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letter press
the living history of printing and exploration of public typography
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table of contents: lock-up
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composing
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typesetting
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printing
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lock-up history of letterpress an introduction
Letterpress printing was the beginning of an era in the mass-production of literary pieces. Through letterpress there have been many advancements in the print world from type to mass production of materials. Letterpress is the technique of relief printing using a printing press. Type and other pieces would move and be placed, or locked-up, inked, and printed for the final design.
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Johannes
Gutenberg is credited for the
invention of letterpress. Gutenberg began work on the letterpress in 1439, starting with the idea of movable type. Gutenberg’s biggest project was in printing the bible, the first commercial large-scale printing of the Bible in Latin. Gutenberg’s Bible, as it would be called later in history, would become a revolution in the production of
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books and written materials of Europe. Before Gutenberg’s Bible, any book that wanted to be published had to be copied by hand. This method made producers have to pick between quality or quantity. With Gutenberg’s methods of letterpress neither one had to be sacrificed, as Piccolomini stated to many friends and associates, “such neat lettering that one could read it without glasses.”
Gutenberg Bible, 1455 by Johannes Gutenberg Letterpress, 307 x 445 mm
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Because of the Gutenberg Bible, Johannes Gutenberg’s letterpress gained much attention. With the introduction to letterpress printing, the idea of mass production became a reality. Gutenberg helped to make books became cheaper and more accessible to the public, all because of the letterpress. After this discovery, letterpress and typography grew within the industry and stretched the boundaries of what was accessible to the public and design.
A. Vandercook flat bed press B. “Vandercook Universal III Repro Press” brochure
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composing univ. of kansas letterpress studio jayhawk blvd • lawrence, ks
When first walking into room 317 of the Art and Design building, a wave of wonder bubbles inside.
Hidden behind a locked room only
available for students in VISC 310 students, a treasure of knowledge awaits. The letterpress class, taught and taken care of by Linda Samson Talleur, meets every Monday and Wednesday from 11:30–2:20. This is how I was introduced to and fell in love with letterpress.
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Around the studio are three Vandercook machines, two drying racks for student work, and drawers upon drawers of type. Throughout the semesterlong class, students are encouraged to explore with type and image to create a variety of designs. Projects from this class contain different styles and treatments such as metal type and linoleum cut prints, but they all still follow the same instructions. The process of letterpress begins with the composing stick and type. A composing stick holds several lines of type that can be moved and set into personalized lines. Type is typically stored in wooden drawers called California job cases, a particular arrangement that keeps type organized by letter and cap. Often each drawer holds a specific point size to keep different sizes from mixing up. Once the type is set in the stick, it is tied together for future transportation and placed on a galley. A proof is then
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made with the composed lines on the galley through a simple press-down of paper onto the inked type and reviewed by a proof-reader. Once the tied type is approved, it is then imposed on the press.
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AaBbCc Blackletter Type
Also known as Gutenberg’s font, it was created to mimic the handwriting of the 1400s. Blackletter type became the first available movable type. This style of type is used in the Gutenberg Bible.
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Adjustments for paper size, type of paper
Once the furniture is placed, the printer then
used, and other decisions are made and factored
unties the type and locks the type and furniture
while setting up the press for printing. Pieces
with a quoin or chase, sometimes both. The
of furniture, low-cut pieces of wood or metal,
printer then mixes ink with Pantone colors of ink,
are then added around the type to tighten the
often combining different Pantone inks to create
lines. The placement of furniture is important to
unique colors and shades. Palette knives are
the printing process because it helps to define
then used to blend the colors together, to finally
where the type will print on the page as well as
be inked on to the type with either the press
make sure that bits of type will not fall during
roller or an individual brayer. After checking
the printing process.
the settings and turning the press to ‘trip’, the printer then turns on the press and moves the rollers across the type to ink the characters. A. Vandercook Ink Monitor is used to assure equal ink distribution in multiple prints. B. Gripper guides, measured in agates, help to register the paper on the press before printing.
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“The invention of printing press w of the most impo events in human 22
f the was one ortant n history.� Ha-Joon Chang
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AaBbCc Old-Style Type
Typefaces such as Garamond and Caslon began to develop in the 1500s. OldStyle typefaces grew from the influences of Italian lettering. Characteristics of Old-Style typeface include strong contrasts of thick and thin strokes and wedge-shaped ascenders.
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After all the characters are inked equally, the ‘trip’ lever is brought back down to ‘print’, paper is loaded in the grippers and rolled across the type to create a crisp letterpress print. Although there is much to remember printing letterpress is a relaxing craft, an ebb and flow in the fluid moment of rolling the paper across the type on the Vandercook or solving the puzzle to the California job case.
