British Letterpress

Starts: 7:30 pm

Ends: 06 Feb 12 - 9:00 pm

Location: Bell Hotel, Church Street, Charlbury, Oxfordshire OX7 3PP

Description: This is an Oxford Guild of Printers Event
http://www.oxfordguildofprinters.com/events.html

Sebastian Carter will speak on Singing school and studying monuments: the afterlife of the Rampant Lions Press.

W. B. Yeats wrote in Sailing to Byzantium that for the soul in old age, ‘Nor is there singing school, but studying /Monuments of its own magnificence’.

Sebastian Carter, after the closure of the Rampant Lions Press workshop at the end of 2008, is trying to prove Yeats wrong by combining the two, compiling a descriptive catalogue of the Press’s books, totaling 321, and (the singing school part) producing a new book without letterpress – or, indeed, many words. In his illustrated talk he will describe both activities.

Starts: 12:00 pm

Ends: 08 Feb 12 - 2:00 pm

Location: Bradford Industrial Museum, Moorside Rd, Eccleshill, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD2 3HP

Description: Volunteers in the Museum's print gallery exhibit some of their letterpress equipment. It's worth phoning to check before making a special visit to make sure that the gallery will be in use that Wednesday.

Starts: 12:00 pm

Ends: 15 Feb 12 - 2:00 pm

Location: Bradford Industrial Museum, Moorside Rd, Eccleshill, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD2 3HP

Description: Volunteers in the Museum's print gallery exhibit some of their letterpress equipment. It's worth phoning to check before making a special visit to make sure that the gallery will be in use that Wednesday.

Starts: 7:00 pm

Ends: 21 Feb 12 - 9:00 pm

Location: Bridewell Hall, St Bride Foundation, Bride Street, London

Description: More details here: http://stbride.org/events

Having been out of print for nearly four years, a second edition of Counterpunch: making type in the sixteenth century, designing typefaces now was published in summer 2011. The first edition was introduced in 1996 at the ATypI conference in The Hague, and nearly fifteen years later it seems the book is still sought after. One reason for the sustained interest over those years may have been the book’s down-to-earth approach. It offered a clear view on punchcutting, that was easy to understand, and which was joined up with essential historical knowledge not easily accessible at the time. Counterpunch also included many illustrations that brought the subject to life and linked it into (then) contemporary digital practices.
This talk is not a sales pitch for the new edition. Instead, it will reflect on what has happened in the years since 1996. My research has continued along lines that are not very different from those I was following in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In those days I did what was within reach of my research tools, technically speaking. But since Counterpunch was published, I have been able to reflect on earlier conclusions by comparing them with findings arrived at through research tools of greater technical precision, in particular microscope images of historical type material at the Plantin-Moretus Museum. These images have brought a more objective perspective to my conclusions and will be a feature of this talk.
My research since 1996, however, should not be understood as merely a Counterpunch ‘check-up’. I have also been able to consider my findings alongside the stimulating ideas of two other researchers: Peter Burnhill, as recorded in his book Type spaces; and Justin Howes, who shared his work with me during four lengthy conversations we had in 2003. They have both enabled me to locate my own work on a much wider horizon.
Fred Smeijers is a Dutch type designer, teacher, and writer. After studying at the school of art at Arnhem, he worked as a typographic advisor to the reprographic company Océ, then became a founding member of the graphic design practice Quadraat, which provided the name for his first published typeface (FontFont, 1992). Among his other retail typefaces are: Renard (TEFF); Nobel (DTL); Arnhem, Fresco, Sansa, Custodia, Monitor, and Ludwig; all published by OurType, the company that he co-founded in 2002. His custom type designs include bespoke typefaces and lettering for Philips Electronics, Canon Europe, and Tom-Tom.
His first book, Counterpunch, was published by Hyphen Press in 1997. In 2001 he was awarded the Gerrit Noordzij Prize for outstanding contribution to type design, part of which was a book about his work, Type now (Hyphen Press, 2003).
Smeijers is research fellow at the Plantin Museum in Antwerp, professor of type design at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig, and creative director of OurType.

Starts: 12:00 pm

Ends: 22 Feb 12 - 2:00 pm

Location: Bradford Industrial Museum, Moorside Rd, Eccleshill, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD2 3HP

Description: Volunteers in the Museum's print gallery exhibit some of their letterpress equipment. It's worth phoning to check before making a special visit to make sure that the gallery will be in use that Wednesday.

Starts: 2:00 pm

Ends: 25 Feb 12 - 4:00 pm

Location: The Story Museum, 42 Pembroke Street, Oxford OX1 1BP

Description: http://www.storymuseum.org.uk/the-story-museum/print

Paul W. Nash's Printing workshops at The Story Museum, Oxford

Starts: 12:00 pm

Ends: 29 Feb 12 - 2:00 pm

Location: Bradford Industrial Museum, Moorside Rd, Eccleshill, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD2 3HP

Description: Volunteers in the Museum's print gallery exhibit some of their letterpress equipment. It's worth phoning to check before making a special visit to make sure that the gallery will be in use that Wednesday.