Visually, the way the text, wax, and ink move down the page, accumulating weight from behind as the story progresses, mirrors both the act of digging a hole and the gathering of experience that can occur in our own backyards.” 2010. (10 ½" x 5 ¾" x ¼") Photograph by Amelia Bird. (Opposite bottom left) Brian Kring, Flying Fish. Movable paper sculpture letterpress printed and hand colored. 2011. (2 ½" x 7 ½") (Opposite bottom right) Pamela Barrie, Poppies for Remembrance & Peace. Recycled manila paper labels, seed packets, recycled manila paper. Glyptic, Glyptic Shaded, and Copperplate Gothic types, with pochoir colored zinc plates. 2014–2018. (10" x 3 ½" x 4 ½") (continued on next page)

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she was actually “hungry” for her family back home. The project matured into a collection of savory dishes, evocative of her native culture, but able to be prepared by a young adult on a limited budget. Sometimes students are stymied by an assignment’s parameters, and must be further encouraged to create a concept. In such cases, examples of other students’ work—and lots of them—are beneficial. If I can recall and verbally share the “gestation” of any of these examples, even more of the conceptual development is manifest for them. Students can then apply it to their own interests and move forward with ease. Reviewing historical precedents or referring students to contemporary practitioners is another valuable prompting mechanism. Sensing some affinity in their initial idea with a prior period in art history, I might direct them to investigate a particular style or movement or artist/designer. A student that has expressed interest in using movable type as shaped pictorial compositions would benefit from researching Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich’s work or that of Jennifer Farrell of Starshaped Press. Several of the images in this second edition were submitted from an international call to use “Dada,” an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early twentieth century. This referential approach may extend to other disciplines as well, such as biology, mathematics, or literature. For instance, a stream-of-consciousness author, such as James Joyce, might be the best citation for a student building a letterpress broadside by intuitive reaction to each previously printed run. One of my students, Wilson Allen, was simultaneously interested in scientific illustration and micrography. With his grandfather’s copy of Grey’s Anatomy in hand, he conceived and printed an artist’s book, housed in a dropspine box, that guides the viewer, transparent page after transparent page, slowly moving through the epidermal, vascular, muscular, and bone layers of the human hand. On the final page, he nestled a quote from Carl Sagan, uniting the cosmos within us and without. Looking at historical specimens not only serves as inspiration, but it also teaches the typographic and design rubrics of another time and place. The student assembles a chronological database, which will help inform future work as well as the current project. Another stimulating source of inspiration is collaboration. There is a unique synergy that occurs when creative individuals are in dialogue with each other. Fueled by each other, they build a momentum. The inherent support system carries them through difficult segments of the process. The caliber of achievement is also often heightened because each of the partners strives to meet

For the Love of Letterpress

Inspired by the centenary of the War to End All Wars and the current War Without an End in Afghanistan, the piece is a guerrilla gardening project consisting of seed packets offered in a counter top “seed box” in the Shaker tradition. The packets contain poems by poets of the Great War, viable seeds of Flanders and Persian poppies, and directions for planting “anywhere passerby will be reminded of the costs of war and responsibilities of peace.” Seed packets are also distributed by mail order and left at war memorials.

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(Opposite top) Julie Chen, Panorama (title page). Letterpress printed from photopolymer plates and wood blocks. Large-format pop-ups and interactive folded sections explore the issue of climate change from an artist’s perspective. 2008. (9 ½" x 20 ¼") Photograph by Sibila Savage. (Opposite center) Julie Chen, Panorama (spread). Photograph by Sibila Savage. (Opposite bottom) Alastair Johnston, Logbook (title page). Hand set by Alastair Johnson. Printed by Frances Butler on dampened Arches. Text consists of random pages from a ship’s log. 1976. (12" x 8 ½" x ½") Photograph by Grace T. Gomez.

the expectations of the other, as well as themselves. One of my past students collaborated long-distance with a friend on the other side of the country. He initially wrote a short prose piece and emailed it to my student. She responded with a pressure-printed torn paper collage. Sending that scanned image back to him, he then wrote a sequel passage. He sent that to her, and the exchange continued, with a book that exceeded both of their expectations.

“Kindling” I tend to think of my first “concept” discussions with students as “kindling”: taking the material they have gathered and starting a spark that ignites them to go on. I pepper them with tried-and-true journalist questions: “What do you want to say about that idea?” “To whom do you want to say it?” “Why do you want to communicate that?” Often the student does not know the answer to a question, and I reassure them that that is fine. If we have opened up more possibilities or probed deeper than where they were before, our dialogue has been successful. The ember is smoldering, and at the next conversation, it is almost always aflame.

“Winnowing” Our second one-on-one conversation is usually a “winnowing” process: extracting or selecting the best concepts from the many that have proliferated since last we spoke. Customarily, students have researched several of the avenues that we initially discussed, and are excited to present stronger, more solidified ideas. The objective of this dialogue is a very different one: “How can the media of letterpress enhance that concept?” “What are the aspects of your concept that can be visualized through font selection, spacing, placement on the page, ink color, paper choice?” “Can you envision one of the concepts utilizing these materials and design principles more effectively than another?” Sometimes it is a combination of ideas that coalesces into a single concept; other times it is a distillation and refinement of one.

Time Management Throughout the conceptualization process, I try to be mindful of time. Emphasizing to the students that this is only one portion of a continuum that also includes design/layout, setting, proofing, editioning, and binding allows them to configure a schedule that will

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(Top) Cathie Ruggie Saunders, keeping time (title page). Hand set Perpetua printed on Barcham Greene’s Camber Sand, interleaved with Japanese dark gampi. Kaga Yuzen Shibori pattern sleeve with Italian pearl diver silk ribbon. 2003. (4" x 7 ¼") Photo by John Dunlevy. (Bottom) Cathie Ruggie Saunders, keeping time (spread). Original photograph of Mom by Alexander N. Ruggie, M.D. Photo by John Dunlevy. “keeping time is a tribute to my Mom, who suffered from the ravages of Alzheimer’s. Despite the devastating loss of memory, loss of speech, loss of physical functioning, and the loss of the ability to reason, Mom never lost her grace. I wrote the poem for keeping time at the onset of Mom’s illness; I finished the handmade, limited edition letterpress artist’s book nearly sixteen years later. During the course of that time, I saw Mom disappear before my eyes. The elegant, vibrant woman you see upon the pages was reduced to a mere shell. The constant repetition of the same answers to Mom’s same questions—a hallmark of the early stages of the illness—eventually gave way to her not even being able to recognize or speak to her own daughter. The format of the artist’s book allowed the ideal opportunity for the reader to experience this same transformation. I wanted you to not merely witness, but also palpably feel the diminishment an Alzheimer’s patient must endure. By repeating images (like Mom’s own handwritten ‘X’ marking days on the calendar which had passed), repeating phrases (‘just to make sure,’ ‘just to make sure’), you the reader, turn the pages of Alzheimer’s time.” –Cathie Ruggie Saunders

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accommodate all phases. If too much time is invested when developing a concept, the production end of the continuum, including quality craftsmanship, most often falls short. During each of the phases, challenges may arise. It is critical to allot time for mistakes, revisions, and “starting over.” The gravity of developing a sound concept cannot be understated. The student must be propelled by his own investment in the authenticity of that idea because its accomplishment will take some time. Letterpress, by its very nature, is a slow process; that which is committed to print should be exemplary of that endeavor. The artifact itself will live on, evidence of the mind and heart of the printer, and the spirit of his time.

Lynne Avadenka, Signs and Lines (detail). Suite of 22 unique letterpress prints, printed on pages of a Hebrew/English grammar book from Hebrew wood type and photopolymer plates. Each of the 22 prints includes one letter of the Hebrew alphabet (printed from wood type of different sizes) and fragments of writing by an early modern Hebrew poet, Rahel Bluwstein. Bluwstein was one of the pre-Israel poets who wrote in modern Hebrew in the 1920s. I turned her handwritten drafts into photopolymer plates to incorporate them into the prints. (9" x 6 ½")

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An Afternoon in the Shop “In SAIC’s Letterpress Studio, four student printers gathered to create a spontaneous artists’ book, each working on a different press. Commencing with a signature quote, ornament and color, each printer was given one hour to hand set and print their initial composition, and each subsequent one, before passing their page off to the next printer. Challenged to thus create a related affinity, the entire experience was documented with an audio tape of the whirring of the presses and the delightful commentary that ensued within the Shop. Completed April 26th–30th, 9am–6pm.” (Top left, right) Mary Louise Killen, Louisa Shields, Lauren LoPrete, and Julia Asherman, An Afternoon in the Shop (spread and colophon). Various typefaces on Rives Heavyweight Offwhite. 2009. (8" x 8") Photograph by Mary Louise Killen. (Bottom) David Wakefield, Invesco Question. 23 Press. Created with letterpress wood and metal type for a series of advertisements for Invesco Banking. 2006. (11" x 7") Photograph by David Wakefield.

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(Top) David Armes, Rights of Way. Times Bold and Garamond Italic on Southbank Smooth. 2017. (30 cm x 40 cm) Created during a residency at Deuchar Mill in the remote Scottish Borders. Second iteration of a series looking at how experience of place can be represented. The aim is to use texts generated through automatic writing and during compositing to depict a landscape figuratively and emotionally. (Bottom) Leksi Linne, Perfectly Good Craters. Book and paper collage template. Text letterpress printed on Rives BFK. Images pressure-printed on Rives Lightweight. 2009. (9 ½" x 7 ½" x 1") Photo by John Dunlevy.

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(Top) Jim Escalante, Tortillas La Iguana. Handmade paper from corn husks, Latin Wide printed from polymer plates. Mary Moss Escalante collaborated on the Iguana logo, Julie Marie Copenhagen assisted with the papermaking and printing. (6" diameter.) (Bottom) Lisa Rappoport, Zane Grey and Me. Printed damp on eight colors of St. Armand paper, and bound in leather with exposed longstitch. Mr. Grey’s text set in Farmers Old Style; Ms. Rappoport’s text set in Centaur. Illustrated with vintage dingbats, with a frontispiece by Andrew Larkin. Anatomical heart drawn by Bobbe Besold. A clamshell box, covered in dappled Lokta paper and printed with two horses from the frontispiece illustration, is available upon request. (8 ¼" x 10 ¾")

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(Top, bottom) Janice M. Cho, The Valiant Vandercook Bakery (cover, spread). Hand set and printed on cold-pressed Arches, with digital printing. 2011. (5" x 6" x 2") Photograph by Janice M. Cho.

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a flower unfolding flags blowing in the wind childhood games and toys the kitchen junk drawer a deck of cards a Japanese paper fan an old love letter in a postmarked envelope that dime store diary with tiny brass lock and key knife pleats in a school uniform skirt closing the blinds at night1

(Opposite) Barbara McDonald, Dziadzie (open). Hand set and printed on Frankfurt White and handmade papers. 1990. (7" x 7") Photo by John Dunlevy.

Structural Possibilities Ordinary objects and simple activities in one’s life can metaphorically inspire an abundance of book structures. Bookmaking and bookbinding texts even refer to some of these by name: flag book, Jacob’s ladder, fan book, accordion, blinds book. Here in the Type Shop, when we take our collection of blank structural models out for the students to view, many see books for the first time as something other than the traditional Western codex, at home on a bookshelf, spine facing out. The blank models are particularly useful in opening their eyes to the diversity of structural formats that might house their concepts. Without content in them to read, students are able to focus upon the form and see it for the attributes it confers upon a viewer’s reading experience. We discuss those attributes, model by model.

Relationship of Content and Structure An accordion or concertina format, for instance, presents a continuous set of picture planes, viewable panel by panel or outstretched all at once. The sense of time displayed therein can be punctuated by a viewer’s pause as he turns each set of panels or as an uninterrupted visual flow if it is viewed extended as a screen. If it is displayed as a self-standing, three-dimensional screen, the viewer then encounters it “at arm’s length”—quite differently than most book-reading experiences. We ask the student, “Is it important to have the viewer hold the book?” If so, this might not be the format for your idea.

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(Opposite top left) Barbara McDonald, Dziadzie (closed). Photo by John Dunlevy. (Opposite top right, center right) Suzanne Sawyer, Mind the Hives. Letterpress printed using photopolymer plates on fresh wet sheets of kozo and formed around an armature. Text from an old beekeeping guide. Unique. 2011. (6" x 14" x 10") Photograph by Teresa Golson. (Opposite center left, bottom) Tennille Davis Shuster, Unearthed. Handmade pineapple paper, woven palm-frondwrapped covers. Flag book format with palm frond pages. Part of a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay: “I can push the grass apart and lay my finger on thy heart.” 2005. (9" x 9" x 2") Photograph by Tennille Davis Shuster.

Consideration should be given to the backside of an accordion format. Will the viewer stop reading at the last panel of the front side, or do you want him to continue around to the back and return to the starting point? Does your concept correlate with that “closed loop” resolution? Is it a cyclical idea that you are presenting? If a paper with some transparency is used, hints of the other side would be apparent throughout the reading process. Would that enhance your concept? Since the pages may be hinged together, an accordion format is capable of considerable length, and therefore girth. Do you want a sleeve or band to keep the closed book shut? Removing such a sleeve will add a bit of time to the entering of the reading experience, which can heighten the anticipation of what the book will disclose. Where should the band be situated? Centered? Could it play a role in the entry experience by partially hiding/revealing printed portions of the cover? An accordion structure dictates a fixed sequence of picture planes. If a student’s concept is best served with a random set of “pages,” we discuss structural options like boxes, ready-made containers, folders with pockets, even purses, and army ammo bags. We keep dozens of bookmaking, design, typography, and history books in the Shop, as well as book arts exhibition catalogues. Whether the student needs technical advice, a historical reference, or simply a feast of inspiration for their eyes, it is sure to be found.

