A new book provides a stunning visual tour of traditional typefounding and is the definitive account of the legendary Type Archive.
Founded in London in 1992, the Type Archive brought together some eight million artefacts that tell the story of typography and printing. Highlights of the collection, which sadly closed in 2023, included the ancient materials of typefounders Stephenson Blake, the hot-metal technology of The Monotype Corporation and the innovative wood-letter produced by the factory of Robert DeLittle. Now, for the first time, a new book by long-serving Type Archive volunteer Richard Ardagh sheds light on these extraordinary materials, celebrating their significance and importance to both the history of art and engineering.
For over five hundred years the printed word was the primary conveyor of information and revolutionised the way we communicate. Type Archived presents the typographic treasures that made this possible, from the engraved punches (master letters) and matrices (dies for casting), to the letterpress type and printing presses that put ink to paper. Inside the book, these items have been arranged into chapters by material: iron, steel, copper, brass, bronze, lead, wood, and paper.
As Type Archive chairman Nicolas Barker obe has written, these artefacts ‘are akin to industrial jewels, letterforms demonstrating the role that supreme mechanical engineering and type design have played, over six centuries, in the development of human communication throughout the Western World.’
The project is funding now on Volume
Campaign rewards offer the chance to own a Collector’s Set, which also includes a letterpress printed companion edition with dust jacket by Alan Kitching; specially cast pieces of metal type of the Type Archive’s elephant logo; and joining the author for a Letterpress Experience day on a guided tour of printing workshops and the historical typefounding materials held at St Bride Library.