Featured Article
J E Hamilton
James Edward Hamilton was born May 19, 1852 in Two Rivers, Wisconsin to Henry Carter and Diantha Smith Hamilton. He established the Hamilton Holly Wood Type Co in 1880, the same year he married Etta Shove, who helped develop the wood type business after their wedding on August 5. Hamilton developed a method for manufacturing wood type that came to been known as the veneer method. Cutting the letter design from a thin [...] Read more – ‘J E Hamilton’.
Wood Type Research
Wood Type Research is a blog of current research in wood type design, manufacture and use during the 19th and 20th centuries by Professor David Shields, Chair of the Department of Graphic Design at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Latest Articles
- “The Wood Type business should go West…” An 1887 letter from William H. Page to W.B. Baker
- In American Wood Type 1828–1900, Rob Roy Kelly writes the history of the major American wood type manufacturers of the nineteenth century. He describes James Hamilton as an “aggressive businessman” buying out his competition starting with the William H. Page Wood Type Co in 1891. While true—the sale was finalized on January 4, 1891—Kelly simplifies the subtleties of the situation. Hamilton started his business in 1880, and by 1887 was undercutting the competition [...] Read more – ‘“The Wood Type business should go West…” An 1887 letter from William H. Page to W.B. Baker’.
- Type made of wood.
- The following entry was originally published in John Luther Ringwalt’s 1871 American Encyclopedia of Printing (pg 504–505). Ringwalt describes the early production process employed by Darius Wells, the first wood type manufacturer, and details an important distinction between the wood type templates of William Leavenworth and those of Edwin Allen. Most interestingly Ringwalt explicitly names the first recorded competitor to Darius Well in 1830. Wood Type — Type made of wood; generally of cherry, cut [...] Read more – ‘Type made of wood.’.
- Mystery wood type
- An unidentified wood type design found in the collection at the Museum of Printing History in Houston, Texas. Read more – ‘Mystery wood type’.