The Function of Dummy Structures By urging the student to integrate structure and content, form and concept, we underscore this fundamental tenet of our approach to teaching bookmaking. Since we are working with the tactile media of letterpress, we stress that the choice of physical materials must also relate to that structure and content. This hierarchy anchors the student’s decision-making from start to finish, through the typographic selections, through the layout roughs, to the editioned piece. Along the way, students create physical mock-ups or “dummy” structures. A pencil or computer-generated mock-up is created first, depending on the student’s preference, sometimes from folded bond or scrap paper. Indications of text and image are noted. Each time the student explores a different structural format, a separate corresponding mock-up is made. Since the emphasis is upon exploration at this point, these are considered preliminary mock-ups. After the type is set and proofed, a true, working mock-up is created of the preferred structure, using those proofs. Cutting and

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pasting them into the new dummy makes visible the maturing of the student’s vision of their book. This mock-up should be actual size and indicate type choice and placement, grid (or no grid) referencing, negative space, number of pages, etc. You could also make this dummy by using test proofs on your actual paper stock. In this way, you can also gauge the correct punch and see how long the ink takes to dry. A third, a printer’s dummy, is indispensable in page setup within the bed of the press, as it is easy to get confused with imposition. This dummy shows 2- or 4-up page positioning, page numbers, front to back positioning, colors, and illustrations. Each print run is indicated separately on it. Keeping track of what has been printed and what hasn’t is easy with a printer’s dummy. It also serves as a subtle incentive: the student can check off the pages printed, ever nearing toward completion, and see a visual realization of their concept. And finally, a blank binding dummy using the actual edition paper is encouraged. Will the sheet take a stitch without tearing? In quantity, some sheets reveal characteristics that in sparser stacks would not be evident. With the number of signatures needed for your book, will the proposed binding structure function well? Other important considerations are discussed in the section “Choosing Appropriate Paper.”

Choosing Appropriate Typefaces How does a student begin to choose a font from the plethora of options in a Type Shop? A common inclination is to select a face that they know, perhaps one they have worked with on the computer or have done a research project about in another course. Many students have “favorite” fonts, gravitating toward their repetitive use, reluctant to stray from them. Others simply become enchanted, like a child in a candy store, when they pull open a drawer of a highly ornamented or unusual font they have never seen before. Setting and proofing these beauties is sometimes enough to satiate their appetite for novelty. Other times the instructor must gently coax them toward more critical paths of discernment. Is their concept era specific? Would choosing a font designed in that era be most appropriate? Perhaps it is geographically specific; researching font designs from that country might offer a likely candidate.

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(Opposite top left, top right) Diane Jacobs, Wig #5 (front, detail). Hand set type printed on black paper. Wooden turned spindles by Steve Jacobs. One-ofa-kind. “By hand setting and carefully letterpress printing degrading and racist words that make my blood boil I learn to own them and the power they once had dissipates. I challenge the viewer to question why these words exist and how we use them.” 1999. (28" x 9" x 9") Photograph by Bill Bachhuber. (Opposite bottom left, bottom right) María José Prenafeta, Friday (hidden poster; close-up of tearoff). Wood type, printed with linoleum blocks and photopolymer plates on handmade abaca paper in three colors. Hidden poster: 16" x 9 ⅗" when unfolded. Drum leaf binding. The reader must tear open a page in order to be able to read the entire text. This is a metaphor for the violation of intimacy that occurs when we eavesdrop on others: mirrored in the violation of the book’s integrity by the reader. 2008. (8 ⅖" x 5 ½" x ½") Photograph by María José Prenafeta.

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(Top, center) Painted Tongue Studios, Diameter of the Bomb (closed; partially open). Interactive Broadside. Letterpress printed in silver and transparent white on Rives BFK Black. Design, illustration, and concept by Kim Vanderheiden. Printing and assembly by Bill Denham. Color was chosen to emphasize a haunting quality and evoke a sense of tragedy. 2007. (35" x 35") Photograph by Luz Marina Ruiz.

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How is the emotional tenor of the piece best elucidated? Since every font carries an expressive personality, strive to match that to your concept. Robert Bringhurst, in his book Elements of Typographic Style, speaks eloquently of this philosophy: You are designing, let us say, a book about bicycle racing. You have found in the specimen books a typeface called Bicycle, which has spokes in the O, an A in the shape of a racing seat, a T that resembles a set of racing handlebars, and tiny cleated shoes perched on the long, one-sided serifs of ascenders and descenders, like pumping feet on the pedals. Surely this is the perfect face for your book? Actually, typefaces and racing bikes are very much alike. Both are ideas as well as machines, and neither should be burdened with excess drag or baggage. Pictures of pumping feet will not make the type go faster, any more than smoke trails, pictures of rocket ships or imitation lightning bolts tied to the frame will improve the speed of the bike. The best type for a book about bicycle racing will be, first of all, an inherently good type. Second, it will be a good type for books, which means a good type for comfortable long-distance reading. Third, it will be a type sympathetic to the theme. It will probably be lean, strong and swift; perhaps it will also be Italian. But it is unlikely to be carrying excess ornament or freight, and unlikely to be indulging in masquerade.2

(Opposite bottom) Evan Gendell, Diversery. Bank Gothic, Charis SIL, DIN Next Pro, MOAB Lasal Photo Matte 235, Canson Opalux. Information sourced from various reputable news outlets. A deck of five flashcards record words mispronounced by Trump using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The front digitally simulates a pillow emboss of the incorrect pronunciation. The reverse side is physically embossed with the correct pronunciation. An image of Trump’s mouth is generated from a database of IPA characters with the incorrectly-used phonetic marker subtly highlighted. A distorted sine wave/ spit dribble cuts through the phonetic notation and guides the reader to hand set contextual information about Trump’s utterance, accompanied with a rendering of the identity mark of Trump University. (9" x 5")

If the font complements the content, if it is appropriate and attractive for the intended audience, and if it affords legibility and readability, it is most likely a serviceable choice. According to Phil Baines and Andrew Haslam, “text types (often regarded as being less than 14pt.) should generally be rather ‘selfeffacing’: the idea is to read the words rather than notice the typeface. For display use, however . . . designers might choose something more attention-grabbing, and might give added meaning by employing a typeface with strong associative powers.”3 The American typographer and writer Beatrice Warde, articulated this call for clarity in printing and typography in 1930 in an essay entitled “The Crystal Goblet,”4 which has since become common reading for students of typography and graphic design.

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(Top left, top right) Inge Bruggeman, Deposits. Printed using collagraph plates, Century Expanded, and photopolymer plates, on asuka paper. This project was made possible by a Scholarly and Creative Activities Grant from the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Nevada Reno. (13 ⅛" x 3.375" x 2 ½" closed; 42" x 13" x 3" hung on wall.) This work considers the future of the book as a heightened reading experience where we embody information more fully when we are physically engaged with the work. Deposits is meant to be read while ascending a ladder. (continued on next page)

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Choosing Appropriate Paper “It is easy to get caught with a beautiful paper which is just not right.”
 —Matthew Tyson5 Japanese paper thin as translucent tissue. Paper handmade from my father’s intern pants. Nideggan, a German mould made with beautiful wavy laid lines and a subtle drape. Fabriano Roma, an Italian paper in a rustic array of colors, with a watermark of a she-wolf feeding her twins. The incomparable Rives BFK, sensitive, elegant, forgiving. Brown kraft paper. Newsprint.6 With paper choices almost as diverse as typeface options, selecting an appropriate substrate can be an equally formidable task. Letterpress halftones are best printed on a paper with a clay coat so that the ink stays on the surface of the sheet and doesn’t distort the halftone dots. The two technologies, halftones and clay-coated paper, were developed together.7 Color, texture, weight, and deckle or no deckle are some of the characteristics of a paper that should be considered in relation to the concept of the project. Is your subject delicate and strong? Consider Japanese kozo paper, which can be dyed many different colors. Is it about dirt and bits of moss? Thick brown sugikawa paper, made from kozo and cedar from the Kito region in Japan, and bright green kozo paper, might be perfect. Consider both the practical and aesthetic aspects of your choice. Can you afford enough sheets for a reasonable edition? Can you procure more if you run out? Though there are stunning papers with butterfly wings, bark, and feathers embedded in each sheet, be wary of printing upon them, as they could easily crush your type. Save those for end sheets or cover papers. Think of the tactility of the paper as you decide what to use. Does it feel good to the touch? Will it absorb the ink well? Dry in the time it should? Take the impression you desire? Will it last as long as you want it to? Handle the paper, hold it up to the light, look through it. Listen to what papermakers call the “rattle.” For a movable part of a book such as a sleeve, flap, or pop-up, test whether the paper will endure repeated handling without abrading. Fold it, stitch it, watercolor upon it. Subject a sample sheet to the treatment your book or print will be subjected to. Then make your choice.

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The text represents bits of memory that appear to be embedded in imagery of a cut-away piece of earth. The words are squished and bent as if moved by the forces of the earth over time. The printed paper on the front of the book is contrasted with course sandpaper on the back side of the book for a distinct change in texture and weight, as well as the implication of the material’s ability to erode or efface another material. The imagery is made from torn bookboard mounted typehigh for printing letterpress. (Opposite bottom) Angie Butler/ABPress and Philippa Wood/The Caseroom Press, Fond Farewells. Gill Sans Shadow, Grotesk, Madonna Ronde, Placard Bold, Gill Sans Serif Cameo Ruled, Festival, Gloucester Bold, and Bodoni Ultra Bold printed on vintage handkerchiefs with fabric covers. Traditional English words we say to each other on parting are printed on vintage handkerchiefs (His and Hers) to form a pair of books. The covers are cut from old-fashioned dress and suit fabrics, machine stitched, and tied together with a woven hand-finished label sewn onto a grosgrain ribbon. (His 23 x 22 cm, Hers 14.6 x 14.5 cm)

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(Top) Martha Chiplis, Biding Time. Etching and letterpress, Gill Sans on Rives BFK and Japanese papers. 1989. (5 ½" x 5 ½") Photo by John Dunlevy. (Center) Ellen Knudson/ Crooked Letter Press, Ingress/ Egress. French-fold structures printed on Japanese mulberry from photopolymer plates; Humanist 521 BT, Spectrum MT, and Spindle type; Colorplan papers and Dover book cloth. Part of the Artists’ Publication Series, Ringling College of Art and Design. Produced at the Ringling College Letterpress and Book Arts Center. Special thanks to Bridget Elmer and the Ringling College student assistants. Ingress/ Egress is an artist’s book that contemplates the design of artists’ books. The purpose of the piece is an educational one, created with the intent of encouraging ideation on the theme “books are.” The six French-fold books use a visual design system, geometry, typography, and color to investigate these ideas: (1) Books Are Architecture, (2) Books Are Collections, (3) Books Are Environments, (4) Books Are Maps, (5) Books Are Plans, and (6) Books Are Processes. 2015.

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Paper can be extremely seductive. Blindingly so. Laying one’s eyes on the most beautiful polka-dotted sheet you’ve ever seen can quickly sway you from the goal that brought you to the paper store in the beginning. I doubt there is a letterpress printer who hasn’t bought a sheet (or two or three) of a paper that was irresistible, rationalizing to herself that she will eventually use it. In due time, she will think of something “perfect” to print upon it. And speaking from experience, I often do. Aiko’s was a legendary paper store in Chicago from the mid 1950s until 2008. Walking into Aiko’s was like walking into a church for paper. The ambiance of the store was meditative and inspiring at the same time. Long, low oak tables flanked the space. On the wall was a gridwork of cubbyholes, with paper swatches hanging from each, well worn from repeated touching. Each had exotic and ethereal names like Kitikata, Sekishu, and Torinoko. Aiko’s staff would withdraw from a niche the long, luscious bundle of Japanese paper you might want to see and, unrolling it reverently, lay it on the oak table. If you were a “regular,” they might let you peek through the stack and hand-select the sheets with the longest deckles or the most flecks of silver mica. Once, when I went with a dear friend from Oklahoma in the 1980s who had never been to Chicago, we got there about an hour before closing. Mesmerized by the beauty and rarity and fragility of the bounty before us, we lost track of time. A young man named Chuck, who had been helping us, never once looked at his watch or hurried us along. It was more than an hour past closing when we finally left. That’s how Aiko’s was. In early 2008, unable to compete with the likes of the art mega­ stores, Aiko’s announced it was closing its doors for the last time. After a final sale of vastly reduced stock for its loyal customers, Chuck Izui, who had risen from stock boy to owner after Aiko Nakane retired, rolled up a huge assortment of the remainder of papers and sent them to me as a thank you for the many years my students and I had been dedicated customers. That’s how Aiko’s was.

(Opposite bottom) Claire Illouz, They Run. Etching and engraving, printed by the artist in Chérence, France. The poem by Marsha Pomerantz was composed in Gill type and printed on Opal paper by Atelier Vincent Auger in Paris. Title designed by Célia Bugniot. This poem evokes the panic that follows disaster and asks if the experience of beauty is possible and permissible in mid-flight. 2016. (40 x 17 x 3 cm)

Choosing an Appropriate Color Palette Although color can masquerade as being simply a personal whim, when the palette chosen is referential to the concept, a stronger unity within the overall printed artifact is achieved. Students are encouraged to examine their idea, text, and images for color clues, whether

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(Opposite top, bottom) Cathie Ruggie Saunders, Lullaby. 1987. (7" x 3") The crescent cradle boats holding Lullaby were handcrafted in cherry, oak and walnut by Mark Ruggie. Waves of Frankfurt White were anchored with silk thread to Skycraft Marbled papers for a concertina spine. When lifted and opened, the Frankfurt White pages roll and wave, cascading to the rhythm of the poem. The poem, set in Companion Old Style, was composed during a singular night adrift, rocking back and forth in silence. The edition was made possible through an Artist’s Fellowship Award from the Illinois Arts Council. Photo by John Dunlevy.

they are directly stated or psychologically inferred. Gravitating to an all-purpose, one-size-fits-all color solution is discouraged. Here, again, it is important to ask the student, “Why”? Are they using black ink simply because they are in the habit of pulling it off the shelf for proofing? Did they even consider a hue? If students do want an ink other than black, we urge them to go beyond “straight-out-of-the-can color.” Adjusting that color by warming it up, cooling it down, or nudging it toward another color in the spectrum is encouraged and demonstrated in the Type Shop. In this way, it takes on a personalization nuanced by the student’s aesthetic. A standard color wheel hangs at the ready next to the inking station. Complementary colors and tertiary colors are tried and true combinations. Pantone books expand students’ awareness of color possibilities and let them fan swatches next to each other to see compatibility. But we also encourage taking inspiration everywhere from nature to the annual color forecasts, such as the one sponsored by Pantone that appears in Graphic Design USA (www.gdusa.com) each May. We suggest that the student develop their entire repertoire of colors for a project at the start. In this way they can add even the smallest bit of one color in the palette to another, and help establish a threshold of harmony among all of the inks used. Looking at draw downs of all of the colors next to each other, and prior to editioning, can also save time. Cleaning the press after pulling a proof and realizing that color is not what you wanted or is not working well with the others on the page can be frustrating and time consuming.

