News
APHA 2012 Annual Conference - Call for Papers
The American Printing History Association welcomes proposals for its 2012 annual conference, whose theme will be ‘At the Crossroads: Living Letterform Traditions’. The conference is at Columbia College Chicago, Center for Book and Paper Arts, 12–13 October 2012. The main proceedings will take place on the Saturday, 13 October. Full details will be available at the website of the American Printing History Association.
Proposals are due by March 15, 2012. For further details see our Other events and announcements page
St Bride Library temporary closure (January 2012)
Due to the resignation of the Librarian, Nigel Roche, for personal reasons, the St Bride Library is temporarily closed. The closure is not expected to last more than a few weeks. Arrangements have been made for those currently doing research in the Library to obtain access by appointment only. Further information is available on the St Bride Library website.
Variations Symposium – speakers announced
Speakers have been announced for the Variations Symposium, a two-day typographic conference at the Birmingham Institute for Art and Design, Birmingham City University, UK, 14-15 March 2012. The speakers and the titles of their papers are:
Rob Banham, Lost in film: design and production in the twentieth century; Vince Connare, ‘We are the 99%’; Priscila Farias, Tropical types: São Paulo city 19th century typographers: Antero Ferreira, Design catalogue for the Archive of the University of Coimbra (2005–11): ortho-microtypography in scientific texts; Jessica Glaser, The graphic sandwich; Barbara Henry, Reading Walt Whitman's faces; Thomas Milo, Arabic versus Eurabic; Julián Moncada, Diverse voices: perspectives on gender diversity and the development of type design history: Robert Sharl, David Osbaldestin, The new print; Aspasia Papadima, Thomas Photiadis, Evripides Zantides, The use of eye-tracker technology to evaluate gender perception differences/biases on typeface design and characteristics; Alice Savoie, International cross-currents in typeface design: France, Britain and the US in the phototypesetting era, 1949–75; Juliet Shen, The several roles of a bespoke Native American font; Vaibhav Singh, Typography proper: lessons from the Hamiltonian system of interlinear translations in the digital era of multi-script typography; Elena Veguillas, La Tipografía: witness of the changes within the Spanish printing trade; Hazel Wilkinson, Ornamental type and the identification of unknown printers in the hand press period.
Further details can be found on the Typographic Hub website.
Order our publications online
You can now use an online order form to order back-issues of the Society's Journal and other publications that we have in stock. You can, of course, still place orders by contacting our Publications Officer by email. For further information on publications that are available for sale, see our Publications page.
Industry and Genius in the Printing Trade - Call for Papers
The Printing Historical Society and the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design have issued a Call for Papers for a conference entitled ‘Industry and Genius in the Printing Trade’, to be held on 4–5 September 2012 at the Birmingham School of Art, Margaret Street, Birmingham. Note that the closing date for paper submissions is 31 January 2012. For further information see the Forthcoming events page.
Journal new series 17
The 17th issue of the new series has appeared (January 2012). The last issue to be edited by John Trevitt, who is retiring, this issue contains two articles, a checklist of published writings by Michael Twyman, and reviews of seven books. The articles: Michael Kassler, “Philippe André and the Introduction of Lithography to England”; Pierre Delsaerdt, “Typographic design and renaissance lexicography: Cornelis Kiliaan's dictionaries of the Dutch language”. The checklist is a supplement to one originally published in the Society's Bulletin 45 in 1998. The book reviewers are Catherine Armstrong, Richard Lawrence, David Salisbury and John Trevitt.
Printing History News 33
PHN 33 was issued in mid December 2011. See the Publications page for further information.
Dutch Museum of Lithography celebrates 10 years
The Dutch Museum of Lithography in Valkenswaard celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2011. To celebrate, a book has been published about the museum and about lithography in general, and it is hoped soon to publish on their website some short articles specially written for this book. For a link to their website, and to the websites of other museums of printing around the world, see the Links page.
Past issues of PHN available online
The Society is beginning to make past issues of Printing History News available for free download in PDF format, starting with the most recent issues. See the Publications page for more information and for links to the online versions.