A. Various cleaning supplies are arranged near a press for easy clean-up. B. Furniture is stacked on a shelf, divided in color by their measurement in picas. C. Palette knives and brayers line the wall for quick access while making ink colors.
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type setting hammerpress studios southwest blvd • kansas city, mo
Although many large printing firms have closed due to the obsolete technology of letterpress, few studios have held on to the art and history. Hammerpress Studios is one of them. Walking into Hammerpress, camera bag slung across my rain coat, I met Matthew McNary. Matthew works alongside Brady Vest, owner of Hammerpress Studios. Hammerpress is currently in transition into a bigger studio.
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Hammerpress Studios began in 1994 by Kansas City Art Institute alumni Brady Vest. From starting with one printer in the small studio, word of mouth began to develop in the city and helped Hammerpress grow to the studio that it is today. Currently, Hammerpress is one of the most distinct letterpress studios in the United States. “Brady started the shop when he was still at the Art Institute,” said Matt, ”he was doing printmaking. He ended up doing band posters for his friends that were musicians and got a press from an old shop and some drawers of type. I think he was in the back of one of the galleries on Baltimore.
He’s just grown the business from there.”
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AaBbCc Transitional Type
A new typeface classification was born in the 18th century, commissioned by King Louis XIV of France, Transitional. Typefaces such as Baskerville contain characteristics such as vertical stresses and greater contrasts in stroke.
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“What gunpowde did for war the printing press ha done for the min 36
er
Hammerpress has four spaces within its current studio: retail, computer lab, press shop, and storage. Their design process begins when the receive a client. “A lot of it is word of mouth. We’ve more recently tried to really go after clients we’d really like to work with...“, Matt
has nd.”
continued, “Ideally we want to work with people that we’d like to work with that appreciate what we do.” Whether their clients are from their own findings or clientele walking in, they continue on to designing in their design lab. After their initial designing process, they continue on to cutting a linoleum block.
Wendell Phillips
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From the lab to the press ink and furniture are prepped for the print block, at last being morphed into the finished product. From there the product either gets shipped to the customer or sold in the retail section of the space. Many of the final works range from band posters, greeting cards, business cards, and much more. All of the employees at Hammerpress Studios work together to create these unique works of art, including Matt. Starting as an intern 10 years ago, Matt has worked alongside Brady in the creation of various poster designs and brands. His background came from the Art Institute of Design as a printmaker, growing from intern to part-time to finally full-time. “I think it’s getting to be creative while also helping people out,” said Matt, when being asked why he enjoyed working at Hammerpress. “Working with people, I’ve always enjoyed.” A. A Heidelberg press sits near a wall of wood type. B. Plates attached to the Heidelberg press, showing the age of the press.
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His creativity and personality flow into his work at Hammerpress. “Bringing our own expression to it,” said Matt in our interview,
“ getting to create something that at the end I’m really like, ‘Ah that’s great! I want people to see it!’” “A good sort of combination for me of like creativity and things that you know are in a studio setting, but also things that are a little more practical or just more design like type, typography, the arrangement of form, type and image, things like that.”
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AaBbCc Modern Type
After the creation of Transitional type, came Modern type in 1784 with the assistance of Firmin Didot. Characteristics such as abrupt thick and thin strokes to horizontal stress can be seen in many Modern typefaces such as Didot and Bodoni.
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printing history of letterpress a conclusion
Letterpress printing and typography have always gone hand-in-hand, dating back to the invention of the letterpress with the birth movable type. Through letterpress, typography has grown to better fit the needs of designers today. From the easily readable Old-Style typefaces like Garamond used often in body text to Modern typefaces like Didot for high-fashion headers, typography is still ever-present with us.
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As
letterpress
helped
influence
typography, t___ influenced
letterpress too. Letterpress designers today dive deep into California job cases for the perfect sans-serif to match their wood-type and even use large blocks of wood type to create unique design elements. In this new approach, typography takes on a new life and becomes more than just a letter or symbol. Through greater exploration, comes new knowledge. In going back to the roots of typography through letterpress, a person can also escape from the computer for a moment. Without the quick selection menus on a screen, more thoughts are developed and a stronger understanding begins to form. Empty voids of leading on a screen become pieces of cut lead in your hands, type blocks in InDesign become composing sticks in front of you, all because of going back to the roots of typography in letterpress. Letterpress is typography is letterpress.
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thank you Katherine House Letterpress: The Living History of Printing and Exploration of Public Typography Designer as Author Fall 2014 Professor Patrick Dooley The University of Kansas
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credits This book was typeset in DIN and Claredon. It was designed in Adobe InDesign and the photos were edited in Adobe Lightroom. All photographs were taken with a Canon Rebel T3.
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