Paul Shaw Letter Design » Letterforms Study Group

20 March 2026

Cancelled—Moderni Interpretazione di Corsivo Inglese in Caratteri

Moderni Interpretazione di Corsivo Inglese in Caratteri
The 2026 Letterforms Study Group letterpress workshop devoted to modern scripts has been cancelled. Plans for a letterpress workshop with master printer Richard Ardagh at the Tipoteca in the summer of 2027 are in the works and will be announced soon. Meanwhile, Riccardo De Franceschi and I will be at the Tipoteca this fall to continue our deep research into script types. If anyone would like to take part in this research project …
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5 February 2026

Tipoteca 2026 news: Type Archived by Richard Ardagh

Fat Face G punch from Type Archived: A visual journey through typographic history by Richard Ardagh (London: Volume, 2015), p. 44. The punch comes from the Stephenson Blake Collection.
Richard Ardagh, the master printer for Tipoteca 2026, has written and designed a book richly documenting the history and demise of the Type Archive, Sue Shaw’s* valiant effort to preserve the physical history of British typefounding and wood type manufacture. His funding campaign was successful and the book is now …
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1 February 2026

Tipoteca 2026: a letterpress workshop devoted to script type

Josse Pickard setting wood type at the Tipoteca.
Letterforms Study Group at the Tipoteca 2026 (Moderni Interpretazione di Corsivo Inglese in Caratteri) [Modern Interpretations of Script in Type] is a follow-up to the successful letterpress workshop Letterforms Study Group at the Tipoteca 2025 (Corsivo Inglese in Caratteri). Josse Pickard was a participant in Tipoteca 2025. Here is what he has to say about that experience:
Tipoteca 2025 was an inspiring and eye-opening experience! Being immersed in Italy’s rich typographic history with …
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27 August 2025

Letterforms Study Group at the Tipoteca 2026: Moderni Interpretazione di Corsivo Inglese in Caratteri

Fluidum in wood. Image from pp. 65–66 of Alphabets of Wood by James Clough and Chiara Schattolin (Cornuda: Antiga Edizioni, 2014)
Riccardo De Franceschi enjoyed Tipoteca 2025 so much that as soon as the workshop was over he suggested we repeat the experience in 2026. His enthusiasm was infectious and thus he, Richard Ardagh, and myself are planning Tipoteca 2026, a letterpress workshop devoted to the continuing deep study of script typefaces, both in metal and in wood. Here …
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21 August 2025

Letterforms Study Group: Corsivo Inglese in Caratteri—Addendum 3: Unidentified Metal Script Type

Case containing two sizes (60 pt D and 48 pt D) of an unidentified script type in metal at the Tipoteca. Photograph by Paul Shaw 2025.
When the focus of the workshop pivoted from an exploration of Stocchetti 004–006 to a broader examination of roundhand scripts in type, it became essential to find a metal version for comparison to it and Rosaria 030–032, the other script wood type. Leonardo Facchin located a beautiful one in the Tipoteca’s collection labeled Graphic …
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18 August 2025

Letterforms Study Group: Corsivo Inglese in Caratteri—The Specimen Book

Danielle Facchin, recently retired Tipoteca technician, looking at the finished Corsivo Inglese specimen book while Henri-Paul Bronsard looks on. Richard Ardagh is in the background. Photograph by Paul Shaw 2025.
Colophon
Binding design and book format by Richard Ardagh. Design concept and direction by Paul Shaw. Title page design and interior typography by Paul Shaw (with help from Riccardo De Franceschi, Earl Kallemeyn, and Lucio Botteselle). Typesetting by Earl Kallemeyn, Yasmin Rodriguez, Henri-Paul Bronsard, Josse Pickard, and Gabriella Miyares. Design and typography …
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21 July 2025

Letterforms Study Group: Corsivo Inglese in Caratteri—Addendum 1: Stocchetti 004–006

The typeface that sparked the Tipoteca 2025 workshop was an unidentified script wood typeface that the Tipoteca acquired in 2012 from Industria Grafiche Stocchetti of Ferrara. Since it is housed in three drawers labeled Stocchetti 004, Stocchetti 005, and Stocchetti 006, I have come to call it Stocchetti 004–006.
Detail of spacing material of Stocchetti 004–006. Note the worm holes in accented letters above (e.g. the leftmost ó and the middle í). Photograph by Paul Shaw 2025.
The fount is a script …
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20 July 2025

Letterforms Study Group: Corsivo Inglese in Caratteri—5. Cornuda

June 13, 2025 | Day 5—Tipoteca
Letterpress workshop with Richard Ardagh
This was the busiest day of the workshop. I wrote the introduction and colophon texts and the section titles in Italian (with significant help from Sandro Berra and Riccardo De Franceschi); and designed the title page. Earl set the title page; Yasmin set the introduction with help from her partner Breanna Parolini; Henri set the colophon; and Josse set most of the section titles. The typography of all of these texts …
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20 July 2025