New Publications Officer
After many years loyal service Tony Cox has retired from his role as Publications Officer for the Society. We are most grateful to Tony for looking after the storage and sale of the Society's publications.
Our new Publications Officer is Richard Lawrence. Richard is a long-standing member of the Society and a current Committee member, and is also known to many who have attended letterpress printing courses that he presents at St Brides.
Enquiries about purchasing copies of the Society's publications should in future be addressed to publications@printinghistoricalsociety.org.uk.
Printing History News 32
PHN 32 was issued in late September 2011. See the Publications page for further information.
New Journal: Book 2.0
Intellect Books are to publish a new journal entitled Book 2.0, an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal which aims to provide a forum for promoting and sharing the most original and progressive practice in the teaching of writing, illustration, book design, book production and publishing across all educational sectors. The principal editor is Anthony Harrild of Anglia Ruskin University, UK. A call for articles for Volume 1 Issue 2 has been issued. Articles written to the theme of Type Writing are invited. The topic may be interpreted either in an historical or contemporary context; discussed not only from a technical but also empirical perspective; may be explored either from an applied or theoretical standpoint; and the effects of the digital present can be considered and the unknown future predicated. Potential contributors should send a 200-word abstract to the Guest Editor, Dr Caroline Archer. The deadline for submissions is 30 November 2011.
Grant applications for 2012
Applications for research funding for 2012 are now being invited by the Printing Historical Society's Grants & Prizes Sub-Committee. Details can be found on the Grants Programme page.
Printing History News 31
PHN 31 was issued in late June 2011. See the Publications page for further information.
Printing History News 30
PHN 30 was issued in late March 2011. See the Publications page for further information.
Experience letterpress printing - on an iPad?
A graphic designer from Champagne, Illinois, in the USA has launched a project to enable artists and designers to create authentic-looking letterpress designs and prints on their iPad. The project is building an iPad "app" that contains letterforms derived from antique collections of wood type and blocks made available to the project by collectors, plus all the necessary virtual tools for assembling, inking and printing designs. The aim is to give today's artists and designers, with no access to actual letterpress equipment and materials, an experience akin to letterpress printing by hand. To find out more visit the project page on Kickstarter.com.
The Typographic Hub - new initiative in Birmingham
Birmingham Institute of Art & Design (BIAD) at Birmingham City University, UK, has launched an exciting new initiative for research into the history, theory and practice of typographic design. The Typographic Hub is concerned with typography of all eras, from all nations and in all its guises. Research projects range from a new study of John Baskerville of Birmingham to London tart cards, Parisian underground graphics and Italian typographic modernism. The Hub welcomes doctoral research students from home and abroad who wish to study typography and its allied fields. The Hub also maintains a specialist library, which is open to anyone with either an academic, professional or passing interest in typography, and its contents allow the study of all aspects of the cultural, practical and technical achievements of the industry. The library comprises more the 4,000 items of typographic interest including reference books, journals and periodicals, trade literature, items of printed ephemera and collections of special interest. For further information visit www.typographichub.org.
Reprint of Journal new series 15
The reprint of Journal new series 15 has appeared (February 2011). The colour illustrations are much improved.
Journal new series 16
The 16th issue of the new series has appeared (February 2011). Edited by John Trevitt, this issue contains one article and reviews of twenty-three books by fifteen different reviewers - a record? The article: Stephen Lubell, “The use of Hebrew in the Antwerp Polyglot Bible”. The book reviewers are Elaine Jackson, Victoria Gardiner, Sasha Handley, Graham Hogg, Tim Reinke-Williams, Ria Snowden, Terry Wyke, A. C. Carrington, Bernard Capp, Giles Bergel, Elaine Jackson, Catherine Armstrong, John Hinks, Lucy Lewis and John Trevitt.
Printing History News 29
PHN 29 was issued in early January 2011. See the Publications page for further information.
Apply for membership online
A revised membership application form has been uploaded to the PHS website and is available both for download in PDF format and for use online. Visit our 'Join us' web page.