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Typography Tuesday

These capitals come from Type Specimens of Caliban Press, letterpress printed and hand-bound in Montclair, New Jersey by special collections librarian and fine press printer Mark McMurray in 1991 at his Caliban Press in an edition of 100 copies signed by the printer. From top to bottom, they are:

Monastic Initials: cast in the 1920s by the Frankfurt foundry of Ludwig and Mayer. The typeface was imported to the U.S. in 1930 by the Continental Type Founders Association, which regrettably named it Erbar, thus confusing it with a san serif typeface of the same name designed by Jacob Erbar and also cast by Ludwig and Mayer.

De Roos Inline Initials: designed by Sjoerd H. de Roos (1877-1962), a type designer for the Amsterdam Type Foundry from 1907-1941. It was first issued in 1951 to accompany De Roos Roman, first cast in 1947.

Erasmus Initials: also designed by S. H. de Roos for the Amsterdam Type Foundry in 1923.

Caxton Initials: designed by Frederic Goudy (1865-1947) in 1905.

Lombardic Capitals: also designed by Goudy in 1921 and first cast by American Type Founders (ATF) in 1929. The font is based on Lombardic capitals developed by Italian monastic scribes from the 8th through 13th centuries.

Missal Initials: designed by Will Bradley (1868-1962), based on 15th-century sources. They were issued by ATF in 1904.

Our copy, printed on the occasion of the Caliban Press's 6th anniversary, is a gift from the estate of our late friend Dennis Bayuzick (1946-2022).

View some wood type specimens from this book.

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Typography Tuesday

As some of our longtime followers probably know, we adore wood type. So, this week we present some wood type samples from Type Specimens of Caliban Press On the occasion of its sixth anniversary, from the recent donation of the estate of our late friend, art professor, painter, collector, letterpress printer, and book artist Dennis Bayuzick. The publication was letterpress printed and hand-bound by special collections librarian and fine press printer Mark McMurray in 1991 at his Caliban Press in Montclair, New Jersey, in an edition of 100 copies signed by the printer.

The first few unidentified specimens on pages 42 to 45 were made by the Hamilton Manufacturing Company, right here in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, which for almost a century was the largest producer of wood type in the world. The company stopped producing wood type in the 1980s, but continued to produce other manufactured goods, and finally left Two Rivers in 2013. Its wood type legacy lives on, however, in Two River's magnificent Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, an essential pilgrimage site for any lover of wood type!

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