Images of Tipo Cibo Vino (Legacy of Letters 2019) Part 13—The Bound Book

The letterpress project for each edition of Legacy of Letters has gotten bolder and more elaborate. In 2010 we spent one day at the Tipoteca. Under the direction of Lucio Passerini we printed a collaborative broadside of our initials in two colors. In 2012 we doubled our printing time. Lucio guided oversaw the making of a collaborative broadside that could be cut and folded into an accordion book. It was printed in three colors. In 2013 Lucio was again our master printer. The group collaborated on an accordion folded book—in three colors—that was a tribute to Giambattista Bodoni on the 200th anniversary of his death.

The letterpress workshop was extended to four days in 2015 and Alan Kitching was invited to be our master printer. The project he oversaw was a portfolio of prints honoring famous Italians printed in six colors. In 2017 Erik Spiekermann was the master printer, assisted by Susanna Dulkinys and Ferdinand Ulrich. As an homage to the Futurists and especially Fortunato Depero, the project was a set of prints exploring word play bound as a book with bolts. It was ostensibly a two-color project, but some people used a third color. The book was awarded a Type Directors Club prize in 2018.

The project for Tipo Cibo Vino was a multi-course restaurant menu in the form of a bound book. It was the first Legacy of Letters book to incorporate images and to be sewn. I originated the concept and Sayre Gaydos conceived the book structure. It was the first time we printed on both sides of the sheet. We had only intended to use three colors, but somehow ended up with six, each of them mixed to suggest an aspect of Italian cuisine: seppia [black], prosecco [light yellow], carpaccio [red], Aperol [bright orange], olive verdi [olive green], and alici [silver].

Here is the entire Tipo Cibo Vino book (with the exception of the back endpapers which are the same as the front endpapers) with some design and production notes.

Front cover of Tipo Cibo Vino. Typography by Paul Shaw; printing by James Stroud.

The front cover was printed with letters from three of the Tipoteca’s most cherished wood typefaces. The T is a 19th century design; the C (rotated to suggest a shrimp) is from an Art Deco font; and the V is from another Art Deco font. It is actually an upside-down A since the V was too dished to properly print.

Title page of Tipo Cibo Vino. Typography by Paul Shaw; typesetting by Paul Shaw assisted by Lucio Bottoselle; printing by Laura Thoms.

The typeface for the title is Quirinus by Alessandro Butti (Nebiolo, 1939). It was also used by Lucia McCreery for her Secondi Piatti design, by Jane Pirone for her Dolci design, and by Laura Thoms for her Digestivi design. The correction in the imprint is an inside joke about the family heritage of Silvio Antiga, the guiding sprit behind the Tipoteca. Sandro Berra helped me with the joke.

Front endpapers of Tipo Vino Cibo. Design, typesetting, and printing by Sayre Gaydos. The same design was reprised for the back endpapers.

The endpapers represent a stylized map of the various places covered by the Legacy of Letters 2019 tour and workshop. The typeface is Helvetica.

Menu [contents page] for Tipo Cibo Vino. Typography by Paul Shaw; typesetting by Patricia Childers assisted by Lucio Bottoselle; printing by Patricia Childers.

The traditional table of contents has been replaced by a menu listing each of the course for the fictional Antica Osteria con Cucina restaurant. The large type is Bauer Bodoni.

Aperitivi course from Tipo Cibo Vino. Design, typesetting, and printing by Shaina Pruden.

Each participant in the letterpress workshop had to set the name of their course and at least three items from it in metal type. This text was printed in seppia (black) on the reverse of the sheet. On the front each participant was given free reign to visually interpret the course with whatever type (metal, plastic or wood) and imagery (no polymer allowed) they wanted to use.

Aperitivi course (spread) from Tipo Cibo Vino. Design, typesetting, and printing by Shaina Pruden.

Note the c as a slice of lemon in Shaina’s design.

Antipasti course from Tipo Cibo Vino. Design, typesetting, and printing by Jason Stadnik.

Antipasti course (spread) from Tipo Cibo Vino. Design, typesetting, and printing by Jason Stadnik.

Vini course from Tipo Cibo Vino. Design, illustration, typesetting, and printing by Janine Wong.

Janine used pressure prints of grape leaves to illustrate her wine course. The listed wines were all ones that we had tasted during our gastronomic tour. Note the hint of a champagne flute and bubbles in the typeface she chose for the title.

Vini course (spread) from Tipo Cibo Vino. Design, illustration, typesetting, and printing by Janine Wong.

Primi Piatti course from Tipo Cibo Vino. Design, illustration, typesetting, and printing by Emmy Yamaguchi.

Primi Piatti course (spread) from Tipo Cibo Vino. Design, illustration, typesetting, and printing by Emmy Yamaguchi.

Emmy made the two Ps in Primi Piatti from the list of pasta and other dishes available for the course (e.g. bigoli con anatra). She created the looping strand of pasta with string and pressure printing. The fork was stencilled.

Secondi Piatti course from Tipo Cibo Vino. Design, typesetting, and printing by Lucia McCreery.

Secondi Piatti (spread) from Tipo Cibo Vino. Design, typesetting, and printing by Lucia McCreery.

Contorni ed Insalate course from Tipo Cibo Vino. Design, typesetting, and printing by Lucille Tenazas.

Contorni ed Insalate course (spread) from Tipo Cibo Vino. Design, typesetting, and printing by Lucille Tenazas.

The small type in Lucille’s design is Bauer Bodoni.

Formaggio course from Tipo Cibo Vino. Design, typesetting, and printing by James Stroud.

James created the background to his formaggio design by dragging ink across the page with a cardboard “fork. The visual separation of the consonants and vowels is a nod to the Futurist parole in libertà items we saw in Rovereto; and the o is suggestive of our visit to the aging room at Latteria Perenzin. The design was printed on a handpress.

Formaggio course (spread) from Tipo Cibo Vino. Design, typesetting, and printing by James Stroud.

Dolci course from Tipo Cibo Vino. Design, typesetting, and printing by Jane Pirone.

Jane used stencils to create the text in alici (silver).

Dolci course from Tipo Cibo Vino. Design, typesetting, and printing by Jane Pirone.

Caffè course from Tipo Cibo Vino. Design, typesetting, and printing by Claire Lukacs.

Caffè affogato alla Spiekermann is a reference to Erik Spiekermann’s drinking habits during the Legacy of Letters 2017 tour and workshop. Sandro Berra deserves credit for the inside joke.

Caffè course (spread) from Tipo Cibo Vino. Design, typesetting, and printing by Claire Lukacs.

When opened up Claire’s design is a conversation between two people over coffee. The design was printed on a handpress.

Digestivi course from Tipo Cibo Vino. Design, typesetting, and printing by Laura Thoms.

Digestivi course (spread) from Tipo Cibo Vino. Design, typesetting, and printing by Laura Thoms.

Ingredienti [colophon] from Tipo Cibo Vino. Typography by Patricia Childers; typesetting by Patricia Childers with assistance from Sandro Berra; printing by Laura Thoms.

Sandro Berra provided valuable suggestions that improved this humorous interpretation of a traditional colophon page.

Back cover of Tipo Cibo Vino. Design and typesetting by Paul Shaw; printing by James Stroud.

The wood type O is a snail, symbol of the slow food movement in Italy. Here it represents the slow print movement that Legacy of Letters, the Tipoteca, and Peter Kruty Editions all believe in. Tipografia di Origine Controllata e Garantita.