Legacy of Letters
Legacy of Letters was conceived in 1996 by Garrett Boge as an opportunity for calligraphers, lettercutters, typographers and anyone else passionate about letterforms to study the history of the Roman alphabet in its place of origin. The tour was inspired by the famous student tours of Rome and Florence led every other Spring by Prof. Michael Twyman and his colleagues in the Department of Typography and Graphic Communication at the University of Reading. Boge and I led tours of Rome from 1997 to 1999 and of Florence and Tuscany in 2000. In 2010 I revived Legacy of Letters with the help of Alta Price. The tour currently focuses on cities in the Veneto and Emilia-Romagna regions, but in the future it will expand to include other locations in Italy.
3 December 2012
Legacy of Letters participants at Il Buon Tempo, Lucio Passerini’s letterpress studio in Milano
Alta Price and I have decided not to wait until 2014 as originally announced to reprise our Legacy of Letters Tour and Workshop but to go ahead with one in 2013. We have been spurred to this decision by the urgings of colleagues in Italy and the wonderful time we had in 2012. (See Imprint for just one aspect of the 2012 tour …
Continue reading
17 May 2012
From Ruling Pens to Wood Type: A Special Three-day Lettering and Type Intensive
with Luca Barcellona, Lucio Passerini and Paul Shaw
at the Tipoteca Italiana Fondazione
Wednesday through Friday 25–27 July
Ornate wood type from Pirola at the Tipoteca
Alta Price and Paul Shaw are opening the workshop portion of their Legacy of Letters 2012 tour to those with tight schedules and other constraints who would otherwise be unable to join us by structuring the workshop so that it can be taken separately from …
Continue reading
14 December 2011
Wood type at the Tipoteca. Photograph by Carlo Scherer (2010). The 2012 Legacy of Letters Tour and Workshop is shaping up quickly. Five people—a healthy mix of calligraphers, graphic designers and letterpress printers—are signed up and with one more participant the tour will become a reality. The tour is deliberately kept small—twelve people maximum, six minimum—in order to enhance the experience for everyone involved. This edition of Legacy of Letters broadens the workshop experience to encompass half …
Continue reading
12 October 2011
Legacy of Letters Workshop & Tour
Milan · Parma · Cornuda· Aquileia · Venice · Rovereto · Verona
Paul Shaw · Alta Price · Luca Barcellona · Lucio Passerini · James Clough · Sandro Berra
Tipoteca Italiana Fondazione
18–28 July 2012
Legacy of Letters 2012
In 2012 Legacy of Letters will again be a combination workshop and tour, but this time the emphasis will be on the former. The workshop, focusing on calligraphy, typography and letterpress printing, will take place over the course of a …
Continue reading
1 May 2011
Roman Imperial Capitals, Museo Lapidario di Scipione Maffei (Verona). Photograph by Carlo Scherer.
There are only three weeks left to sign up for the Legacy of Letters tour of Northern Italy this summer. The last day is Friday, May 20. There are still some places left. Don’t miss out on this great opportunity to combine great lettering with great food and drink in a beautiful setting. To register click here.
8 March 2011
The tour covers the Veneto and Emilia-Romagna regions of Northern Italy, from Parma to Venice. It focuses on lettering in all of its manifestations: inscriptions from ancient Rome to the Fascist era, Renaissance manuscripts and incunabula, the typefaces of Giambattista Bodoni, 19th-century Italian wood type and more. There will be informal conversations with several contemporary Italian calligraphers, typographers and graphic designers. And, naturally, there will be opportunities to enjoy the great food and wine of these gastronomically rich regions. The …
Continue reading
7 March 2011
Wednesday | June 29
PARMA
Orientation
Introduction of tour leaders and participants. Information about hotels, meals, meeting times, train and bus tickets, museum tickets, proper dress in churches and other sacred sites, photography advice and regulations, rubbing methods and protocol, language advice, etc. Introduction to the history of Roman letters. Then group dinner and an opportunity to enjoy the city’s famous prosciutto and parmigiano.
Thursday | June 30
MODENA
Biblioteca Estense · Museo Lapidario Estense
We begin the tour by taking …
Continue reading
6 March 2011
Tour Price
The price of the 8-day tour is $3950 ($3450 for students)*. This includes all hotels, breakfast, special dinners, buses and other ground transportation, museum and other admission fees. It does not include the cost of air travel to and from Italy or meals other than those specified above.
The price of the 3-day workshop is $500 ($450 for students). It includes all materials and a special dinner, but does not include lodging. Accommodations in Valdobbiadene (and transportation to and from …
Continue reading
1 March 2011
Paul Shaw is widely known and respected as a guide to urban lettering. With Garrett Boge he co-founded and led the original Legacy of Letters tours of Rome, Florence and Tuscany from 1997 to 2000. On his own he has led regular walking tours of lettering in New York City since 2005 for the Type Directors Club and other organizations. He has also led similar tours of Boston, Buffalo, Atlanta and …
Continue reading
15 February 2011
A day-by-day photo album of the 2010 tour is available as a PDF that can be downloaded for free – click here.
14 February 2011
2010 Tour of the Veneto and Emilia-Romagna
“This was truly the tour of a lifetime. I’ve spent months in Italy, but on this trip I was introduced to numerous lettering and other aesthetic treasures that I otherwise would never have known about. We were treated to numerous helpings of Italian heaven thanks to Paul and Alta, both of whom know Italy very well. I can’t recommend the Legacy of Letters tours highly enough. Not to be missed!”
Lucia McCreery, typesetter and proofreader, …
Continue reading
Sign up for our newsletter to receive updates on Legacy of Letters tours and related events:
Copyright © 2011-2023 Paul Shaw | Design by Kind Company
TO TOP