The Colophon The last printed page in a book, the colophon,8 has traditionally been considered the scribe’s or printer’s page. Early manuscripts included a signature and date by the copier of the book, and sometimes a short phrase about themselves, their location, or the reason they undertook the writing of that particular text. This custom was carried over by early printers, who expanded the information to “contain apologies for mistakes or self-praise for their absence, and sometimes, paeans in honor of the new and wonderful art of printing.”9 Many were equally interesting typographically, as they were printed in the shape of a funnel, diamond, goblet, pyramid, or very often, an inverted cone, the lines tapering off to a short line or a

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word. With the development of the private press movement from around 1890, colophons became conventional in private press books, and included data on paper, ink, typeface, binding, and edition size, as well as the printer, designer, and illustrator. Modern colophons run the gamut from being bullet-point brief to waxing poetic. I have even seen colophons longer than the book text itself! Since it is the opportune place for the printer to reflect upon his experience setting and printing the book, reading it, for the viewer, can be a glimpse into the genesis of the artifact they now hold in their hands. For the letterpress student, it is a chance for them to mark this creative point in time. When read at a future date, the colophon has the wondrous ability to transport the printer back to their younger self, the individual that patiently committed that concept to posterity in the form of a letterpress book. Envisioning the object is facilitated by multiple conversations with each student. Creating a structural form that embodies a concept and designing a layout for each page of that form—from title to colophon—demands an understanding of typographic, paper, and color unity, and an awareness of the reading process a viewer experiences as he moves through the book. Letterpress printing confers a quality of tactile presence upon that object. It alludes to the thoughtful care that went into the selection and placement of each character, space, and leading. What the student holds in his hands after the last sheet of paper in the edition is printed is a totality of material accomplishment mirrored only by the completeness of investment he brought to the process of learning. Notes 1 Cathie Ruggie Saunders. 2 Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style (Point Roberts, WA: Hartley & Marks Publishers, 1999), 95. 3 Phil Baines and Andrew Haslam, Type & Typography (New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2002), 105. 4 Beatrice Warde, The Crystal Goblet: Sixteen Essays on Typography, ed. H. Jacob (London: Sylvan Press, 1955). 5 Silvie Turner, Which Paper? A Guide to Choosing and Using Fine Papers (New York: Design Press, 1992), 97. 6 Cathie Ruggie Saunders. 7 “But by 1900 halftone reproduction—and the results obtained on the clay-coated papers created specially for the new process—had advanced so greatly that staff artists and engraving departments could be dispensed with altogether.” Susan

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E. Meyer, “American Illustration: A Brief History.” Available at http://housatonic. edu/artmuseum/illustratingct/essay.asp (last accessed September 8, 2018). 8 Origin: early seventeenth century (denoting a finishing touch), via Late Latin from Greek kolophon, “summit” or “finishing touch.” Oxford English Dictionary. Available at http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/colophon. 9 Jewish Virtual Library, “Encyclopedia Judaica: Colophon.” Available at www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0005_0_04531.html (last accessed August 20, 2018).

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(Top, bottom) Catherine Batliner, Salt & Pepper. Garamond printed on Rives BFK. This book presents a collection of salt and pepper shakers that belonged to the artist’s great-grandmother. It combines a collection of fragmented memories from her grandchildren and a poem describing the artist’s experience of discovering the box of shakers in the attic with her mother. 2014. (4 ¼" x 5 ½" x 1")

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(Top) Tim Lu, Simple Things. Univers Medium, printed on Crane’s Lettra. The text of the book is a list of 150 simple things one may enjoy during their life. (4" x 4 ½" x 3 ¾") (Bottom) Ciel Rodriguez, And, the Sage Burns. Caslon type, abaca handmade paper with sage, rosemary, and sunflower inclusions. And, the sage burns is an original poem exploring the activation of the senses and the relationship between the human body and nature. 2017. (8 ½" x 11")

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(Top) Sarah Krupa, Asterisms & Their Constellations. Bulmer printed on kozo paper with abaca windows. as·ter·ism noun 1. Astronomy: a prominent pattern or group of stars that is not officially recognized as a constellation by the International Astronomical Union. 2. Typography: a group of three asterisks drawing attention to following text. Like constellations, but smaller. 2017. (7.75" x 3.5") (Center, bottom) Yueyang “Stephanie” Wang and Mary Philmlee, Ruins. Hand set Garamond and Centaur, poem Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Ruins is dedicated to the “Hellbox,” a container for broken lead type. The first page of book contains a collaboratively written poem, The Ruins Speak, by the artists. The following pages are digitally printed photographs, revealing the beauty that lays amongst the scars and the aged quality of broken metal type. Upon the spine of the book is the Shelley poem, which can be spread into the shape of a dissected column.

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ew things strike fear in a student’s heart more than the word “critique.” After working on a project for weeks, the thought of having an instructor evaluate their efforts in a few summative sentences causes anxiety. Presenting that work in front of their peers— “baring their creative soul”—takes courage, which is often in short supply when project deadlines approach. Aside from anxiety, many students withdraw from participation in a critique session because they are tired from working on the project and simply want it to be over. Feeling that their job is done, a class session devoted to assessing work is “after the fact,” and therefore pointless. Still other students just don’t know what comments to make or what questions to ask. Preparation for critique may alleviate some of these concerns, and it is both the instructor’s and the student’s responsibility to come to the critique prepared. For the instructor, this means providing (either orally or written) a definitive list of objectives that the project encompassed and communicating the responsibility each student has to contribute thoughtful analysis to the discussion. For the student, this means stepping back from his or her own work and looking at it without the investment of ownership weighing on their shoulders. Does it meet the project parameters? Does it accomplish what the student intended? Can the student articulate their rationale for the typographic and design decisions that they made? Since students have, ideally, conversed with their peers in the Type Shop during the process of working on a specific project, we remind them that this “in-process” knowledge will aid in their discussion contributions. Hearing one’s peers address their work in the more formal situation of a final critique acknowledges that their piece functions beyond friendship boundaries and competes in the larger world of handmade art objects. Reviewing the in-process conversations the instructor has had with each student during each class session can also provide an architecture for contemplation. A preliminary introduction by the instructor as to the practice and value of a critique helps define the process and importance of this type of public assessment. Traditional sources (such as Edmund Feldman’s 1973 “Model of Criticism” from Varieties of Visual 
Experience1) speak of a series of four steps: description, analysis, interpretation, and evaluation. Oftentimes, this sequence works well for initial critiques in a letterpress course. Having students follow this rubric as they discuss work hones their persuasive oral skills. Verbalization helps clarify conceptualization; articulation reinforces knowledge and memory.

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(Opposite) Alyse Benenson, I Tried to Forget, But . . . Multimedia installation with letterpress printing, vinyl wall text. 2010. Photograph by School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Critique: Derived from the mid-seventeenthcentury French, based on Greek kritike teckhne, “critical art.” Now, commonly understood as an oral or written discussion strategy used to describe, analyze, interpret, and evaluate works of art.

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(Top) Ellen Knudson, Subject/Verb/Object. Volvelle and sleeve printed from hand set type and photo­ polymer plates on Murillo paper. A word game that has no beginning, no end, and no way to win. 2012. (13" x 13") Photograph by Ellen Knudson. (Bottom) Ellen Knudson, Subject/Verb/Object. 
 Mock-up. Photograph by Ellen Knudson.

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Critique Format Models However, introducing variety to the critique format is essential. Doing so provides a venue of participation for all kinds of learners; it also keeps everyone alert. Variation begets spontaneity, which can ignite contributions and responses that otherwise would have been quite predictable and, admittedly, boring. Over the years, I have developed several approaches to conducting critiques.

the instructor-led overview Each student passes

their completed project to the individual to their right, and views the book given to them from the left. When finished, each passes the book on to their right. This circular viewing continues until the books are returned to their original owners. The instructor then initiates a commentary on the overall generalities seen within the group of solutions. Since the instructor has a comparative context from years of experience (which the students don’t have), this approach provides a supportive frame of reference for students. Then, focusing upon individual solutions one at a time, the instructor links a specific aspect of a student’s project to those original general comments, and, inviting student remarks, opens the way for a more indepth analysis of each object as a whole.

“Articulation not only helps learners retain information, but it also ‘illuminates the coherence of current understanding.’”
 —T. Koschmann.2 And assessment after production is beneficial, not just to evaluate existing work, but also to help plan future work. “By forcing a student to actually commit to her knowledge of a subject, Articulation sets the stage for future opportunities of assessing and evaluating that knowledge.”
 —T. Koschmann.3

the written approach All participants are asked to write

down a specific comment about each piece, based upon the project guidelines. Time is allotted for this. When all are ready, the instructor chooses a project to be discussed. One by one, each student reads their written comment. The student whose project is being discussed is encouraged to ask questions of the writer until they are satisfied in their understanding of the written comment. Often an interactive dialog ensues, with several students championing their assertion. When done, the same process is held for the next student, and so on. At the conclusion of the critique, each student is given all the written comments for their personal reference.

pairing off

Students are assigned (or choose) a partner. Each looks at the other’s project solution and must mentally prepare comments that speak to the strengths and weaknesses of the other’s book, again in relation to the project parameters. Time is allotted for dialog between all the student pairs. At the conclusion of the time, each student “introduces” the other’s book, with a summary of the shared dialogue that ensued. If there is time, other students are invited to comment as well.

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(Opposite top) Casey Gardner, Body of Inquiry. Triptych structure holding a sewn codex within the subject’s torso. Images hand drawn or taken from nineteenthor twentieth-century laboratory catalogs, printed from photopolymer on Crane Lettra. 2011. (15" x 28" x 1") Photograph by Luz Marina Ruiz. (Opposite bottom left, detail on bottom right) Mika Sakai, Presence. Salon disinfecting jar, crystalized iodine, Bernhard Modern, ornaments, and Bulmer Roman, printed on kozo and bound in Canford Imperial Paper. “A chemical reaction of iodine on paper is initiated by the heat of a person; the vapor created by this catalyst reveals the finger prints of whomever touched the paper inside. Nonetheless, over time the iodine has proven to stain the paper more permanently, overshadowing the marks once left behind by someone’s hands.” 2017. (3 ½" diameter x 11")

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random draw

All books are numbered with a slip of paper and placed in the center of a table, around which students are gathered. Students pick numbers from a hat and match it with the appropriate book. They are given time to review the work and consider it with regard to the project objectives. Each student is then asked to speak about the book they were matched with, offering positive observations first and then suggestions for improvement.

the silent approach

The student whose work is being discussed is not allowed to respond to comments made until the instructor senses that class comments have been exhausted. That student must practice listening skills, and may choose to take notes during the discussion. Then, inviting the student’s response to the comments, the rest of the class listens. A round of dialogue ensues, and frequently results in deeper levels of consideration and evaluation. Since there is such a natural tendency to validate one’s work with an immediate rejoinder, maintaining silence engenders self-control and encourages would-be responses to fall into a fitting hierarchy.

the adjectival approach

Seated around a table, and having viewed all the works to be critiqued, the instructor conducts a round robin, asking each student to contribute an adjective that describes the work at hand. Depending on the number of students, this round robin may be repeated several times. Students cannot re-use adjectives already spoken; therefore, there is an exigency to probe deeper. Very quickly the comments move from single words to insightful statements.

hierarchy

Provide the class with a list of the typographic and design attributes that are considered when creating a letterpress book. These might include design elements and principles such as font choice/size, color palette, paper stock, use of negative space, pacing, structural format, contrast, symmetrical or asymmetrical balance, scale changes, or relationship of text to image. Randomly assign each student a book to review other than their own. After studying the assigned book carefully, each student is asked to articulate the top three components from the list that are utilized to visually express the concept of that book. By assessing a hierarchy, this approach quickly illuminates the integration of each element in the functioning of the piece. Students become acutely aware of the “greater gestalt,” not just the sum of the parts in a successful letterpress bookmaking project.

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(Top) Mika Sakai, Hyphen. Bulmer Roman, Alternate Gothic, printed on BFK Rives. “Identity as a whole is an enigma for us all; yet for those of a multi-racial background, the ambiguity pronounces itself as a conflict that runs as deep as blood. What defines a person past the blood they were born into? What delineates a person past the label their blood has given them? As a JapaneseAmerican, this term grows more complex and more confusing the longer I frequent its use. The label has stayed the same, yet my identity behind the words has evolved and changed. Hyphen was written in an effort to find tangibility within an influx of questioning thoughts, and designed to reflect the journey of these deliberations along the complex path they seem to be taking.” 2017. (5 ¼" X 5 ¼") Photo by John Dunlevy.

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inside/outside approach

In an effort to prompt selfreflection as well as comparative assessment, students are asked to write down two sentences about their own book after viewing all of the books. The first is with regard to what concerns or doubts they had during the process of making the book. It should be stated in the form of a question (“Was I allowing enough of a transition between sections in the narrative with a single blank page?”). The second should situate their solution in relation to their peers’ and be stated in the form of a declarative sentence (“I wish I had used a font with a smaller x-height, as John did, because it would have created a lighter visual weight to the copy block”). When called upon, each student reads their question, and the class responds, providing outside feedback for what began as a student’s interior concern. The student then reads their second sentence, and more conversation ensues, triggered by the student’s evaluation of his own work when viewed in the context of outside comparisons.

student-initiated approach

Inform the students well in advance that they will be directing their own critique; the instructor will serve as facilitator. Have them prepare a list of questions that they would like feedback upon. Emphasize that breadth and depth of commentary is directly in their hands. Provide guidance and pacing as necessary.

