Lunch With Mrs. O

Addressed to Hoefler & Frere-Jones who received this invitation in the mail yesterday for their recognition as National Design Award finalists. (I wonder if the lunch menus will be using Gotham). H&FJ were not the only distinguished type design award recipients this year. Matthew Carter received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his profound and long-term contribution to the contemporary practice of design. Prolific design author and editor Steven Heller was also recognized for the Design Mind Award given to a visionary who has effected a paradigm shift in design thinking or practice through writing, research and scholarship. R∙E∙S∙P∙E∙C∙T

500 Years of Printing at a Glance

Five Hundred Years of Printing, by S.H. Steinberg, Pelican Books, 1974 edition. A great resource on type, printing and book design. 
:: Via Things Magazine where there is a nice archive of Pelican book covers categorized by decade.

Lasting Letters

Lovely handcarved letters on memorial slabs in the San Jeronimo monastery in Granada, Spain from the 17th and 18th century.
:: See more images from Sacha Wheeler's photostream.

Pot Lids

I'm not making this up. The term pot lid comes from the decorated lid of porcelain containers often used as packaging for food, cold creams, toothpaste and other apothecary supplies. They were used as advertising as early as the mid 18th C, but most common from mid to late 19th C. The ceramic container increased the product's shelf life, and they came in many shapes and sizes and colors. Most were printed single color as these were less costly to produce. They are printed using transfers, just like transferware dishes. According to collector, Bruce Pynn who writes for Food & Beverage magazine, The method of printing on a pot lid was a multi-staged, time-consuming process. The transfer was lifted on tissue-thin paper from an engraved copper plate that previously had been inked and coloured. It was then transferred to the lid after the first baking and rubbed until the print firmly adhered to the pottery. The paper was then carefully removed, usually by washing or floating it off in water and the lid was glazed and fired to fix the design as an integral part of the pottery.

The designers of these ceramic containers were skilled artisans who worked for popular potters such as Staffordshire in England. Their hand-illustrated decorative typography and ornamentation reflected the same popular Victorian styles seen in books, packaging labels and songsheet title pages at the time. You can see many samples of pot lids at The Antique Pot Lid Gallery and learn more about their history here.

Arcano

A new release from Italian designer Giuseppe Salerno who is based in Spain. Inspired by nature, symbols, icons and jewels, Salerno claims it took him 4 months to produce Arcano which he illustrated with ink on Japanese paper. Available here and vector files are included.

Typographic Rhythm

78 rpm record labels from Wackystuff and Olivander's photostreams.

Flourished Fraktur

Type designer Dan Reynolds includes this typographic jewel on his Flickr photostream. He explains—this elaborately embellished M is from a 19th C British sketchbook filled with many other romantic lettering samples of work. It was shown to a class of students in the University of Reading's typography program several years ago by retired professor and scholar Michael Twyman, who is now Director of the Centre for Ephemera Studies at the University. Former student and designer Michael Hochleitner, of Typejockey in Vienna, also shared a photo of this same letter and images of Michael Twyman's lecture. Oh how I would have enjoyed sitting in on that session! This is for my type buddies—Joe, John & Juliet. (Team Cap J)

Book Scraps

This dispatch is about a mysterious title page from an early 19th C scrapbook that turned up in the Peter Harrington rare book shop in London last year. This scrapbook was typical of the kind often purchased from stationers of the day by wealthy young women. Long before the term scrapbooking became popularized as a verb, it was a fashionable activity in that day, for young people to fill them with prints and ephemera. The books were often nicely bound blank pages with the exception of a title page intended to be removed by the owner. This particular scrapbook was produced in 1829, according to the title page, and it was lovingly filled with ephemera dating from the late 1700s to the mid-1850s. What is most unusual about this book is not only having the title page still intact, but it is truly a typographic wonder. Most likely it was printed as a steel engraving and it included very tiny bits of hand-lettered text amongst all of the decorative flourishes of the designer's hand. (Be sure to click on the title page to view full enlargement.) I love how it states that it is expressly designed to divert the anxious, amuse the studious, cheer the gloomy and employ the idle. Isn't that why we have reality TV now?

