Sign for Savoy Taylors Guild Ltd., The Strand, London (c.1906).

Sgraffito on a wall in the Giudecca section of Venice.

Detail of a neon sign for a barbershop in Grottaferrata, Italy.

Detail of page from Les Ecritures Financiere, et Italienne-Bastarde (1647) by Louis Barbedor, a French writing master.

Detail of store sign for Cortese Frizzoti in Venice. The letters in black have been painted over a gold ground which covers a former store name in mosaic tile.

Medieval inscription in Round Gothic capitals. In the cloister of S. Giovanni in Laterano in Rome.

Capital E and G stencils from collection of Eric Kindel, Reading, England.

Ghost signs with printer’s fist on wall of Rue de la Commune in Montreal.

Detail of painted directional sign for Coney Island covering mosaic sign indicating Up Town Trains. 53rd Street station of the R line in Brooklyn.

Punches for punctuation cut by Giambattista Bodoni at the Museo Bodoniano in Parma, Italy.

Detail of cover of Warren’s Standard Printing Papers specimen book by S.D. Warren (1929). Design, ornament and lettering by W.A. Dwiggins.

Research

Letterforms Study Group in SanFrancisco—A Type Specimen Trifecta August 21–23, 2023

The Letterforms Study Group is coming to San Francisco this summer. From August 21 to August 23, 2023 I will host three study sessions focused on type specimens.

The Book Club of California
Monday August 21
2 pm to 5 pm
This session will emphasize type specimens related to private presses from the 1890s through the 1970s; and wood type.
Golden Cockerel type by Eric Gill from The Four Gospels (Golden Cockerel Press 1931).

California Historical Society
Tuesday August 22
2 pm to 5 pm
This session will …
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Tours & Events

Calligraphy & Letterpress Workshop with Grendl Löfkvist August 26, 2023

Participants cutting out their stencils during the Blackletter without Blackletter workshop at the 2019 Hamilton Wayzgoose.
Grendl Löfkvist and Paul Shaw will lead another calligraphy & letterpress workshop on August 26 at the CODEX Foundation in Berkeley, California. They have done two combination calligraphy/letterpress workshops before: Neuland at the 2019 Hamilton Wayzgoose and Rudolf Koch’s blackletter via Zoom during the Covid-19 pandemic as part of the 2020 Hamilton Awayzgoose.
Blackletter by F.H.E. Schneidler’s students (n.d.). Image courtesy of the Letterform …
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Legacy of Letters

GoFundMe—Legacy of Letters 2023Letterpress Extravaganza

Go Fund Me—Legacy of Letters Letterpress Extravaganza
Chiara Bergese
In early April tried to set up the GoFundMe account to raise funds to enable both Shaqa Bovand and Chiara Bergese to join Legacy of Letters 2023. The vetting process at GoFundMe was so slow and repetitive that I decided to crowdfund both women via email and my website. The effort quickly raised enough money ($3500) for one woman and Chiara graciously allowed Shaqa to go first. After that the crowdfunding effort sputtered. …
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