The Synergy of Form and Content

(Opposite bottom left) Susan Makov, Strategic Withdrawal. One hundred printed on Rives BFK paper, in mauve ink, 50 in blue ink. A meditation by David James Duncan, author of The River Why. Duncan’s idea about the piece was a dark sky showing Orion; Makov’s idea was showing animals and plants that would be lost as the result of the human withdrawal of responsibility towards the world. The result was variations, all with the text reflecting the curve of a river. 2007. (24" x 14") Photograph by Susan Makov. (Opposite bottom right) Susan Makov, Strategic Withdrawal. Variation: Dark sky. Forty-six printed on Magnani Pescia paper, blue/ black and silver ink. 2007. (24" x 14") Photograph by Susan Makov.

As these critique approaches are essentially methodologies to promote dialog, the instructor must always foreground the synergistic relationship of form and content. At every opportunity, whichever construct you are using, the formal elements or aspects being discussed should be linked to their role in elucidating content. An example will serve us well here. Alyse Benenson, a student earning a dual degree in Fine Arts and Visual and Critical Studies, had written her entire bachelor’s thesis from the heart-wrenching personal experience of recently losing a dear friend to an accidental overdose. Struggling to find a typographic approach for the section of the thesis that she intended to commit to letterpress, we engaged in a dialog. She had chosen to recount the clock-stopping, interminable moments during which she first learned of his passing, and the outrageously public manner in which she found out:

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posted on Facebook. Her anticipated text and our conversation vacillated between two extremes: her intense, intimate anguish and the multitudes of friends’ clichéd postings about his passing. Clearly, the challenge was to give weight and importance to each of these “voices,” while not overshadowing either, and to create a visual compatibility as well. As soon as we had isolated the vocal integrity of the piece, the typographic format revealed itself. Situating the small text from her intimate persona in a wide empty expanse of page mimicked the interior of her mind—entirely blank except for those few solid thoughts. Successively larger and more repetitive generic phrases quickly build to a blinding density of incoherent copy on successive pages, so heavily layered that the pages themselves nearly warp. Leafing through the book thus dramatically reveals a “burial” of personal sentiment. But since the passage chosen had been illuminated by the grace of two years’ distance from the event, a final sobering sentence does emerge: “We were of the same young blood.” Perhaps through the healing process of making the book, she had encountered an ultimate realization. I would be remiss not to say that the critique of that book was a challenging one for the student to experience. It necessitated her reliving moments of agony. However, to her credit, her commitment to the formal elements of crafting the most eloquent letterpress book possible was equal to her emotional and cerebral investment in that very personal content. Her certainty in the typographic strategy, linked to the authenticity of the actual life experience, was so evident during critique that a palpable hush fell over the studio. And, in this instance, it was not a silence of non-participation; rather it was one of awe, respect, and clarity of intent being communicated through the power of the printed page. Notes 1 Edmund Feldman, “Model of Criticism.” In Varieties of Visual Experience (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1973). 2 T. Koschmann, CSCL: Theory and Practice of an Emerging Paradigm (Computers, Cognition and Work) (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1995), 93. In “Articulation & Reflection” by Tina Harkness, Chandra Porter, Dana Hettich, Dept. of Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology, University of Georgia. Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching & Technology, Michael Orey, ed. (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2008). 3 T. Koschmann, CSCL: Theory and Practice of an Emerging Paradigm.

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(Top, bottom) Alyse Benenson, Of the Same Young Blood. Letterpress book with waterfall binding, bookcloth-covered book board front and back covers, printed on Rives BFK, using Ehrhardt and Helvetica. 2010. (9 ⅖" x 14" x 1") Photos by John Dunlevy.

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chapter ten Letterpress Assignments

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ur global call for assignments that letterpress instructors gave to their students, themselves, or conducted within their workshops was met with a variety of submissions. Factors cited as considerations were the skill level of the participant, the time allotted to the assignment, the number of individuals the studio/equipment could handle, and the specific interests to be addressed. Should you find these assignments useful, please include an acknowledgment of the original source. All have been edited for clarity.

TYPOGRAPHY Symmetry/Asymmetry. Instructor: Cathie Ruggie Saunders. School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Adorned Ambicase. Instructor: Erin Beckloff/Curmudgeon Press at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. Typographical Map. Instructor: Ellen Knudson/Penland School of Crafts.

(Opposite) Alyssa Arnesen, How to Hide in Plain Sight (detail). Instructor: Cathie Ruggie Saunders, How To Manual. Photograph by Alyssa Arnesen.

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK How To Manual. Instructor: Cathie Ruggie Saunders. School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Type Stories. Instructor: Martha Chiplis. School of the Art Institute of Chicago. DESIGN IDENTITY (for a person, organization, or event) My Business Card Has More Colors Than Yours Does Because It Can. Stacey Stern. Steracle Press. Chicago, Illinois. Legami: A Poster for an Ink Festival in Alessandria. Instructors: Francesca Colonia and Giulia Nicolai/Betterpress Lab. Rome, Italy. HISTORICAL REFERENCE Shakespeare Sonnet 110. Instructor: Julieta Hernandez-Adame/ Pixel Press. London, England. Public Notice: Historic Advice for the Present. Instructor: Martha Chiplis/School of the Art Institute of Chicago. H.N. Werkman Type Prints: A Creative Letterpress Workshop. Ray Nichols/Lead Graffiti. Newark, Delaware. ADVOCACY/PUBLIC OUTREACH Print and Advocacy—Printing Something That Helps Someone. Instructor: John Risseeuw/Arizona State University, School of Art, Printmaking Area.

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Did You Say Multiple? Instructor: Inge Bruggeman/Oregon College of Art and Craft. Art of Persuasion: Political and Social Broadsides. Instructor: Martha Chiplis/School of the Art Institute of Chicago. COLLABORATION Poetry Broadside. Instructor: Jessica Gerlach/Southern Utah University. BOOM (BRIDGE). Instructors: Jeremy Botts and Richard Gibson/ Wheaton College & Manibus Press. Wheaton, Illinois. Quotable Broadside: A Creative Letterpress Workshop. Instructor: Ray Nichols/Lead Graffiti. Newark, Delaware.

TYPOGRAPHY Li Han, Jibber-Jabber/LuppDupp. Instructor: Cathie Ruggie Saunders, Symmetry/ Asymmetry. Waterfall flip book turns the symmetrically placed “Jibber-Jabber” (nonsense talk) into a letter glitch that makes no sense at all. The asymmetrically placed “Lupp-Dupp” with extra loose kerning, printed on thin paper, conveys its quiet subtlety. An exercise in duality and contrast. 2017. (14" x 2 ½") Photograph by Li Han.

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Symmetry/Asymmetry Cathie Ruggie Saunders Affiliation, Shop Description The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Presses: Vandercook 4, #3, Universal 1, Universal 1AB, #1, 2 Chandler and Price, 1 table-top Sigwalt 650 typefaces in metal and wood type, metal ornaments, photopolymer machine Laser cutters available in the school After instructor approval, students have access to shop and presses during regular building hours, 7 a.m.–11 p.m., seven days a week during the semester. Class meets once a week, 9 a.m.–4 p.m., for a 15-week semester. Students can repeat the course and, upon instructor approval, earn 24-hour access. Teaching assistant on 18 duty hours per week. Level: Beginner Duration: 4 weeks

Evan Gendell, Provocation Prevarication. Instructor: Cathie Ruggie Saunders, Symmetry/Asymmetry. Two words often used in describing Trump’s behavior. Hand set in Bodoni to connote loud affluence and Helvetica in reference to 45’s campaign typeface choice of AkzidenzGrotesk, respectively. The smaller, more insidious “prevarication” projects from an iconic mouth shape. A discreet presidential seal is punched below the capital “T.” 2017. (10" x 5") Photograph by Evan Gendell.

Project Description: Two words are chosen by student and hand set. One is printed in the visual center of the page in a Roman font, to acquaint the student with Classical page layout. The other is presented asymmetrically, in a sans serif font, to acquaint the student with a Modernist page layout. (Historic examples of both are shown.) All typographic and design decisions are made in relation to the meaning of each word, and aim to highlight that a single word can be potently visually expressed. Student must verbally support font choice, letter spacing, negative space, point size, ink color, paper choice, and size and shape of format. Project Specifications: Symmetry is printed in one color. Asymmetry must include a graphic symbol, printed in a second color and positioned strategically to enhance the meaning of the word without illustrating it. Edition of ten of each word is required. Solutions may be two single sheet formats or combined into a single presentation format, whichever is most appropriate. Since Symmetry and Asymmetry are meant to be “companion pieces,” student must determine how to express that unity between them.

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Adorned Ambicase Erin Beckloff Affiliation, Shop Description Curmudgeon Press, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio Presses: Vandercook SP-20, No. 1, C&P Pilot 6x10 Challenge 20-inch guillotine cutter Laser cutter in the art department fabrication lab with access by appointment. 24-hour open access to the letterpress shop after completion of training via a project early in the term and approval of the instructor Level: Intermediate Duration: Five weeks (ten class meetings) Instructor suggests allowing more time Project Description: An ornamented font of Ambicase Fatface was collaboratively produced through hand sketching, digitally illustrating, laser cutting acrylic, and mounting the letterforms to typehigh wood blocks. The project included creating this alphabet of type, as well as printing a poster and artists’ book with it. Project Specifications: Provided outline templates of Ambicase Fatface (designed by Craig Eliason), each student hand sketched three patterns for each of three letters. Through a class pin-up and review, students selected a complete alphabet. Sketches were scanned and vector traced in Adobe Illustrator. Vector letterforms were laser engraved, cut into 1/8-inch acrylic, and adhered to plywood pre-cut to pica widths. A specimen was printed on a Vandercook SP-20. Book page backgrounds were printed using layered large wood type in various colors and randomly selected to give each book a different color variation. Adorned Ambicase letterforms were printed three spreads up, then trimmed. Each student completed three books using a drum leaf binding with additional wrap-around cover and laser-cut “A” enclosure. 

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Emily Baker, Erika Chitwood, Reid Groth, Julia Hustedt, Ben Hoover, Meredith McBride, Jenny Miller, Marie Mock, Stewart Spaulding, and Taylor Williams; faculty contributions by Helen Armstrong, Peg Faimon, and Steve Garst, Ambicase Type. Instructor: Erin Beckloff, Adorned Ambicase. (book, matrices, broadside) One 15 pica/line alphabet, acrylic and birch veneer plywood. Inspired by the Bodoni Decorated project taught by Graham Bignell at New North Press, Jonny Holmes and Paul Oakley at Chelsea College of Arts. (Poster: 19" x 25"; book: 6" x 6" x ⅝")

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Typographical Map Ellen Knudson  Affiliation, Shop Description Penland School of Crafts Presses: 4 Vandercooks Metal and wood type 24-hour access Level: Intermediate Duration: Three days Project Description: Using only hand set, metal and/or wood type, create a map-like illustration of any location, landscape, person, creature, or idea that is meaningful to you. Project Specifications: Paper: Mohawk Superfine, 70# text, Eggshell finish, soft white  Ink: Black only  Pages, printing size: 6.25"w x 9.5"h  Trim (finished) size: 5.75"w x 7.5"h  *Set type on MAX 30 pica wide leading Edition: 20 (This page and opposite) Courtney Barr, Rivers Crossed. (form and print) Instructor: Ellen Knudson, Typographical Map. This typographic map traces river crossings along the northeasterly route between the artist’s current home, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and her hometown of Roanoke, Virginia. The names of rivers reveal the cultural history of this geographic region. (5 ¾" x 7 ¾") Various typefaces, Mohawk Superfine, edition of 20.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK Janice M. Cho, The Divine Ingredient. Instructor: Martha Chiplis, Type Stories. Printed on Rives Heavyweight, bound with a pamphlet stitch. The excerpted sentences relate to cooking and butter. The sentence on the pictured spread– “Rows of knife handles poke up from sunken blocks”– is paired with a wood type “scene” where a stick of butter tumbles over a row of knife handles. Photo by John Dunlevy. (Opposite top, bottom) Silent Passage | Pasaje Silencioso. Jose Resendiz. Instructor: Martha Chiplis, Type Stories. Do-si-do binding. (16 x 13 cm) “The appropriated text is from the Arizona Daily post Caminan con Dolor y Esperanza, written by Luis F. Carrasco about the annual Immigrant Walk in Tucson, Arizona. The narrative is carried out in honor of the thousands of bodies that have been found from immigrants trying to cross the border to obtain better lives. Seven sentences from the original text were picked out, translated and rearranged in order to conceptualize the reflections of those who have silently made the passage and are trying to carry on the dreams of those who have passed. Wood type is used to create an abstract landscape space and give the text physicality.” Photo by John Dunlevy.

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Type Stories Martha Chiplis Affiliation, Shop Description See previous Level: Beginner Duration: Four weeks Project Description: In this introduction to the book, create your own narrative from found text, see type as abstract shapes, think about page design as transition and pacing, make decisions about the form of the book in congruence with the content, and print a letterpress book. Project Specifications: Write, by taking six sentences from a newspaper or magazine article and rearranging them to create a new narrative; design, by incorporating with your text a 30-line wood type character as an integral but abstract element throughout; letterpress print in two colors; and bind with a pamphlet stitch, stab stitch, or accordion fold binding; a book in an edition of 10.

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Alyssa Arnesen, How to Hide in Plain Sight. Instructor: Cathie Ruggie Saunders, How To Manual. The reader opens an undecipherable cover to see the title hidden within a text block of gibberish. This game of hide-and-seek continues as the reader flips through the pages to reveal multiple instructions concealed within a single typeset composition. The revealed messages quickly fade back into obscurity as the book culminates in a page presenting the text block in which all the phrases are still present, yet are literally hiding in plain sight. 2017. (5 ½" x 8 ½") Photograph by Alyssa Arnesen.

How To Manual Cathie Ruggie Saunders Affiliation, Shop Description See previous Level: Beginner Duration: Four weeks Project Description: Referencing the outline approach with which Robert Bringhurst designs The Elements of Typographic Style, apply it to writing an instruction manual for a task of your choice. Attempt to expand the genre of instruction manuals by focusing upon lighthearted, serious, political, or social themes, not simply functional. Maximize the “last step” with an unexpected resolution. Consider which simple binding style will enhance the reader’s experience of this manual and mock up examples with proofs. Print and bind a minimum edition of five. Project Specifications: Consider the communicative potential of both symmetrical and asymmetrical page layouts: —How should these simple phrases be laid out on each page? —Should there be a consistent placement, page after page? —Should there be a sequential movement across the picture planes? —How can the two forms of balance (symmetry and asymmetry) enhance the typographic message?