Cap N

Initial cap N from 1667 Spanish book printed by Diego Diaz de la Carrera. Via El Bibliomata's photostream.

No Type Like SnowType

This bit of snow-capped trivia might be archived under early ice age type or glacial lettering as it is nearly as old as the invention of snowplay. Typefounders first made their share of snow-covered fonts farther back than you might imagine. Seasoned type designers, Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones of Hoefler & Frere-Jones nearly had to do a glacier core sample to dig up a sample of an early snow-capped alphabet. According to Hoefler, "it was lurking on page 120p of Die Haupt Probe, otherwise known as The Behemoth: the 1,478-page, six-kilogram, scanner-breaking type specimen of the Stempel Foundry, issued in 1925, and thought to be the largest typefoundry specimen book ever produced. Behold Schneekönigin, a snow-capped adaptation of the Fette Teutonia typeface. Like the book that contained it, it is equal parts delightful and menacing."

Hoefler also reports that the wags at Deitch have created
their own Ice-o-Type version
of H&FJs font, Gotham Black.
It was created by illustrator/guitarist Rick Froberg.

Men of Letters

This short trailer for the classic 1978 documentary, Final Marks: The Art of the Carved Letter, is about the John Stevens Shop, a stone lettercutting shop in Newport RI. It chronicles the work of John ‘Fud’ Benson—then the owner and principal designer, and, arguably, one of the most accomplished lettercutters in the world. Established in 1705, the John Stevens Shop was the oldest business in the United States still in continuous operation in the same colonial building at the time this film was made. Benson's father began the family stonecutting business when he acquired the John Stevens Shop in the 1920s.

The entire Final Marks: The Art of the Carved Letter 49 minute film, begins with a review of some of their most demanding works of monumental inscriptions at the National Gallery in Washington and John F. Kennedy's gravesite at Arlington Cemetery, which Benson completed at the young age of 26. We next see Benson's step-by-step creation of celebrated typographer, Michael Bixler's Alphabet Stone and later see the beautiful stonework in an 18th C New England common burying ground through Benson's eyes. The enduring stone inscriptions on the gravestones are the final marks of these early colonist' biographies and remain a lasting reminder of the perpetuity of the stonecutter's artful work.




. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Postscript

Upon my further research, I learned there were many more layers to this family story. I learned that Nicholas Benson, the son of John 'Fud' Benson, and third-generation stonecutter, carved his own stone lettering niche when he took the reins of the family business in Newport RI in 1993. His father John, had clocked 35 years in the family business and wanted to devote more time to his monument inscription projects such as the Franklin Delano Roosevelt memorial which was under construction in DC at the time.

This story only gets better. This past October, John's son, Nicholas, joined the rarified fellowship of another venerable typographer, Matthew Carter, when he was also awarded a prestigious MacArthur genius grant at the age of 46, for his uncompromising craftsmanship and beauty in form and line. His inscriptions and decorative reliefs can be seen on family memorials and buildings throughout the United States, including the National Gallery of Art, the Yale University Art Gallery, and the National World War II Memorial in Washington. When I began this post, I had no clue about Benson's MacArthur award, but it is a sure reminder to me that both craftmanship and passion for work has it's own rewards. And 2010 will be noted in the annals of typographic record as the year type and letters are celebrated by far more than the men and women of letters who design them. Both Carter and Benson are living proof of this.

