Letterpress Adventure (Part I)

{top} One of the four Vandercook presses in the shop {bottom} type, ink, and the press rollers

I took an experimental letterpress workshop at The Center for Book Arts in New York City this past weekend. We started off with a visit to the Print and Photograph Collection at the main branch of the New York Public Library to look at their collection of DaDa and related publications with works by Kurt Schwitters, El Lissitzky, and H.N. Werkman.

{top} How to properly put away type {bottom} detail of wooden type furniture and type cases

After an introduction to the extensive printshop and a crash course on using the Vandercook proofing presses, we had a discussion and demonstration of some of the techniques used by Schwitters and Werkman to create their avant garde type compositions. Then we had the rest of the workshop to experiment.

{top} Vandercook details {bottom} galleys, metal type, and a colorful array of type cases

I felt like a proverbial kid in a candy store with the choice of hundreds of typefaces (including some beautiful 480pt wooden display type). After making my selections and cutting down a stack of paper, I happily got to work...

Playing with ampersands...

Ampersand variations, 8 x 12" each  {click to enlarge}