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—Include a title page and colophon, trying to keep the entire book to no more than seven pages. Maintain a dominant typographic thrust to your solution. If minimal ornamentation or symbols are needed, they may be used. However, avoid “illustrating” your manual. Depend upon the visual power of your design choices: font selection, point size, letter and word spacing, placement on the page, contrast or proximity to other elements, paper choice, and ink colors. Evan Gendell, Gaslight. Instructor: Cathie Ruggie Saunders, How To Manual. Rhetoric surrounding “alternative facts” employed during the 2016 U.S. presidential election popularized the concept of gaslighting, wherein the gaslighter manipulates their target’s perception of reality by sowing seeds of doubt. A double-sided manual loop between instructions on how to avoid being gaslighted and how to gaslight. Five concise traits in diagnosing narcissistic personality disorder from the DSM-V run counter to the steps and act as both knowledge and distraction. 2017. (7" x 10") Photograph by Evan Gendell.

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DESIGN IDENTITY (for a person, organization, or event) Stacey Stern, My Business Card Has More Colors Than Yours Does Because It Can. Paper, ink, photopolymer, Mr. Eaves with wood type specimen, open edition. (3 ½" x 2") Photograph by Stacey Stern.

My Business Card Has More Colors Than Yours Does Because It Can Stacey Stern Affiliation: Steracle Press Press: Vandercook Universal I Project Description: How did I determine my own business identity as visualized in the card? I wanted to show off. When your business is printing, nothing indicates the quality and care to a potential client more quickly than your business card. It is that critical first impression, maybe even more important than the elevator pitch. A business card has to meet some conventional expectations, but my card had to say something more about my shop and services. Fourcolor over one printed on a toothy Lettra and duplexed to either an iridescent or Arturo card stock. No client would hire me to produce a card so over the top. I made it this way because I could. Project Specifications: 3.5 x 2 inches, Paper, ink, photopolymer, Mr Eaves with wood type specimen, open edition. 

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Morena Foglia, Alessandro Fiorentino, and Valentina Fasola, Legami. Instructors: Francesca Colonia and Giulia Nicolai, Legami: A Poster for an Ink Festival. Cordenons Schedografia white 400 gsm. Edition size: 50. (35 x 50 cm)

Legami: A Poster for an Ink Festival in Alessandria Francesca Colonia and Giulia Nicolai Affiliation, Shop Description Betterpress Lab, Rome Metal and antique wooden type, ornaments (all type and presses have been rescued from old print shops in and around Rome that were being discarded) Presses: 1 hand, 2 platen, Korrex and Saroglia Student access: One day a week; advanced students with previous training can come more often when working on a special project Level: Beginner/intermediate Duration: One day: hand setting, one day: printing Project Description: Create a poster for a festival of illustrators, printers, and calligraphers in which Betterpress participates every year. Project Specifications: The poster’s composition must relate to the official communication style the festival uses for the web and all its advertisements. The metal and wooden type chosen must be in harmony with the style of the festival and the theme of the year, in this case bonds and connections, which, in Italian, is “legami.”

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Julieta H. Adame and David Vassie, Sonnet 110. Sonnet and front cover: William Shakespeare as published in 1609; verso poem: Ben Jonson. Somerset Velvet 300 gsm, plastic sheeting and glue. Edition size: 3. (56 x 35.5 cm)

HISTORICAL REFERENCE Shakespeare Sonnet 110 Julieta Hernandez-Adame and David Vassie Affiliation, Shop Description Pixel Press is the experimental printmaking space of artists Julieta H. Adame and David Vassie in London with combined training in graphic design, printmaking, and fine art Presses: 3 tabletop Adanas, 2 Farley, Adana TP48 Large format silkscreen table Level: Advanced Duration: Two weeks Project Description: In 2016, the 400th year after William Shakespeare’s death, the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England, asked letterpress printers from around the world to print his sonnets afresh. We complied with an in-house exercise: our first attempt at paper engineering and printing with self-exposed polymer plates. We picked sonnet 110 due to its mysterious background: for whom was it originally written? Project Specifications: Typeface: Digital Fell. Since the sonnet is shrouded in mystery, we rescued the tradition of the “for your eyes only” miniature portraits of the time. We counted how many of each character we had for each line of the sonnet and printed them in Phil Baines’ Can You? typeface as a series of nonsensical lines as “clues” on the front of the print. We then cut the sonnet in iambic pentameters (with help from Nick Gill of Effra Press) so we could have small windows to reveal the sonnet with a pull-up system. The front and back of the piece were silkscreened; the front with the original opening dedication on the first edition of the sonnets and the back with Ben Jonson’s poem “The Sweet Swan of Avon.”

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Public Notice: Historic Advice for the Present Martha Chiplis Affiliation, Shop Description See previous Level: Beginner Duration: Three weeks Project Description: Explore the wood type collection in the SAIC Type Shop; identify a need and location for an informational poster on the SAIC campus, then design and print a text-only poster to fulfill that need.

(Left) Cathy Batliner, Spacing Public Notice. Instructor: Martha Chiplis, Public Notice. Edition of 15. 2016. (15 ½" x 11.15") (Right) Alexia Leroy, Let the Creativity Begin. Instructor: Martha Chiplis, Public Notice. Edition of 15, Stonehenge Paper, Helvetica Ultra Condensed, Murray Hill wood type. 2017. (10.5" x 13") Photo by John Dunlevy.

Project Specifications: Students are shown examples of historical models: public notices, decrees, proclamations, and window cards. Students are asked the following questions: What kind of informational sign/public notice does the SAIC community need? If you could put up a sign anywhere in the school with useful information on it—even where posters aren’t allowed—what would it say and where would it be? Design and print a text-only notice. Suggested sizes: 8.5" x 11" or 11" x 17". One color, minimum 15 copies. Take a photo of the place where you most want to post your notice. Post the photo, along with a photo of the printed notice, on the course blog, so that we can discuss them in class.

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Student work. Instructor: Ray Nichols, Werkman Type Prints: A Creative Letterpress Workshop.

H.N. Werkman Type Prints : A Creative Letterpress Workshop Ray Nichols  Affiliation, Shop Description Lead Graffiti, Newark, Delaware Specific inventory of 250–300 wood type characters Presses: Vandercook SP15, Universal III, Nolan proof, 1928 Albion, 1869 Washington Hoe Supplied: Nine ink colors and brayers Level: All Duration: Three to four hours Project Description: We wanted students to see letterforms as more than components of language. Based on the WWII-era work of Dutch designer and printer H.N. Werkman, this project focuses upon merging typographic shapes. Participants create monoprints, and thus have creative license to use type as letters to design with, versus letters with which to write. Project Specifications: Participants hand ink wood type characters and carefully place each face down on top of a sheet of paper placed on press bed. (Considering standard letterpress procedure, this method is upside down.) No lockup or magnets are needed; the stickiness of the ink is sufficient to hold the type in position. The paper and type are then printed by the press, and the character is lifted carefully from the paper surface to avoid smearing, revealing the print. 

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ADVOCACY/PUBLIC OUTREACH Print and Advocacy—Printing Something That Helps Someone John Risseeuw 

Eli McGlothern, Your Bike Is Not Safe. Instructor: John Risseeuw, Print and Advocacy. Optima, hot pink card with zip tie. Edition: 50. (2" x 3")

Affiliation, Shop Description Arizona State University, School of Art, Printmaking Area Presses: Vandercook SP15, Universal I 1,100 cases of type totaling about 16 tons, plus wood type, ornaments 26-inch guillotine hand cutter, Hammond Glider printers’ saw, miterer Student access: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Level: Beginner Duration: Six weeks Project Description: Write, set, and print a piece that “helps people” in the view of the student. 25–50 copies must be printed and distributed as per the concept, with copies remaining for all class members and instructor. Project Specifications: Class discussions and examples are given about the instructor and other print artists whose work helps people in some way, for example, informing, promoting safety or health, asking cogent questions, raising awareness of problems along with corrective steps to be taken, or raising funds or resources.

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Jewel Clark, Hello My Name Is NOT Hey Baby! Instructor: John Risseeuw, Print and Advocacy. Helvetica and hand writing, adhesive name tag. Edition: 50. (2 ½" x 4")

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Determine how your letterpress piece will help someone. Your project might take you into the community, talking to people to find out what you can do, through printing, to make their lives better. Printing business cards for someone who is out of work and unable to afford the cards to get them up the interview ladder? (You will decide what “making lives better” means.) A series of printed signs for neighborhood people to put on cars saying that drug traffic is not wanted, or to pick up their trash? An image you make of a neighborhood landmark with an explanation of its importance and distributed door to door? Printed handouts for homeless services contacts, mental health clinics, hotline numbers for use on the street? The possibilities are many. You cannot do this for your family; it must be out in a community of your choice.  It should not be a joke—it should really help someone somehow. It may be politically or socially activist, advocating a position for or against something, as long as it is effective and the result is that it can be said to help someone.  You must print at least 25, perhaps 50, of these items (unless there is a specific limiting condition that we can discuss), and you must also print enough extra for everyone in the class plus the class archive.  Materials, paper, size, type, etc. are entirely up to you. Design-wise, it must be functional, that is, it must work successfully for its purposes. You may not illegally post printed matter or deface property. 

For the Love of Letterpress

Did You Say Multiple? Inge Bruggeman 

Ann Coombs, Jennifer Cox, Sarah Fagan, and Rachel Fish, Disposable. Instructor: Inge Bruggeman, Did you Say Multiple? Used paper towel dispenser, paper towels, sticker paper, photopolymer plates, hand set sans serif metal type. Edition: 400. (20" x 11" x 3 ½")

Affiliation, Shop Description Oregon College of Art and Craft Presses: Vandercooks Wood and metal type Photopolymer platemaker Student access 8 a.m.–10 p.m. Level: Advanced Project Description: Letterpress printing is used as a medium for editioning in large quantities. Themes focus around the democratic multiple and the idea of artistic agency.

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Project Specifications: The project was broken up into five phases:  1. Research: Students read books, articles, and catalogues dealing with social practices, politics in art, and print media, such as Committed to Print, Thinking Print, and Paper Politics. To the next group discussion, they are required to bring in other material of their own finding. 2. Development: Class discusses the readings; students discern issues for possible project topics. Working as a team, they decide which issue to pursue.  3. Preparation: Specific content is now considered on that topic, as well as design possibilities. Students consider what text, imagery, materials, techniques, and form the project will take, within the confines of using letterpress printing as the main media.  4. Production: Students divide into teams and work on different aspects, such as setting and proofing type, creating imagery and testing plates, layout, investigating materials, print production, and curating finished prints. 5. Dissemination/placement: Because the project is a multiple, students must determine the best way to disseminate the prints to the public. This is different every semester depending on the topic.  For this particular year, students took on the subject matter of homelessness, specifically the question of how homeless people are perceived by others. Many students thought that they were treated as disposables and not as individuals with their own value and worth. They decided to print on paper towels and make a paper towel dispenser with four different sets of image and text that conveyed their sentiments. Students also printed a sticker on the dispenser.

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Art of Persuasion: Political & Social Broadsides Martha Chiplis Affiliation, Shop Description See previous Level: Beginner Duration: Four weeks Project Description: Choose a political or social cause and research it. Design and print a poster using text and image persuading viewers toward your chosen cause. Project Specifications: Examples of historical models are shown to the class, such as election/campaign posters, satirical broadsides, social and political propaganda posters, and protest/demonstration posters. Students are given the following instructions. Take up an issue that you feel strongly about and/or want to learn more about. Research the issue. Using text and image, design and print an edition of posters, 15 minimum, persuading the viewer toward your point of view. Print your broadsides in two colors. Hang five of your broadsides in public places. Take photos of your broadsides “out in the world” and post them to the course blog so that we can discuss them in class. Type must be wood or metal type, images can be created with linoleum cut, woodcut plates; magnesium; or photopolymer, found cuts, or laser-cut material, mounted type high.

Chapter 10: Letterpress Assignments

(Left) Bethany Sharp, WellBehaved Women. Instructor: Martha Chiplis, Art of Persuasion. 2017. (13" x 19") “This broadside highlights women that all of us should know, and few of us do. Using the oft-quoted phrase as a jumping-off point, it explores the legacies of women throughout history who have not made it into our collective consciousness, in spite of incredible achievements. The miniature biographies of these women become both the background and the central point of the design, playing off the text and the form of the larger quote. It was printed in two layers using a combination of wood type, metal type, and photopolymer.” Photo by John Dunlevy. (Right) Kitt Gallagher, Not about Bathrooms. Instructor: Martha Chiplis, Art of Persuasion. Quote from Laverne Cox, printed in an edition of 20. 2017. (34" x 8") “I'm a trans person, so when I read this Laverne Cox quote I felt very inspired to use it for a letterpress project. I chose to do the background as a gradient that reflects the colors and pattern of the trans flag. The background was printed in two separate runs with the paper folded in half because it was longer than the press bed.” Photo by John Dunlevy.

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(Opposite left, right) Quinton Banks, Seventy-one pounds of Lead Graffiti Love. (form and print) Instructor: Ray Nichols, Quotable Broadside. Euro Bold. Edition of 48. (18" x 23") Image from the Delaware College of Art & Design. (Opposite left, right) Olivia Kwiatkowski, Seventy-one pounds of Lead Graffiti Love. (form and print) Instructor: Ray Nichols, Quotable Broadside. Legenda, Thinline, & Tempo Sans Light. Edition of 48. (18" x 23") Image from the Delaware College of Art & Design.

