#foundry type

Typography Tuesday

Mark Arman was an English type and printing enthusiast who late in life turned to collecting type, prints, and printing equipment, establishing his own Workshop Press at Thaxted, Essex. Before this, he had made a career in Customs and Excise. After his move to Thaxted in 1958, he was active in the restoration of several historic buildings in the town, for which he was awarded an MBE. In his retirement he took up pottery and fine printing, amassing an eclectic collection of historic typefaces. His Workshop Press produced many broadsides and several now-scarce books on type, type design, letterpress printing, and relief prints.

In 1990, Arman designed and printed this 29 x 45 cm specimen sheet of some of his historic typefaces for inclusion in his article “A Collection of Types” published in Matrix 10, Winter 1990, pp. 143-145. Of his collection, Arman writes:

Still from the documentary “Helvetica,” by Gary Hustwit, ©2007 Swiss Dots Ltd.

Until the late  mid 1980s, ‘font’ was a word that one never heard outside of the printing trades. When desktop computing made multiple typefaces available to the general public, ‘font’ entered the vernacular. It now refers to both the typeface—the design and appearance—and to the software file that generates it.

Traditionally, a font was a set of foundry type in a single point size (e.g., Helvetica is a typeface, and 48 point Helvetica Bold is a font). Few now make the distinction. Stephen Coles wrote, “When you talk about how much you like a tune, you don’t say: ‘That’s a great MP3,’ you say, ‘That’s a great song.’ The MP3 is the delivery mechanism, not the creative work, just as in type a font is the delivery mechanism and a typeface is the creative work.”

“Font” versus “Typeface”: Typeface: “I love the Goudy Old Style.” Font: “I’m going to install Caslon.”

The Stammtisch in September takes place a little earlier than usual, but there are special guests. Heike Schnotale and Max Lotze of the venerable Offizin Haag-Drugulin from Dresden are coming. The topic of their lecture is "Between old treasures and fresh casting - lead typesetting as an everyday experience".

The location is Cafe Hardenberg in Berlin Charlottenburg.

More info typostammtisch.berlin!

time: 19.00 h

Café Hardenberg Hardenbergstraße 10 10623 Berlin

48 pt. Kabel Heavy

Shameless self promotion.