Letterforms Study Group: Corsivo Inglese in Caratteri—4. Cornuda
June 12, 2025 | Day 4—Tipoteca
Letterpress workshop with Richard Ardagh
While the participants were working on their page designs the day before, Richard Ardagh, our master printer, had been busy setting up the two hand presses, one to print Stocchetti 004–006 and the other to print Rosaria 030–032. (The two script wood types were separated because their height-to-paper measurements differed.) On Monday, he had printed an advance showing of the Stocchetti character set that was subsequently photocopied for use by the participants to make their compositions. But today was his first printing of any of the pages for the specimen book.
The first page that was ready to be printed was Henri and Gabriella’s diagram of Rosaria 030–032 joins. The design was composed of “Shelley” (a nod to the English writing master George Shelley c.1666–c.1736)—with “Shel” joined and “ley” separated—across from the same setting turned upside down to show the full body of each letter.
Inked composition showing joining of Rosaria 030–032 letters. Design by Henri-Paul Bronsard and Gabriella Miyares; imposition and make-ready by Richard Ardagh. Photograph by Paul Shaw 2025.
Gabriella Miyares pulling the bar of one of the hand presses to print the page above. Photograph by Paul Shaw 2025.
Yasmin’s Rosaria 030–032 page was the second item to be printed by Richard.
Initial layout by Yasmin Rodriguez for page showing key characters in the Rosaria 030–032 script typeface. The cut-out shapes match the bodies of the characters and spaces. Note that the body for the n has been cut down from its original height, allowing the letter to fit vertically between J and p. Photograph by Paul Shaw 2025.
Detail of the final lock-up of Yasmin Rodriguez’s Rosaria 030–032 page. (The visible letters are, from left to right, f, b, J with d below.) Imposition and make-ready by Richard Ardagh. Photograph by Paul Shaw 2025.
Yasmin Rodriguez discussing the next step for her printed Rosaria 030–032 page with Richard Ardagh. The orange guidelines have been added with a marker. Photograph by Paul Shaw 2025.
From this point on, activities in the workshop began to overlap as some people continued to refine their layouts, Richard printed the Stocchetti and Rosaria types on the hand presses, and Earl and Lucio Botteselle (one of the Tipoteca technicians) instructed people on using the Vandercook-style cylinder presses to print the unidentified metal script typeface as well as the ancillary texts.
Gabriella Miyares and Henri-Paul Bronsard planning out their second page devoted to Stocchetti 004–006 spacing material. Photograph by Paul Shaw 2025.
Earl Kallemeyn and Josse Pickard making rubbings of the Stocchetti 004–006 type. Photograph by Paul Shaw 2025.
Detail of Janet Elliott’s lock-up of the unidentified metal script type for her orange color print run. The orange highlights four unusual characters: a finial t, a long s, a lead-in stroke (upper right), and a sort that no one has been able to identify (lower left). Photograph by Paul Shaw 2025.
Erin Roche refining the composition of the first page comparing all three script types. (The three types will eventually be printed on three different presses due to variations in their height-to paper.) Photograph by Paul Shaw 2025.
Preliminary layout for page comparing angles of inclination of the three script types. Design by Riccardo De Franceschi and Erin Roche. Photograph by Paul Shaw 2025.
Josse Pickard adjusting the spacing for one of the section titles. Photograph by Paul Shaw 2025.
Letterforms Study Group: Corsivo Inglese in Caratteri—5. Cornuda
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