Quotable Broadside : A Creative Letterpress Workshop Ray Nichols  Affiliation, Shop Description Lead Graffiti has a 2,200-square-foot studio space with 650 cases of wood and metal type. The attendees set their main text using only 36-point metal type from our collection (we have 25). Depending on the nature of their final needs we will help them with other sizes as necessary. Presses: Vandercook Universal III, Nolan proof Intertype C4 hot metal Level: All Duration: Three to four hours Project Description: Project acquaints participants with the California job case, hand setting metal type, and the challenge of making a series of quotes interesting with some visual massaging. Finished print becomes a type specimen sheet for reference. Project Specifications: Participants bring an overall theme and a different quote of up to 70–140 characters to be hand set in 36-point metal type. They are encouraged to think visually with the type, personalizing the quotes. The result is a one-color broadside titled with their theme and a collection of like-minded quotes with some attempt at individuality. Each quote is attributed to its author, its compositor, and its typeface. Lead Graffiti staff handle all on- and off-press makeready, type redistribution, and clean up. The individual quotes are loaded off galleys and onto the press by each participant as they complete their composing task. Each participant keyboards the author’s name, their name, and the main typeface name in hot metal on our Intertype linecaster for inclusion on the broadside. Alternatively, 12-point type can be offered to set the extra information. Everyone prints two copies as a keepsake. Note: It is critical that the length of the printing area stays within the press and stock limitations.

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(Left) Stephanie Barton, Chromatic Catastrophe. Instructor: Jessica Gerlach, Poetry Broadsides. Inkjet print illustration, French paper, Caslon and Gothic Condensed typefaces. Edition: 12. Photograph by Jessica Gerlach. (Right) Sheila Myntti, Spring Canyon. Instructor: Jessica Gerlach, Poetry Broadsides. Inkjet print illustration, French paper, Baskerville and Helvetica typefaces. Edition: 12. Photograph by Jessica Gerlach.

COLLABORATION Poetry Broadsides Jessica Gerlach  Affiliation, Shop Description Southern Utah University, Cedar City, Utah Presses: Vandercook No. 3, Universal I, 2 table-top proof Metal and wood type Classes meet for three hours twice a week Additional three to six hours of open print lab hours per week Level: Beginner Duration: Six weeks Project Description: With the collaborative contribution of poems written in an advanced poetry writing course, typography students created broadsides. By exploring the potential of typographic variables and the placement of letterforms within a composition, the meaning and the essence of a text is communicated. Project Specifications: Combine traditional letterpress processes with digital technologies to design and print two color 12.5 x 19 inch broadsides for assigned poems. Design students work collaboratively with the writing students to distill and condense the poems into phrases or stanzas that capture the essence of the full-length poems. Students make an edition of 12 broadsides for each of the two poems assigned to them.

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BOOM (BRIDGE) Jeremy Botts and Richard Gibson Affiliation, Shop Description Wheaton College and Manibus Press  Press: Asbern Small but growing collection of metal type Level: Beginner Duration: Two to three hours per day allotted to studio component of course; entire course one week Project Description: Students considered the physical properties of the ways media circulates in a one-week intensive, with roughly three to four hours per day dedicated to lecture, discussions, and the hands-on creation of a letterpress printed book. The collaborative form of the book grew organically out of conversations from the first day, and a desire to craft a meaningful object together. Students designed several personal pictographs, cut them from paper, and traded some with peers to create two 11 x 17 collages. These became the pressure-printed background imagery of the book. Students then wrote a short “living epitaph,” hand set it, and overprinted it on the background. Pages were trimmed, Frenchfolded, and stab-bound into a small collaborative book. Edition size included one for every student plus 15 additional.

(Left, right) BOOM (BRIDGE). Eighteen High School students in the BRIDGE (Building Roads to Intellectual Diversity and Great Education) summer program at Wheaton College enrolled in the course Three Literary Technologies: Alphabet, Codex, Computer. Instructors: Jeremy Botts and Richard Gibson, Boom (Bridge). (5 ½" x 7 ½")

Project Specifications: Pressure printed with a red-blue split fountain on dark grey paper. Typefaces: Baskerville, Bodoni, Franklin Gothic and Futura, overprinted in white.

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chapter eleven Conclusion

T

he Oxford English Dictionary, in its poetic and timeless way, defines “letterpress printing” as material printed from a relief surface. Relief printing is that in which the printing surface stands in relief, that is, above the surrounding non-printing area. It defines relief as a vividness, distinctness, or prominence due to contrast or artistic presentation. It is sustenance, support of a place. It is assistance towards saving or affecting something. How does a letterpress studio work its invisible magic? Why is it that we are not surprised when a student, upon entering the Type Shop for the first time, exclaims immediately, “This is my favorite room in the building!” In fact, we find it downright normal. The evidence of care in our Shop is communicated to even the most casual observer. Everyone feels it, from the first-time visitor to the student on the very first day of class. The student who spends a semester or more in the Shop becomes a part of it. Why? For the love of it. The love of pulling open a timeworn case of foundry type, picking up a shiny character and feeling for that telltale nick. The love of scraping a spatula through a thick puddle of crimson ink. The love of running one’s fingers across the back of a sumptuous sheet of handmade paper, freshly imprinted with a perfect punch. There is something innately satisfying in these simple gestures. They go back to our basic human instincts of making marks, recording our existence, testifying that we are here. They correspond to the sensuality of our very being. Letterpress speaks with a voice that resonates in tune with that physicality. And therein lies its certainty for survival. The flashing glow of a computer monitor does indeed dazzle the eyes. But letterpress is deeper. Sculptural. Three-dimensional. Not every student continues on in life doing letterpress, although some definitely do, acquiring tons of equipment on their own. The lure of digital type, the flat LCD screen, the page layout that doesn’t require glue or wax or hours of setting type by hand, beckons, and hypnotizes. Understandably so. But to those who choose to learn and engage in the process of letterpress, whether it be for a semester, a day’s workshop, or a lifetime, letterpress stands in relief, metaphorically just as the Oxford English Dictionary defines it, in contrast to the flat printout. Students studying art and design find that it provides sustenance by exciting the body and the mind. It gives them a chance to work and touch directly the type designed by Caslon, Goudy, and Zapf, and to use it without being able to distort it with one key command. While

Chapter 11: Conclusion

(Opposite) Cathie Ruggie Saunders and Martha Chiplis, Letterpress Luminaries Detail (open). Photo by John Dunlevy.

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(Opposite left, right) Cathie Ruggie Saunders and Martha Chiplis, Letterpress Luminaries. Conceived and printed as a keepsake guide in conjunction with the College Art Association’s A Case for Letterpress Panel, Chicago, 2010. “Designed and printed at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Letterpress Type Shop, in honor of those individuals whom we look up to, those who have helped us on our way, a constellation (of magnitude) familiar in Chicago’s letterpress universe.” Printed on Vandercooks in three colors from hand set type and plates, on Japanese paper, with a wrapper made of discarded maps. 2010. (10" x 3 ½") Photos by John Dunlevy.

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letterpress is making a lasting impression on the hearts and minds of generations to come, those generations are assisting in the very saving of it. They are supporting its place in college and university curricula, community centers, design firms, and makeshift studios across the world. Falling in love with lead adds the voice of “heavy metal” to contemporary design’s digital chorus. And it ensures that the sensual, hand-printed artifact called a book will be carried forward yet another century. All for the love of letterpress.

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appendices Further Reading Blumenthal, Joseph, Art of the Printed Book: 1455–1955 Masterpieces of Typography Through Five Centuries From the Collection of the Pierpont Morgan Library (New York, New York: The Pierpont Morgan Library; Boston, MA: David R. Godine, 1978). Bright, Betty, No Longer Innocent: Book Art in America 1960–1980 (New York, New York: Granary Books, 2005). Castleman, Riva, A Century of Artists Books (New York, New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1994). Chappell, Warren, A Short History of the Printed Word (Boston, MA: Nonpareil Books, 1980). Duncan, Harry, Doors of Perception: Essays in Book Typography (Austin, TX: W. Thomas Taylor, 1987). Drucker, Johanna, The Century of Artists’ Books (New York, New York: Granary Books, 1995). Gill, Eric, An Essay on Typography (UK Boston, MA: David Godine, 1988). Goudy, Frederic W., Goudy’s Type Designs/His Story and Specimens (New Rochelle, New York: Myriade Press, 1978). Hughes, David, First Steps in Letterpress/A Modern Beginner’s Guide to the Craft (Charleston, SC: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014).  Ikegami, Kojiro, Japanese Bookbinding (New York, New York: Weatherhill, 1986). Jury, David, Letterpress: The Allure of the Handmade, Second Edition (Mies, Switzerland: RotoVision, 2011). Lawson, Alexander, Printing Types: An Introduction (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1971). Lawson, Alexander, Anatomy of a Typeface (Boston, MA: David Godine, 1990). Lyons, Joan, Artist’s Books: A Critical Anthology (Rochester, New York: Visual Studies Workshop Press, 1985). McGrew, Mac, American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century (New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll, 1993, 2009). Mitchell, Heather (editor), The Vandercook 100 (Torrance, CA: Just Vandy, 2012). Moran, Bill, Style, Robert, Ichiyama, Dennis, and Zauft, Richard, Hamilton Wood Type/A History in Headlines (St. Paul, MN: Blinc Publishing, 2004).

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Moxon, Paul, Vandercook Presses: Maintenance, History and Resources, Second Edition (Mobile, AL: Fameorshame Press, 2015). Polk, Ralph W., Elementary Platen Presswork, Reprint of 1931 edition (Portland, OR: Letterary Press. 2009). Rehak, Theo, The Fall of ATF: A Serio-Comedic Tragedy (Terra Alta, WV: Pioneer Press, 2004). Rummonds, Gabriel, Printing on the Iron Hand Press (New Castle, DE & London, UK: Oak Knoll and the British Library, 1998). Sherraden, Jim, Horvath, Elek, and Kingsbury, Paul, Hatch Show Print/The History of a Great American Poster Shop (San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 2001). Simon, Herbert, Introduction to Printing: The Craft of Letterpress (London, UK: Faber & Faber, 1968). Steinberg, S. H., Five Hundred Years of Printing, New edition revised by John Trevitt (New Castle, DE & London, UK: The British Library & Oak Knoll Books, 1996). Thomas, Kseniya and Jessica C. White, Ladies of Letterpress: A Gallery of Prints with 86 Removable Posters (New York, New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2015). Tracy, Walter, Letters of Credit: A View of Type Design (Boston, MA: David Godine, 1986). Tschichold, Jan, The Form of the Book (Vancouver, British Columbia: Hartley & Marks, 1991). Updike, Daniel, The Well-Made Book/Essays & Lectures (West New York, NJ: Mark Batty, 2002). Williams, Fred C., The Joy of Handsetting Type (Fountain Hills, AZ: Four Peaks Press, 2000). Wilson, Adrian, The Design of Books (San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 1993).

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Glossary Arm Short horizontal strokes, as in E, F, L, T or inclined upward as in Y, K.

Em The square of a type size. Only in the 12-point size does this equal 12 points.

Bed The flat surface of a printing press on which the type form rests.

En An equivalent in width to one half of an em.

Brass Thin space, 1 point thick, used for spacing type. Brayer A small roller for inking type on a proofing press. Cabinet (Type Cabinet, Stand) The support for cases, often with a tilted top. Case A wooden tray with compartments for storage of type. Chase A rectangular steel or iron frame into which a type form is locked for printing. Colophon An inscription placed at the end of a book or manuscript usually with facts relative to its production. From Latin (via Greek) kolophon, summit, finishing touch. Composing stick Tool for receiving lines of type as they are picked out from the case. Composing stone A very smooth and flat surface made of stone or steel for assembling a form in a chase. Copper Thin space ½ point thick, used for spacing type. Counter The enclosed or partially enclosed negative space (white space) of some letters such as d, o, and m. Cut A term for a block of illustration of 
 any kind. Display Type sized approximately 16 point and over. Distribute The term for returning type to its proper compartment after printing. Dummy A sample of a proposed work, made up to the correct number of pages and cut to the correct size.

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Font In metal type, a complete set of a particular size and design of type including lower case, capital and small capital alphabets, figures, and punctuation marks. Form The page or pages of type and cuts locked in the bed or chase ready for printing. Furniture Wood or metal blocks used to fill up any substantial blank spaces in the bed of the press. Galley A metal tray with one end open into which type composed in a stick is transferred. Guillotine A machine with a sharp knife for trimming edges of books and pamphlets, and for cutting stacks of paper down to the required size. Hair space Very thin spacing for between-letter and between-word spacing. Justification The act of setting type to the exact measure so that individual letters are neither too loosely or too tightly packed together. Kerning A component of letterspacing, used to remedy problems between letter pairs. Manual kerning involves taking away type metal to allow two letters to sit closer together. Key Tool for loosening or tightening metal quoins. Leads (or leading) Strips of type metal used for between-line spacing. Letterspace To add space between individual letters. Ligature A combination of letters cast on one body which form one piece of type. Examples are: ff, fl, ffl, fi, ffi.

Lockup The fitting of quoins into a form and tightening so that type and furniture are held firmly in place. Makeready The preparatory work done on the cylinder or platen of the press to get type and illustrations to print evenly. Mockup A full-sized structural model built to scale chiefly for study, testing, or display. Also a working sample for reviewing format, layout, or content. Nick Indention in the top side of type used to identify the correct orientation. Offset Unintentional transfer of ink (as from a freshly printed sheet). Offset can be avoided by interleaving or allowing ink to dry before sheets are piled up.

blanks and short lines. Quads are usually 1 to 4 ems wide. Quoin An expanding wedge of metal used to exert pressure on furniture in type forms. Register The exact adjustment of position so that printing on the front of a page corresponds with the printing on the back. Also the exact fitting of one color with another. Reglet Narrow wooden furniture, 6 point or 12 point in thickness. Rule Type high lengths of type-metal for printing straight lines. Sans serif A style of type that has no serifs. Serif The beginning or ending stroke drawn at an angle across the arm, stem, or tail of a letter.

Ornament A small, decorative element cast in type metal.

Slug Strip of spacing material 6 points thick and greater.

Packing Paper that is stacked behind or underneath the tympan to achieve the desired amount of pressure or punch.

Slur A smudged or blurred impression in printed matter.

Pi To spill or knock over (type or type matter) into disorder. If you don’t tie up your type in your galley it will easily become pied. Pica There are 12 points in a pica and approximately 6 picas to the inch. Plane A block of wood polished flat on one side and usually with a protective pad of leather on the opposite side, used to tamp down the form. Platen A flat plate that exerts or receives pressure as in a printing press. Point A typographical point measures .01384 of an inch. There are 12 points in a pica. 72 points is approximately equal to 1 inch. Proof Any trial print of composed type or illustration. Quads Abbreviation for quadrats which are large spaces (below type height) for filling out

Spacing Metal blanks, lower than type high. 12-point spacing for 12-point type, 18-point spacing for 18-point type, etc. Spacing is made in different widths to fill out the horizontal distance in a composing stick. Stem All vertical strokes of a letter, and fulllength oblique strokes as in V, W, and Y. Tail Short downward strokes, as in K and R. The term is used for the Q, even when it is a curved horizontal stroke. Text Type sizes usually 14 points or smaller. Tympan Smooth treated paper that has a very even thickness and is placed between the cylinder or platen of a press and the paper to be printed. Type high .918 inches in the U.S. and U.K. Typeface The face of printing type or all type of a single design.