Letterforms Study Group: Corsivo Inglese in Caratteri—3. Cornuda

June 11, 2025 | Day 3—Tipoteca
Letterpress workshop with Richard Ardagh
On the second day at the Tipoteca everyone finally began printing. But first, the participants had to design and compose their pages. Each team was allotted two pages in the planned specimen book. Earl and Josse’s pages were going to be a showing of the existing Stocchetti 004–006 character set including spacing material; Henri and Gabriella were going to use one page to show how Rosaria 0303–032’s characters joined up and …
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20 July 2025

Letterforms Study Group: Corsivo Inglese in Caratteri—2. Cornuda

June 10, 2025 | Day 2—Tipoteca
The morning walk to the Tipoteca from the Villa Bolzonello. Visible are Richard Ardagh, Riccardo De Franceschi, Yasmin Rodriguez, Breanna Parolini, Julian, Erin Roche, and Gabriella Miyares. The other participants rode bicycles. Photograph by Paul Shaw 2025.
Letterpress workshop with Richard Ardagh
This was the first day of the script wood type letterpress workshop at the Tipoteca that was the principal focus of the Letterforms Study Group. After a tour of the Tipoteca, led by Sandro Berra, …
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19 July 2025

Letterforms Study Group: Corsivo Inglese in Caratteri—1. Milano

June 9, 2025 | Day 1—Archivio Bertarelli
Workshop with James Clough
This was the first official day of the Letterforms Study Group at Tipoteca tour and workshop. We were starting in Milano so that the participants could receive a grounding in Roundhand, the 18th century English script commonly referred to as Copperplate or wedding script which is the basis for the corsivo inglesi typefaces we would be studying at the Tipoteca. James Clough, an expatriate Englishman long resident in Milano, who has …
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19 July 2025

Letterforms Study Group: Corsivo Inglese in Caratteri—0. Milano

June 8, 2025 | Day 0—Castello Sforzesco
Orientation Day
Normally Orientation Day for Legacy of Letters or for the Letterforms Study Group abroad begins in the evening with a group meeting, followed by a convivial dinner. However, this year began in the afternoon with an optional visit to the Castello Sforzesco to see a small but rich exhibition titled Cataloghissimo: La comunicazione dei grandi magazzini. The exhibition had nothing to do with the theme of the study group, but the posters, …
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24 April 2025

Tipoteca 2025—Two spaces available until May 15, 2025

Detail of showing of Great Primer Script from Specimen of Modern Printing Types, Cast at the Boston Type and Stereotype Foundry (1845). Photograph by Paul Shaw 2024. Image courtesy of Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
The Letterforms Study Group at the Tipoteca 2025: Script Wood Type Letterpress Workshop takes place from June 8 to 15. Paul Shaw and master printer Richard Ardagh of New North Press in London will be leading an investigation of an unusual wood …
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3 January 2025

Why you should join the Letterforms Study Group at the Tipoteca 2025—Reason no. 5: Letterpress Printing with an Iron Hand Press

Gloria Kondrup adjusting type in the bed of the cylinder press during Legacy of Letters 2017. Photograph by Paul Shaw.
Susan Fitzgerald operating the cylinder press at the Tipoteca during Legacy of Letters 2023. Photograph by Paul Shaw.
Janine Wong examining a printed sheet from the cylinder press during Legacy of Letters Tipo Cibo Vino 2022. Photograph by Paul Shaw.
Cylinder Press
The revival of letterpress printing over the course of the past forty years has been made possible by the embrace of cylinder …
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4 December 2024

Why you should join the Letterforms Study Group at the Tipoteca 2025—Reason no. 6: The Tipoteca

Exterior of the Tipoteca (the former church and the burnt orange building to its left) in Cornuda, Italy. Photograph by Alexander Trubin 2012.
A view of the Tipoteca with two iron hand presses in the foreground and a display case of restricted wood type between them. Photograph by Alexander Trubin 2012.
The Tipoteca
The Tipoteca (full name Tipoteca Italiana Fondazione) is located in Cornuda, a small town in the Veneto, roughly an hour’s drive from Venice or Padova. It is a private …
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4 December 2024

Why you should join the Letterforms Study Group at the Tipoteca 2025—Reason no. 9: Collaborative Group Project

Stefano Baldasari and Jen Thomas adjust the type in the bed of the press during Legacy of Letters 2023. Photograph by Paul Shaw.
Participants in every Legacy of Letters workshop since 2012 have collaborated on a group project. Day-by-day details of those for 2019, 2022 and 2023 can be seen online. The Letterforms Study Group at the Tipoteca 2025 will also involve a collaborative group project: researching, photographing, designing, typesetting, and printing a specimen book chronicling a rare formal …
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