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:
Many nineteenth-century founders’ types, often in odd sizes, are included in my collection and had they not been rescued and stored they would have been melted down long ago. . . .
Mural . . . a particularly spindly face produced by the Caslon Foundry in the 1880s, was difficult to use attractively. It has so many peculiarities . . . .
Black Letter always has interesting possibilities, and Light English Text, still easily obtainable in Monotype, is no exception. . . . and as the name implies, when setting is close with minimal spacing between lines, a pleasing effect is achieved. . . .
Then there are the ‘specials,’ Gill Floriated, Old Face Open, Imprint Shadow, Chisel, Fry’s Ornamented and an assorted collection of nineteenth-century initials. Quite charming specimen pages can be created with such material, particularly if they are embellished with suitable borders and type decorations. . . .
Union Pearl, has a fascinating history and is still produced from the original matrices. . . . I traced the ownership of the matrices from the time they were made for the Grover Foundry in 1690 to the present day.
Mark Arman died in 2007 at the age of 93.
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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