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Additional Resources films/videos For more videos, see Bloomsbury’s For the Love of Letterpress website. Pressing On: The Letterpress Film Making Faces: Metal Type in the 21st Century Linotype The Film

type foundries M & H Type www.arionpress.com/mandh/ Bixler Press & Letterfoundry (Monotype) http://www.mwbixler.com/ Swamp Press, Massachusetts (See American Typecasting Fellowship for more)

paper suppliers Twinrocker Handmade Paper http://twinrocker.com/ Papeterie Saint-Armand http://www.st-armand.com/ Mohawk Paper https://www.mohawkconnects.com/ Dolphin Paper http://store.dolphinpapers.com/ Legion Paper Place an order at (212) 683-6990 ext. 302; [email protected]; www.legionpaper.com/

printing equipment Andrew Churchman Indianapolis, Indiana, http://buyletterpress.com/ Letterpress Things Massachusetts, http://www.letterpressthings.com/ Briar Press http://briarpress.org/ eBay (search “letterpress” under the category of “Printing & Graphic Arts”) http://www.ebay.com/

museums Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum www.woodtype.org/ Platen Press Museum www.platenpressmuseum.com/ Hatch Show Print http://countrymusichalloffame .org/our-work/ Museum of Printing Haverhill, Massachusetts, https://www.museumofprinting.org/ International Museum of Printing Carson, California, http://www.printmuseum.org/

printing organizations American Printing History Association www. printinghistory.org/about/mission-history.php Fine Press Book Association www.fpba.com/

ink vendors NA Graphics www.nagraph.com/ Van Son Holland Ink http://www.vansonink.com /categories/Letterpress-Inks/ Graphic Chemical and Ink https://www.graphicchemical.com/

Ladies of Letterpress http://ladiesofletterpress.ning.com/ College Book Art Association www.collegebookart.org/

publications The Devil’s Artisan http://devilsartisan.ca/

platemaking Boxcar Press (photopolymer) www.boxcarpress.com/ Owosso Graphic Arts (magnesium and copper) www.owossographic.com/

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Hodgins Engraving Batavia, New York, http:// old.hodginsengraving.com/diemaking/

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Parenthesis, the Journal of the Fine Press Book Association www.fpba.com/parenthesis/about.html

Printing History, the biannual journal of the American Printing History Association www .printinghistory.org/publications/printing -history.php Book Arts Newsletter, published every four to six weeks at the Center for Fine Print Research, edited by Sarah Bodman, http://www.bookarts .uwe.ac.uk/newsletters/

WNYBAC Western New York Book Arts Center Buffalo, New York, http://wnybookarts.org/ SVC Seattle, Washington, https://www.svcseattle.com/

online community Briar Press www.briarpress.org/

Matrix from Whittington Press http:// whittingtonpressshop.com/matrix-index/

Book Arts List (subscribe to digest) https://listserv.syr.edu/scripts/ wa.exe?A0=BOOK_ARTS-L

vandercook and letterpress supplies

Letterpress Listserv (subscribe to digest or nomail and read the archives) https://listserv .unb.ca/cgi-bin/wa?A0=LETPRESS

NA Graphics www.nagraph.com/ Boxcar Press https://www.boxcarpress.com/

Letterpress Commons http://letterpresscommons.com/

binding supplies

Ladies of Letterpress https://ladiesofletterpress.com/

Talas www.talasonline.com/ Hollanders www.hollanders.com/

book fairs Codex www.codexfoundation.org/ Pyramid Atlantic http:// pyramidatlanticbookartsfair.org/ Oak Knoll Fest www.oakknoll.com/fest/ Manhattan Fine Press Book Fair http://www.fpba.com/fairs/newyork.html Oxford http://www.fpba.com/fairs/oxford.html

book arts centers/ community letterpress The Center for Book Arts New York, New York, http://centerforbookarts.org/ San Francisco Center for the Book San Francisco, California, https://www.sfcb.org/ Flower City Arts Center Rochester, New York, https://www.rochesterarts.org/

health and safety HSE British independent health and safety organization, www.hse.gov.uk/printing/index.htm OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) www.osha.gov/SLTC/printing _industry/index.html

press repair and troubleshooting Vanderblog http://vandercookpress.info/vanderblog/

scholarships and funding Caxton Club http://caxtonclub.org/grants/ College Book Art Association www.collegebookart.org/ KickStarter (search “letterpress” to see the letterpress projects currently funding) www.kickstarter.com/

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Artist Index

A Adame, Julieta H., Sonnet 110, 174 Allen, Wilson, Hand Atlas, 93 Arion Press: Flatland, 70; The Lulu Plays, 35 Armes, David, Rights of Way, 129 Arnesen, Alyssa, How to Hide in Plain Sight, 170; Mithridatism, 104 Arsenault, Tina, Ornamental Maple Leaf, 84 Asherman, Julia, An Afternoon in the Shop, 128 Avadenka, Lynne, Signs and Lines, 127 B Baker, Emily, et al., Ambicase Type, 165 Banks, Quinton, Seventy-one pounds of Lead Graffiti Love, 182 Barr, Courtney, Rivers Crossed, 166; Typographical Map, 166 Barrie, Pamela R., Cover Them Over, 60; Poppies for Remembrance & Peace, 122 Barton, Stephanie, Chromatic Catastrophe, 184 Basile, Ryan, Number Study: Nonlinear Typesetting and Textural Exploration, 118 Baskauskas, Eric, Limited Edition, 48 Batliner, Cathy, Salt & Pepper, 147; Spacing, 175 Benenson, Alyse, 157; I Tried to Forget, But . . . , 151; Of the Same Young Blood, 159 Bird, Amelia, Holes, 122 Bogue, Hanna, Reversing Voids, 97 Brignull, Alan (Hedgehog Press), BPS Convention Keepsake, 80 Brown, Paul, Ten, 87 Bruggeman, Inge, Deposits, 140 Bryan, Tara, The Great Wall of China, 91 Butler, Angie (ABPress): Fond Farewells, 141; Greetings: Letterpress animation (with others), 62

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C Cabaret Typographie: Elastic Type, 91; Typo Game Poster, 87 Carpenter, Stephanie, Interpretation, 99 Chamlee, Rebecca: At Low Water, 94; Study for the Possibility of Hope, 94 Chen, Julie, Panorama, 124 Chen, Lily, Letters, 62 Chiplis, Martha, Biding Time, 142; Letterpress Luminaries, 187, 188 Cho, Janice: The Divine Ingredient, 168; Honesty Trumps Fame, 102; Unsung Heroes, 102; The Valiant Vandercook Bakery (cover), 131 Christopher, John (Flowers & Fleurons), Dada Trumpet, 29; The Shipping Forecast, 79 Clark, Jewel, Hello My Name Is NOT Hey Baby!, 178 Cliché Letterpress Studio, Cliché Christmas Card, 88 Coombs, Ann, Disposable, 179 Cox, Jennifer, Disposable, 179 E Eisendrath, An (Kastaar), Reopening Museum Plantin-Moretus, 39 Escalante, Jim, Tortillas La Iguana, 130 F Fagan, Sarah, Disposable, 179 Farrell, Jennifer (Starshaped Press), 85, 95, 122; Cooper Black Ampersand, 114; Urbs In Horto, 98 Fasola, Valentina, Legami, 173 Faust, Dikko (Purgatory Pie Press), Uruk: New York, 27 Fiorentino, Alessandro, Legami, 173 Fish, Rachel, Disposable, 179

Flowers and Fleurons, The Shipping Forecast, 79 Foglia, Morena, Legami, 173 Ford, Colin, Band and Show, Show and Dance, 39 Fraser, Elizabeth, Out of Character, 29 Fraterdeus, Peter (SlowPrint Letterpress), ATypi São Paulo 2015 Zapf Commemorative Banner, 72 G Galbreath, Joe, Band and Show, Show and Dance, 39 Gallagher, Kitt, Not about Bathrooms, 181 Gardner, Casey, Body of Inquiry, 154 Gendell, Evan: Diversery, 139; Gaslight, 171; Provocation Prevarication, 163 Ghazaryan, Armina, Da-Daniil Kharms, 28, 29 Gross, Roni, Sweet Seventeen, 34 H Han, Li: Jibber-Jabber/Lupp-Dupp, 162; Ode to Typography, 21 Heft, Caren, Crossing the Tigris, 72 Hepher, Michael, Both Sides, 88 Hernandez-Adame, Julieta, Sonnet 110, 174 Hesterberg, William, Announcing The Hesterberg Press, 24 Honn, Tracy (Silver Buckle Press), IO (II), 84 I Illouz, Claire, They Run, 143 Ingham, Helen, Now Cometh The Spring, 91 J Jacobs, Diane, Wig #5, 137 Johnston, Alastair, Logbook, 124 K Kegler, Richard, Anonymous Midwest Landscape # 1, 82 Kharms, Daniil, Blue Notebook N 10, 28, 29 Killen, Mary Louise, An Afternoon in the Shop, 128

King, Samantha, Little Book of Ornament, 87 Kloss, Wesley, Autophobia, 64 Knudson, Ellen (Crooked Letter Press): Ingress/Egress, 142; Subject/Verb/Object, 152 Koch, Peter Rutledge, The Lost Journals of Sacajewea, 26 Kring, Brian, Flying Fish, 122 Krupa, Sarah, Asterisms & Their Constellations, 149 Kruty, Peter, I Had a Blueprint of History, 70 Kwiatkowski, Olivia, Seventy-one pounds of Lead Graffiti Love, 182 L Laing, Chrissy, Our Shared Anatomy, 52 Langworthy, Sara, Morpho Terrestre, 101 Lead Graffiti, By the Nos, 68 Leroy, Alexia, Let the Creativity Begin, 175 Linne, Leksi, Perfectly Good Craters, 129 Lintott, Mark (Verdigris Press), Les Fruits Defendus, 72 Loaring, Nick, Golden Cabinet Gig Posters, 62 LoPrete, Lauren, An Afternoon in the Shop, 128 Lu, Tim, Simple Things, 148 M Makov, Susan, Strategic Withdrawal, 157 Maret, Russell, Specimens of Diverse Characters, 70 McDonald, Barbara, Dziadzie, 133, 134 McGlothern, Eli, Your Bike Is Not Safe, 177 Myntti, Sheila, Spring Canyon, 184 N NewLights Press, What You Will, 76 Nichols, Leslie, Typeface, 95 Nordenstrom, Lina, M4, 98 P Painted Tongue Studios, Diameter of the Bomb, 138 Pandey, Radha, Anatomia Botanica, 102 Paolini, Gina, Typo Memory Game, 88

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Paulsrud, Pamela, You Are the Bird of My Heart, 109 Philmlee, Mary, Ruins, 149 Prenafeta, María José: Fit o no Fito, 60; Friday, 137 R Rappoport, Lisa, Zane Grey and Me, 130 Resendiz, Jose: A Making of a Past | A Making of a People, 95; Silent Passage | Pasaje Silencioso, 168 Rice, Felicia, DOC/UNDOC Documentado/ Undocumented Ars Shamánica Performática, 104 Risseeuw, John, For Luis and Domingos, 121 Robinson, Lisa Beth, Untitled, 109 Rodriguez, Ciel, And, the Sage Burns, 148 Ruffin, Katherine M., Portrait of a Universal One: Vandercook No. 23654, 116 Ruggie Saunders, Cathie (The Hosanna Press), keeping time, 126; Letterpress Luminaries, 187, 188; Lullaby, 144; R & S Alphabet Broadside, 15 S Sacic, Vida, 97; Electric Biology, 17 Sakai, Mika: Hyphen, 156; Presence, 154 Sawyer, Suzanne, Mind the Hives, 134 Schanilec, Gaylord, Lac Des Pleurs, 12 Schilling, Wilber H., Panthers, 114 Schmittle, Lindsay, Winter Solstice Card, 117 de Schrevel, Stephane, Je suis Dada, 29 Sharp, Bethany, Well-Behaved Women, 181 Sherwin Beach Press, 11, 20; Ballet for Opening Day, 12; Essence of Beeing, 21; Saving His Life, 82 Shields, Louisa, An Afternoon in the Shop, 128 Shulga, Fedir (Officina Daubmanni), Indulgence in the Name of Gutenberg, 22

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Shuster, Tennille Davis, Unearthed, 134 Smith, Esther (Purgatory Pie Press), Uruk: New York, 27 Spring, Jessica, Burnham Unfolds, 27 Stern, Stacey: My Business Card Has More Colors Than Yours Does Because It Can, 172; “Typeface” Poster for Chicago Premier, 84; You are the bird of my heart, 109 T Thomas, Peter and Donna, Gypsy Wagon, 42 U Underwood, Muriel, 23, 34; On Dining, 24; The Type Louse, 80 V Van den Bergh, Stoffel (Kastaar), Reopening Museum Plantin-Moretus, 39 VandenBosch, Adrienne, Back Home, 106, 107 Vassie, David, Sonnet 110, 174 Vela, Paco (Oficina Tipográfica Marvel), A un día monótono, 109 von Ketelhodt, Ines, Alpha Beta, 118 W Wakefield, David (23 Press), Invesco Question, 128 Wang, Yueyang “Stephanie,” Ruins, 149 Weber, Emma, Keel/Teeming, 25 Wolske, David, Synæsthetica No. 1, 112 Wood, Philippa (The Caseroom Press), Done, 15; Fond Farewells, 141 Workman, Rebecca, Pineapple, 25 Z Zanella, Alessandro, Ecce Video, 92

