Saturday, January 17, 2009

Apologia: The Amateur

I still buy type. Most recently 20-Didot Trump Gravur, complete with accented characters. (We’re not talking Open Type here—there’s only one of each.) But as they say in the infomercials: “Wait! There’s more!”

The font came with a package of Didot spacing material.

You’ve got more than a good bit of the collector in you if you think Didot spacing is something special—it is—but not intrinsically. That’s what happens when you subscribe to the notion of the private press as a leisurely activity.

For a charming excursion along these lines, see John Ryder’s Printing for Pleasure. The subtitle to the book’s introduction tells you as much as you need to know: “Pleasure as Profit.”

Or skip to Chapter Three for some good marital advice: “Choose A Face You Can Live With.”

1 comment:

interrobang said...

From whom did you purchase the Trump Gravure? I have it in 16pt and would like more, larger.

I just received the 4 sizes of "Gladiola" that Stempel is casting. There's nothing like new type in the case.

James Laurie showed me a book you had done when I was in their shop while home visiting family in MPLS a couple Christmas's ago. It was an interesting piece done in Amsterdam's Cartoon I believe. Unusual, in that as I recall, the theme was Japanese?

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michael babcock • interrobang letterpress
direct-from-type letterpress since 1992
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