#matrix 9

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In case you didn't know I'm an educated BADASS 😝

Doing jewelry design for living 😎

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Typography Tuesday

PRINTERS’ FLOWERS

A few weeks ago we presented a specimen sheet of historic types collected and printed by the English type and printing enthusiast Mark Arman. This week we are showing some specimen sheets of printers’ flowers collected by Arman and handprinted in an edition of 1000 at his Workshop Press in Thaxted, Essex, for his article on “A Collection of Printers’ Flowers” published in Matrix 9, Winter 1989, pp. 92-96. Of his collecting of these type ornaments, Arman writes:

The collector is attracted to those things that are difficult to find: the magpie delights in accumulating treasures; what is known to be rare is prized. Thus the typographer who begins with an interest in type is in danger of becoming a collector, and his discoveries may lead him to collecting printers’ flowers. This is precisely what happened to me, as my collection began modestly in 1949 and now has developed beyond the confines of reason.

Arman has printed a description below each specimen. Shown here from top to bottom are:

1.) 15th-century-style arabesques and moresques recut in the 20th century by Monotype Corporation. 2.) 18th-century Fournier-style type ornaments recut by Monotype. 3.) Late 19th-century decorative type issued by Stephenson Blake. 4.) 20th-century decorative type designed by Percy Smith and Edward Bawden for the Curwen Press.

Arman’s process for making these 2-color prints is to raise the non-black type above the other type by placing 3-pt. leads underneath them, so that during inking only the raised type gets inked and may be printed in red or blue. After printing the full run, those printed type forms are removed and replaced by quads and other spacers which rest below the type that remains, so that only that type gets inked and printed in black on the next run.

Matrix was printed by John and Rosalind Randle at the Whittington Press in England, and is a donation from our friend Jerry Buff.

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A Gibbings-Engraved Feathursday

Yesterday, we brought you some wood engravings by the Anglo-Irish artist, fine-press publisher, writer, and wood engraver Robert Gibbings (1889-1958) that were reprinted from the original blocks in Matrix 9, Winter 1989, and included in Gibbings’s own essay, “Thoughts on Wood,” pp. 8-10. Today, we present his wood engravings of birds from this same printing. Unfortunately, we don’t know what species the nest belongs to but we were able to identify the birds. They are from top to bottom:

Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)

The kingfisher, heron, and nest were originally published in Gibbings’s book Sweet Thames Run Softly published by J. M. Dent in 1940, and the blocks used to make these prints are from the Gibbings Collection at the University of Reading. The swan is from his book Till I End My Song published by J. M. Dent in 1957, the block also from the Gibbings Collection. The gull is not identified, except for an indication that it was originally printed c. 1938.

Matrix was printed by John and Rosalind Randle at the Whittington Press in England, and is a donation from our friend Jerry Buff.

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Wood Engraving Wednesday

Half of the Winter 1989 issue of the printers’ and bibliophiles’ periodical Matrix (Matrix 9) is dedicated to the Anglo-Irish printer, sculptor, fine-press publisher, writer, and wood engraver Robert Gibbings (1889-1958). It includes three texts by Gibbings himself and several other articles by others on various aspects of Gibbings’s life and work, including his relationships to the Golden Cockerel Press, the University of Reading, and Eric Gill, and his correspondence with fellow artist and publisher Thomas Balston. Inserted into Gibbings’s own essay “Thoughts on Wood” (pp. 8-10), where he discusses working in wood as an engraver, are several of Gibbings’s wood engravings printed from the original blocks preserved at the University of Reading and the St. Bride Printing Library. We display a few of them here, originally produced between 1945 and 1953, that show his penchant for the dynamic landscape, especially of his Irish homeland.

Matrix was printed by John and Rosalind Randle at the Whittington Press in England, and is a donation from our friend Jerry Buff.

View more posts related to the work of Robert Gibbings as printmaker and publisher.

View more posts from Matrix.

View other posts relating to the Whittington Press.

View more posts with wood engravings!