The Case of the Disappearing Type

Our recent posts about scrambling around to find enough letters of type to finish some pages of the forthcoming Lord Dunsany edition seemed like a good time to talk more about the rarity and history of the type we use at Pegana Press.

The ornate types we've been using for the current run of books has an interesting history of  revival and subsequent disappearance.  The very tools and machines made to cast the type has been sold, used, and lost in the last 20 years.

The ATF Foundry was the preeminent producer of type in the United States for about 100 years.  As their work declined in the 1990's, one of the employees began buying up the Barth casting machines, as well as the molds, mats, and matrices from which specific typefaces were poured and cast from.  The Barth casters were important in that they were the best of the casting machines and could make harder, sharper type than any of the other machines currently used by anyone then or today;  the mats and matrices were vitally important as they preserved the original designs for the typefaces as the craftsmen had intended them.

Eventually that employee started the Dale Guild Foundry and began casting new type in the mid 1990's. They began a relationship with NA Graphics in Colorado to sell their type which is where I discovered them. Slowly over time, I bought more and more of the type as I began to print entire pages with it.

The Goudy Franciscan was a Font Frederic W. Goudy redisigned from another earlier design of his Aries font, and sold by Goudy in 1932 to William Grabhorn, an eminent San Francisco printer, who used it for several distinctive and award-winning books.

The beautiful cursive font Civilite is believed to be the first original cursive cut in  type in 1552 and designed by Robert Granjon.  The "modern" adaptation Pegana Press uses was designed by Morris Benton in 1922 and first produced by the ATF Foundry in 1923.

Dale Guild Foundry, in the meantime, was unfortunately slowly dissolving as a business and eventually in 2013 the Barth Casters and other casting molds were separated and sold throughout  different parts of the world. So the foundry cast the last of this type years ago and these fonts are unlikely to ever again be cast with this quality in the original designs.  Almost all of the type has been purchased long ago, (there was not much made)  and is now unavailable.

So the Goudy Franciscan, Friar, and Civilite types we use are now on their way to extinction and I'll have to retire them when it becomes too worn to use. As I do test prints for each page, I examine them with a magnifying glass and replace any worn letters one at a time to get the best print possible.  Tedious and delicate work but essential to achieve our very best effort.

Our books are appreciated for the rarity of the material we've collected and published over the years and their hand printed and bound qualities.  They are also living histories of the dreams and designs of long passed artisans who etched into metal these symbols that mean so much to us .

Type

An interesting and frustrating development for a typesetter is when you're going along setting a page from a story, and suddenly you run out of a particular letter.

It happened to Mike just this week, so now he's waiting to finish setting the page until more  t s arrive in the mail.

Last year, this same problem cropped up with the capital  F s when Mike was setting A Tale of Roscommon, one of the Lord Dunsany stories in Lost Tales volume 3.

Lord Dunsany, Lost Tales volume 3 from Pegana Press 2014

I think it was a pretty close thing with the capital  O s in this story as well.  As you can see in this photo, the character names are Mickey O'Finn, Father O'Groman, and Jimmy Flynn.  When the author really gets going in the story, The F s and O s start to pile up on a single page, as the characters interact.

It's just these little things that pop up in the printing world that keep you on your toes.  Something you would never even think about unless you spend your days typesetting little pieces of metal type, one letter and space at a time.

I know I never did.

Hope you're having a good week end.  I'm off to glue titles on more copies of The Golden Key.  Thanks for checking in on our blog.

--Rita

Happy Thanksgiving from Pegana Press

Yesterday we sent out more packages to preorder customers of The Golden Key.

Expect yours soon.

And if all goes as planned, we should be caught up with orders by mid December.

#FeelingThankful at Pegana Press

An Update from The Bindery

I've really been enjoying binding The Golden Key.

Pegana Press Bindery in 2013

Since Mike and I operate Pegana Press out of our home, we have had to make adjustments along the way as we evolve and shape our mission.  When I first began binding books, I was working anywhere there was space in the house.  I've bound books in the living room and on the dining room table.  I've cut book cloth on the massage table in the room where I see clients for Reiki and energy work.  And now at last I have a designated area where I bind books.  It's a small space, but somehow it makes the whole process advance more smoothly and quickly.

Pegana Press 2015.  Cutting cloth.

Having this space has allowed me to feel more organized and grounded.  Because of this I have been able to communicate more with the people who buy our books.

The preorders began in June, and we want to keep everyone up to date. as their books become available.  One of my new favorite jobs is to email people during the binding process with updates on the status of their book.  So when I bind a small batch of books (usually 8 to 10 at a time), I will let them sit for a day or two, and then check them out to make sure all is going well.  Once I'm satisfied, I can begin emailing the next 8 to 10 customers who ordered books.