Subject Index

A accordion style binding, 52 Acme, 31 Adorned Ambicase (Erin Beckloff), 164 Aiko’s, 143 alignment: centered, 44; flush right, 44; hanging punctuation, 44–45; justified left, 43–44; justified right, 43–44; line length, choosing of, 45; quadding out, 45; rag right (left aligned), 44 Allen, Lewis, 107 American Typecasting Fellowship, 95 American Type Founders (ATF), 19 Art Institute of Chicago, 19 Art of Persuasion: Political & Social Broadsides (Martha Chiplis), 181 Arts and Crafts movement, 21, 23 Association Typographique Internationale (ATypI), 23 B backwards transfer, 110 Baines, Phil, 137 Balloon wood type, 97 Barnhart Brothers & Spindler, 19, 79 Beckloff, Erin, Adorned Ambicase, 164 Bewick, Thomas, 19, 87 Big Cat Press, 12 bookbinding, 133 Booklet Press, 19 bookmaking: accordion format, 133; appropriate color palette, choosing of, 143–44; appropriate paper, choosing of, 141, 143; appropriate typefaces, choosing of, 137, 139; blank models, 133; colophon of, 144–46, 147–48; dummy structures, 134, 137 BOOM (BRIDGE) (Jeremy Botts and Richard Gibson), 185

Botts, Jeremy, BOOM (BRIDGE), 185 Boxcar Press, 55, 91–92 brayers, 107, 109; and roll-outs, 113 Bringhurst, Robert, 139 British Printing Society Convention, 80 Bruggeman, Inge, Did You Say Multiple?, 179–80 Building Roads to Intellectual Diversity and Great Education (BRIDGE), 185 burins, 87 C California Job Case, 11, 19, 31–34 calligraphy, 22 Canson Opalux paper, 93 Caps Case, 36 Caxton Club, 23 Chandler, Harrison T., 75 Chandler & Price presses (C&Ps), 25, 75 Charlotte Guillard of France, 21 chase, 43, 91 Cherryburn Press, 19 Chicago (Illinois), 143; printing history, legacy of, 19; and Vandercook presses, 56 Chicago Public Library/Harold Washington Center, 21 Child Christopher and Goldilind the Fair (Morris), 22, 23 Chiplis, Martha, 12; Art of Persuasion: Political & Social Broadsides, 181; Public Notice: Historic Advice for the Present, 175; Type Stories, 168–69 Cleveland Type Foundry, 75 Colonia, Francesca, Legami: A Poster for an Ink Festival in Alessandria, 173 composing sticks, 31, 45; early examples of, 39; line length, setting of, 39 Cooper, Oswald, 19 copper, 91

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cotton, 75–76 n.1 critique: form and content, synergy of, 157–58; preparation for, 151 critique format models: adjectival approach of, 154; hierarchy, 154; inside/outside approach, 157; instructor-led overview, 153; pairing off, 153; random draw, 154; silent approach, 154; student-initiated approach, 157; written approach of, 153 Cyrillic text, 29 D Dale Guild Type Foundry, 70 dampening, 107 damping, 107 debossing, 104, 107 Detterer, Ernst, 19 Diamond Sutra, 87 Did You Say Multiple? (Inge Bruggeman), 179–80 Die Brücke, 88 dummy, 134, 137 E editioning, 58, 74; and irregular inking, 74 Editioning Presses, 56, 58, 61, 63–64; mixing ink colors, 61, 63–64; packing, 58, 61; roller height, adjusting, 64 Elementary Platen Presswork (Polk), 75 Elements of Typographic Style (Bringhurst), 139 “em” quad, 11, 37, 40, 43–45 The Essence of Beeing (Lenehan), 20, 21 etching inks, 46, 49 F Fabriano Paper Mill, 21 Feldman, Edmund, 151 Flatland (Abbott), 70 floriated initial image transfer, 110 found objects, 102 foundry type, 70, 79

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G galley cabinets, 31 galleys, 31, 40, 43, 45 galley slip, 42 Gerlach, Jessica, Poetry Broadsides, 184 Germany, 46, 55, 79, 81, 88, 118 ghosting, 109 Gibson, Richard, BOOM (BRIDGE), 185 Gillmore, A. R., 82 Golden Section, 23 Gothic Ultra Condensed wood type, 52 Goudy, Frederick, 19 gouges, 87 Graphic Design USA, 144 gravers, 87–88 Great Western Ink, 49 Great Western Type Foundry, 29 n.7 Gutenberg Bible, 21 Gutenberg, Johannes, 31–32, 46, 55, 79 H halftones, 88 Hamilton, J. Edward, 82 Hamilton Wood Type Museum, 42 hand inking, 109 Harris, Kelly, 50 Haslam, Andrew, 139 Heckel, Erich, 88 Heidelberg, 75 Hernandez-Adame, Julieta, Shakespeare Sonnet 110, 174 H.N. Werkman Type Prints: A Creative Letterpress Workshop (Ray Nichols), 176 How To Manual (Cathie Ruggie Saunders), 170–71 Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (Manutius), 12 I ink: black, 50; etching, 46, 49; etching ink, 46–47; and letterpress ink, 46, 49; news ink, 49; offset lithography ink, 46; oil-

based letterpress, 49; rubber base ink, 49; traditional lithography ink, 46–47 ink colors: color wheel, 63; mixing of, 61, 63–64 Intertype, 81 Izui, Chuck, 143 J Japan, 23, 55, 87, 141 J.E. Hamilton Holly Wood Type Company, 82 John Marder of Marder Luse & Co., 31 K Kastaar, 39 Kelly, Rob Roy, 82 kerning, 11, 15 kindling, 124 Klinke, Fritz, 49 Kluge, 75 Knudson, Ellen, Typographical Map, 166 L laser cut materials, 92 layout: classical, 21; modernist, 21 leading, 11, 31, 36, 43; diagram of, 36; and leading rack, 39 lead type, 16, 34, 55, 95, 149 Leavenworth, William, 82 Lee, Linda, 110 Legami: A Poster for an Ink Festival in Alessandria (Francesca Colonia and Giulia Nicolai), 173 Lessons in Printing (ITU), 45 letterpress, 11–12, 21, 23, 25, 187; definition of, 187; and handmade paper, 55–56; human attraction to, 11; ink of, 46; and machine made paper, 55; media of, 12; moldmade paper, 55; and paper, 55; printing, and photopolymer plates, 55; as threedimensional, 187 letterpress assignments: advocacy/public outreach, 161–62, 177–83; collaboration,

162, 184–85; design identity, 161, 172–73; historical reference, 161, 174–76; introduction to the book, 161, 168–71; typography, 161, 162–67; see also specific assignment titles, instructor names ligature, 11 linoleum, 88 linoleum blocks, 60 linoleum cut, 52 Linotype, 32, 79, 81 lockup, 66, 67; principles of, 67 Ludlow, 81–82 Ludlow Typograph Company, 19, 34, 82 M magnesium, 91 makeready, 72 Manutius, Aldus, 11 Marder Luse & Co., 79 Matisse, Henri, 107 matrix: definition of, 118 n.2; as experimental, 101; as type-high, 101, 107 Meers, A.W., 32 Mergenthaler, Ottmar, 81 metal plates, 92 Method of Holding Type Together in a Laser Cut Jig Using Frisket (Allen), 117 Michael & Winifred Bixler Letterfoundry, 95 micrography, 93 Middleton, Robert Hunter, 19 Mohawk Superfine, 24 monoprint, 107, 109 Monotype, 32, 79, 81; and caster, 79; and keyboard, 79 Morris, William, 22, 23, 46 Moss, Graham, 51 n.2 movable type, 23, 88 Munch, Edward, 118–10 My Business Card Has More Colors Than Yours Does Because It Can (Stacey Stern), 172

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N NA Graphics, 49, 58 Nakane, Aiko, 143 negative space: expressiveness of, 21 Newberry Library, 21, 34 news ink, 49 Nicolai, Giulia, Legami: A Poster for an Ink Festival in Alessandria, 173 Nichols, Ray: H.N. Werkman Type Prints: A Creative Letterpress Workshop, 176; Quotable Broadside: A Creative Letterpress Workshop, 182–83 O offset printing, 61 oil-based letterpress ink, 49 oiled tympan paper, 58, 61 ornaments, 85, 87, 88 Owosso Graphics, 91 P packing, 58, 61; and “kiss” impression, 58 Pantone Matching System (PMS), 63 Pantone Uncoated Formula Guide, 63 paper: bamboo, 55; commercial, 55; grain of, 55; handmade, 55; handmade cotton/hemp, 102; handmade pineapple, 134; Hosho, 25; Johannot, 27; kozo, 13, 26; machine-made, 55; mold-made, 55; oiled tympan, 58, 61; Okawara, 24; positioning of, 67, 69; tree-free, 55; Twinrocker handmade, 15; Zerkall, 12 Parsons, I.R., 27 n.3 perfect punch, 15 photoengravings: and copper, 91; and magnesium, 91; and zinc, 91 photography, and halftones, 88 photopolymer, 91–92; plates, 60; polymer plates, 52 pica rulers, 31 picas, 31 Picasso, Pablo, 101 platen press, 75

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plates, 88, 91–92 Poetry Broadsides (Jessica Gerlach), 184 points, 31 press: cleaning of, 75–76; editioning, 74; impression, checking of, 70, 72; Makeready, 72; multiple colors, registering, 72, 74; platen, 75; Sigwalt tabletop, 24; and trip/print, 70 Pressing On: A Letterpress Film (Beckloff), 95 press operation, 69–70; inking, trip/print, 70; more on trip/print, 70 pressure printing, 52, 102–4 Price, William H., 75 Print and Advocacy—Printing Something That Helps Someone (John Risseeuw), 177–78 printer’s furniture, 39; furniture cabinet, 39; resalite (plastic) furniture, 39; wood v. metal, 39 printer’s primer: alignment, 43–45; form, tying up, 45–46; ink, 46, 49; lay of the case, 31–32, 34; paper for proofing, 49; proofing, 49–51; setting type by hand, 39–40, 43; spacing and leading, 37, 39; terminology and measurement, 31 Printing Digital Type on the Hand-operated Flatbed Cylinder Press (Lange), 92 Printing with the Handpress (Allen), 107 proofing: brayer, 50; on galley proof press, 49; planer, 49–50; purpose of, 50; quoin key, 50 proof press: kiss impression, 49; paper for, 49 Public Notice: Historic Advice for the Present (Martha Chiplis), 175 Q quoin, 69, 70 Quotable Broadside: A Creative Letterpress Workshop (Ray Nichols), 182–83 R rainbow roll, 104 Ransom, Will, 19 relief matrices, 79; foundry type, 79; images, 85; laser cut materials, 92; linoleum, 88;

Linotype, 81; Ludlow, 81–82; magnesium, zinc, copper, photopolymer, 88, 91–92; Monotype, 79, 81; ornaments, 85, 87; woodcuts, 87; wood engraving, 87–88; wood type, 82, 85 relief printing, 79, 101 Rembrandt, 107 resingrave, 88 Risseeuw, John, Print and Advocacy— Printing Something That Helps Someone, 177–78 R.R. Donnelley and Sons, 11, 34 Ruggie Saunders, Cathie: How To Manual, 170–71; Symmetry/Asymmetry, 163 S Sagan, Carl, 93 School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s (SAIC), 34, 91–92; Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection at, 23; Letterpress Studio of, 9 Shakespeare Sonnet 110 (Julieta HernandezAdame and David Vassie), 174 Silver Buckle Press, 84 slugs, 34, 39, 40; and lead saw, 39; and slug cutter, 39 Society of Typographic Arts (STA), 23, 34 spacing, 31, 34; diagram of, 36; “em quad” (mutton), 37; “en quad” (nut), 37; “lakes,” 37; pieces of, 40; “rivers,” 37 splatter, 109 split fountain, 104 Starshaped Press, 85, 95, 114, 122 stencils, 113, 118 n. 12; negative use, 113; positive use, 113 Stern, Stacey, My Business Card Has More Colors Than Yours Does Because It Can, 172 stratography, 102 Sullivan, John E., 32 Sullivan, Louis, 87, 96 Swamp Press & Letter Foundry, 95 Symmetry/Asymmetry (Cathie Ruggie Saunders), 163

T Three Ton Bridge Type Foundry, 95 Twinrocker handmade paper, 15 2/3 case, 32 type: body, 31; face, 31; hand set, 60; Julianna Oldstyle, 84; lead, 34; Monotype Perpetua and Gill Sans, 35; nick, 31; parts of, 31; pica, 31; points, 31; setting of, 43; single piece of, 33; type-high, 31, 39; wood, 34, 43, 60 type cabinets, 31 type cases, 31 type-high matrix, 101 Type Shop, 9, 10, 12, 15–16, 23, 25, 31–32, 37, 39, 79, 121, 133, 144, 151, 187 Type Stories (Martha Chiplis), 168–69 Typographical Map (Ellen Knudson), 166 typography, 11, 15 U Updike, Daniel Berkeley, 85 V Vandercook presses, 25, 56–58, 61, 63–64 van Vliet, Claire, 61 Varieties of Visual Experience (Feldman), 151 Vassie, David, Shakespeare Sonnet 110, 174 Victory Ink, 49 Village Press, 19 W Warde, Beatrice, 139 Western Type Foundry, 79 Wilfer, Joe, 102, 118 n.6 winnowing, 124 wood block-books, 23 woodcuts, 87; and Ukiyo-e technique, 87 wood engraving, 87–88 Woodman, Richard, 88 wood type, 34, 43, 60, 82, 85, 168 Z zinc, 91

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This book was designed by Martha Chiplis and Cathie Ruggie Saunders. It was laid out by Martha in Adobe InDesign CS6 on a Mac Mini. The type is Palatino Linotype by Hermann Zapf. Palatino was punchcut in metal in 1950 by August Rosenberger at D. Stempel AG typefoundry in Frankfurt am Main, and then adapted for Linotype machine composition. It was later adapted by Zapf for photocomposition, then digital composition. Hermann Zapf, as quoted on linotype.com: “(Palatino was) . . . named after the Italian writing master of the sixteenth century in Rome, Giovanbattista Palatino, a contemporary of Michelangelo and Claude Garamond. (I hope Palatino may one day forgive me in heaven and give me his blessing for using his good name for my typeface).” By setting this book in Palatino, we celebrate the connection with the great writing master, and Zapf, the type designer; a continuity that lives on through the students and teachers of letterpress printing, who we hope are inspired by this book.

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