Letterforms Study Group in San Francisco—A Type and 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. These are not lectures. They are participatory, collaborative investigations of physical items (books, periodicals, broadsides, etc.) which are linked thematically. My role in these events is to act as a facilitator and an informed guide rather than as an all-knowing authority.

Participants do not need to have prior familiarity with type design or the history of type. What they do need, however, is to have curiosity in general, a passion for learning, and an interest in letterforms or type.

The Book Club of California
Monday August 21
2 pm to 5 pm
This session will emphasize typefaces and type specimens related to private presses from the 1890s into the 21st century. There will also be several wood type specimen portfolios.

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 focus on 19th century American type specimens.

Fourteen-Line Streamers Nos. 31, 32 and 33 from Page’s Wood Type Albums vol. I, no. 4 (1876), p. 60.

San Francisco Public Library | Special Collections
Wednesday August 23
10 am to 12:30 pm
This session will stress 20th century European type specimens, especially those from German type foundries. There will also be several wood type portfolios.

Delphin by Georg Trump (C.E. Weber Schriftgiesserei 1951)

Limited Spaces
Attendance for each session will be capped at 10 people. A place will be guaranteed once payment has been received. The deadline for registering is Friday, August 18.

Registration
The fee for each of the first two sessions is $20. There is a discounted fee of $35 for both of them. The session at the San Francisco Public Library is free. Payment can be made via PayPal. If you don’t have a PayPal account and want to pay by check or cash, please email me at: paulshaw@nyc.rr.com for instructions.