So if you've ordered a copy of The Golden Key from Pegana Press, you can expect to be notified soon on the status of your book.  That is, if you haven't already received word.

I'll be getting back to the bindery now.  I've got another batch of books to bind in today.

The Golden Key/Pegana Press 2015

I'll leave you with a quote from The Golden Key

    ... And her great blue eyes looked down on the little Tangle, as if all the stars in the sky were melted in them to make their brightness.

     "Ah! but," said Tangle, "when people live long they grow old.  At least I always thought so."

     "I have not time to grow old," said the lady.  "I am too busy for that.  It is very idle to grow old..." 

Hmmm, I'll have to remember that.
 

 

A Journey Through Paris

Paris  A Poem  by Hope Mirrlees.

Paris  A Poem   by Hope Mirrlees/Pegana Press 2010

This was the very first book published at Pegana Press.

Mike had just acquired the Vandercook SP 15 press, and had printed a poem as broadside by Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett (later known as Lord Dunsany).  The poem titled Rhymes From A Suburb, first appeared in Pall Mall Magazine in 1897.

But the goal of Pegana Press was to create books for collectors.  The kind of book that Mike as a collector and lover of books, would want to have in his own library.

One such book in Mike's collection is Lud-In-The-Mist by Hope Mirrlees.  I remember the first time I read it on Mike's recommendation.  I was entranced.

In researching Hope Mirrlees, Mike ran across a scan of the original version of Paris A Poem.  Here was a work with an interesting history.  What's more, The original typography of Paris had never been duplicated before, which is an important part of the poem.  Those copies of Paris were printed by Virginia and Leonard Woolf at the Hogarth Press.  A search for a Hogarth copy yielded no results, when Mike first undertook printing the poem, although later he found one copy on line for sale.  They wanted $12,000.  A rare book indeed.

Mike contacted the estate and was given permission to print Paris.  Because Mike was still working a day job, he worked on the poem at night and on his days off.  Hope Mirrlees used the layout of typography to enhance the poem as she takes us on a journey through Paris in 1919.  Mike worked diligently to recreate that design, so as to be as true to the author's vision as possible.

This book is quite striking.  Printed in blue ink on white french paper.  Bound in Seattle at Ars Obscura by master binder Joel Radcliffe.  Paris is currently on sale through the end of October at Pegana Press Books.  If you've been curious about Paris, don't miss your opportunity to own a copy of this important and beautiful work of modernist poetry.

"Mirrlees was a genius and it showed in Lud-In-The-Mist and in everything she wrote.  Reading Paris is like solving a Chinese puzzle."  --Mike Tortorello

To get a real feel for this book, please listen to our audio introduction.  Our recommendation is that you listen with head phones or good speakers so as to fully experience the journey.

Paris A Poem at Pegana Press Books

Binding The Golden Key pt 6

The Golden Key/Pegana Press 2015

As you can see, no two books are exactly alike.  Each front title and spine title are cut by hand individually.

This photo shows the front title being trimmed down from its parent sheet.


The second photo shows the spine title being trimmed down.  Requiring only a ruler and cutting tools, the most important thing is to have a good eye and a steady hand.

The Golden Key/Pegana Press 2015

The next step will be to attach the titles to each book.  After drying, the book is finished and ready to be read.

You can view the finished book on the George MacDonald tab of Pegana Press.

'Tis The Season

News from the press is that Mike is going through our inventory of card stock.  Every year around this time, we put on festive holiday music and spend the afternoon printing letterpress holiday cards.  We really should do it in July I suppose, but somehow we're never in the mood to do it during the summer months and Mike is usually trying to beat a self imposed deadline to finish a current book for an Autumn release.

Happy Holidays letterpress card
Pegana Press

So now it's that time of year again.  Our most popular card is Happy Holidays, and we have printed two editions of this card and are getting ready to print another batch.

Mike's favorite part of making the holiday cards is designing and typesetting a unique letterpress card, which becomes an expression of art.

Of the seven card designs we've offered over the years, 3 of them were created by setting each letter and ornament with the spacing to create an image suggestive of a tree or ornament and 3 of them were created with borders.

Merry Christmas Tree letterpress card from Pegana Press

It's the only time we work together in with the press because Mike hands me the card fresh off the press while the ink is still wet, and I apply a little sparkle.

After the cards dry, they are scored and folded and ready to be sent out.

This week we will be making another batch of holiday cards.  I'll be the one covered  in glitter.

We invite you to view our Holiday Card Collection on our website.