Early Book Marketing

The first italic type design originated in Venice, Italy when this edition of Virgil was published in 1501 by Aldus Manutius of the Aldine Press. Aldus actually commissioned type designer, Francesco Griffo to punchcut the first italic typeface for his book. I believe Aldus also originated one of the earliest creative marketing plans at this time as well. He cleverly chose to base the italic upon a popular form of cursive handwriting which was quite fashionable amongst his many educated customers. He also was the inventor of the semi-colon which I have reported upon previously on Letterology. One thing Aldus might have overlooked however; it appears he was so busy marketing his book, he forgot to add a decorative drop cap on the verso page.
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Doh! Update alert!
Being a Renaissance guy, I couldn't believe Aldus could just overlook adding initial caps in Virgil. It then dawned on me that of course he printed a placeholder cap—For Placement Only—and had it in mind to add the beautiful hand-painted ornamental drop caps post printing. I did further investigations and found a few images of the book in the archives of the British Library and there is even an illuminated border. The physical description of this book actually reads: 8vo, 228 leaves, on vellum. With illuminated initials and illuminated border to the first page of text. (Meaning just the front matter?) No credit to the artist who created all of the page illuminations however. Typical!

Chocolate Face

Chipper. Made entirely of Chocolate Chips. From Candice Onodi, a recent design graduate of College for Creative Studies in Detroit.

Honey, I've Shrunk The Declaration of Independence

Ken Perlin, Professor of Computer Science at NYU Media Research Lab, claims to have developed the smallest readable screen font, called Tiny, which is designed specifically for LCD screens. As an experiment, Perlin reduced our 500 word Declaration of Independence to fit a small 320 x 240 pixel QVGA display using his closely-leaded 2 pt. Tiny font with a justified setting. Surprisingly, it is still somewhat readable. The circular magnification inside Perlin's example below provides some hint of Tiny's resolution, however I would dare him to try and letterspace this text any tighter! At best, he would have to answer to the Type Police. And does he have any clue what the Tea Party crowd might do to him when they see how our Declaration of Independence is being further reduced? Just sayin'...














Via Makezine

Art Directors Club Hall of Fame Campaign

Somehow I wasn't included on the Hall of Fame mailing list so I am pleased to see Pentagram provide a feature on it recently. As well they should, since Michael Beirut of Pentagram designed the identity and campaign for this year's Art Director's Club Hall of Fame ceremony and exhibition. It is entirely typographic, featuring Carter Sans, a new typeface designed by Matthew Carter, one of this year’s Hall of Fame laureates and the recipient of a very recent MacArthur genius grant announced just last month. The Carter Sans is reason alone to give him a genius grant. It will be available for purchase in January from Fonts.com and Linotype.com.

If Superman Blogged

Today I fabricated metal type with my bare hands when typesetters in the composing room of The Daily Planet ran out of 20pt. Clarendon Extra Condensed. Once again my good friend, Clark takes a hit as the fall guy. While he's off on assignment somewhere, I have to step up and fix this typographical trauma just to save Perry White's white ass. With the newspaper's deadline looming, I had no choice but to simply fashion shoulders as graceful as Lois Lane's, and sturdy feet strong enough to support her...I mean Clarendon's long lean legs. It was nothing really. Now if only I can figure out how to kern this darn copy so I can upload this thing onto the internets.

Type Americana Conference

Some of the nation's best type designers, historians and educators of typography will be assembled at the School of Visual Concepts in Seattle for the two day type conference, Type Americana on November 12th/13th. The conference focuses on American Type Design and celebrates the work of Morris Fuller Benton, W.C. Dwiggins, Frederic Goudy and Beatrice Warde. In addition, Thomas Phinney will discuss The Rise & Fall of American Type Founders, which for decades was the largest and greatest supplier of type in the US. Saturday provides the opportunity to get ink on your hands and print with some wood blocks from the Hamilton Wood Type collection in SVCs wonderful print studio. Or hand draw and digitize some letters under the guidance of one of the greats of type design, Sumner Stone. Bookend the conference at a showing of the documentary film about the making of the first simultaneous production of a metal and digital font – Stern Pro. Learn, have fun, and immerse yourself in all things type at Type Americana. More information and registration can be found here. To learn more about the film, Making Faces, and to watch a preview, see my previous post here.