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Upon discovering a new wood type specimen catalog
A previously unrecorded Hamilton & Katz catalog Specimens of Holly Wood Type, Borders, Reglets and Furniture was donated to the RIT Cary Graphic Arts Collection in March, 2014 by William Andrews of the Challenger Press in Brockport, New York. Before this new catalog came to light there were only two known and recorded Hamilton & Katz type specimen catalogs held in American archives. In the best of circumstances a specimen […] Read more – ‘Upon discovering a new wood type specimen catalog’.
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
- “Billy Morgans—the boss typo of the County…”
- William Thomas Morgans, was one of the dominate producers and innovators of wood type in American in the late 1870s, competing successfully against William Page, Vanderburgh, Wells & Co and Charles Tubbs. He was born July 2, 1844‹1› in Bethel, New York to Eleazer and Martha J Morgans. In his life he was a newspaper publisher, job printer, inventor and founding partner of the wood type companies Young & Morgans and later Morgans […] Read more – ‘“Billy Morgans—the boss typo of the County…”’.
- Glass type
- A recent visit to the Kembel Collection at the California Historical Society in San Fransisco allowed for a perusing of issues of The Printer and Bookmaker. This examination led to serendipitously stumbling upon an obscure reference, which led to a fortuitous Google search, offering up a typographic curiosity. It should be noted that research is often most fruitful when performed tangentiality. The following was published in the May, 1897 issue of The Printer and […] Read more – ‘Glass type’.
- Patent Leather Type
- The following entry was originally published in the May, 1897 issue of The Printer and Bookmaker‹1›. The letter to the editor from a Mr George Jacobs describes a unique method of producing large scale printing type. Though patent leather was invented in Brussels in the late 1700’s and commercially produced in America starting in 1819, primarily for producing durable wearable goods, this is the first, and possibly the only, reference to using […] Read more – ‘Patent Leather Type’.