These three presentations focused on the theme of making impressions through teaching. In each case, the speakers presented examples of ways in which they have engaged students and designers directly with materials and processes related to printing history. The speakers illustrated APHA’s mission in action; it is an organization that “encourages the study of the history of printing and related arts and crafts.” [Read more]
I am researching history on a nineteenth century printer by the name- Ashbel Stoddard- from Hudson, NY. I have several of his books from the early 1800s. Any info would be helpful. Thank you.
At left: digitized paragraph of Secret pour ouvrir la porte de Paradis en mourant, 1623, selected and its characters segmented and classified as ascender/descender and x-height, using pattern recognition techniques. (Charles Bigelow and Richard Zanibbi)
Charles A. Bigelow & Richard Zanibbi: “Analysis Of Typographical Trends In European Printing 1470-1660: Comparison of Automated Methods To Palaeotypographical Approaches” ¶ Philip Weimerskirch: Some Little-Known Sources for the History of Early American Printing Presses”
10:45 am saturday, october 24 ⋅ track 1
Illustrated with numerous graphs, charts, and statistics, Chuck Bigelow presented current research on typographical trends he has been analyzing with Richard Zanibbi. Encompassing historiography, culturomics (the study of cultural trends through quantitative analysis of digitized texts), and the recent discipline of vision science. For their purposes, vision was equated with reading: layout, type size, and type style, the partners looked at 22,000 digitized books ranging in date from the fifteenth- to the seventeenth centuries. [Read more]
Twenty of us piled into a van for the 90 minute drive from Rochester through rolling hills and magnificent autumn foliage to the town of Skaneateles, on the northern shore of the Finger Lake for which it’s named. There, Michael and Winifred Bixler welcomed us into their shop and home where we met up with seven more attendees who had arranged their own transportation. Michael began by giving us a brief history of Monotype development in America and England, and then telling us about the Bixler Letterfoundry. Established in 1968 with the purchase of their first Monotype machine, the Bixlers built up their business with an extensive inventory of Monotype faces, the ability to fulfill large orders, and timely delivery. [Read more]
I have a researcher who wants to know who set and printed the visual poetry for pages of Marius de Zayas’s magazine 291? Any leads would be appreciated. Thank you
Entrance to the Vignelli Center. (All photos Keelin Burrows)
Tour of the Vignelli Center for Design Studies Rochester Institute of Technology
1 pm friday, october 23
Located on the RIT campus, the Vignelli Center for Design Studies, is the repository for the archives of husband and wife design team, Massimo and Lella Vignelli. Opened in 2010, the center serves as an exhibition and study space available to students and the general public. The collection largely came to the university due to the efforts of Roger Remington, the Massimo and Lella Vignelli Distinguished Professor of Design at RIT, who honored the Vignellis’ wish to have their collection displayed and used as a teaching tool. [Read more]
Gwido Zlatkes and Ann Frenkel fill the Reading Room of the Cary Graphic Arts Collection with words and music. (Seth Gottlieb)
Gwido Zlatkes & Ann Frenkel: “A Pushmi-pullyu: The Collaborative Multidisciplinary Work Process at Vigoda Press”
6 pm thursday, october 22
The lecture and musical performance by Gwido Zlatkes and Ann Frenkel was a wonderful way to end the first day of the annual conference. In their presentation spanning just over an hour and a half, they provided insights into the history and function of their Vigoda Press. Gwido, originally from Poland, met Ann while she was working in a university library. Primarily, the pair publishes original translations of Polish poetry set to original scores. The two also perform their own experimental theater pieces. For each book presented, Gwido discussed the original writer and his translation of the piece, after which Ann performed one of her original compositions. [Read more]
Left, Alice and Elbert Hubbard at the hand press. Right, girl stitching at sewing frame. (Courtesy The Roycroft Campus Corporation)
Alan Nowicki: “The (Re)Birth of Roycroft Printing” ¶ Julie Mellby: “Lew Ney: Greenwich Village Printer”
3 pm saturday, october 24 ⋅ track 1
Alan Nowicki began his presentation by discussing Roycroft Shops founder, Elbert Hubbard, who had been a salesman and the innovative marketing manager for the Larkin Company, a soap manufacturer in Buffalo, New York. He retired in 1892 after traveling to England and visiting the Kelmscott Press. While there is no historical record of a meeting with its renowned proprietor William Morris, Hubbard was enamored of the work done at the press. [Read more]
Carving the cheeks and setting the till for a common press. (Jeffrey D. Groves)
“A Hands-On Approach to Printing History: Lessons Learned in the Construction of a Common Press”
9:30 am saturday, october 24
In his classes, Jeffrey D. Groves utilizes the iron hand press to provide students with an introduction to letterpress printing as well as to an historical background of the process. A hand press is something which in our digital age is very attractive for students to use. Groves says to hear the snap of the frisket releasing the paper from the type form provides an audible sign that the ink has been transferred to the paper and gives students a hands-on experience with the process. [Read more]
Jerry Kelly addresses the audience at RIT, showing a photo of Hermann Zapf teaching at RIT ca. 1979. (Emily Hancock)
The Frederic W. Goudy Award for Excellence in Typography was presented to Jerry Kelly on October 24, 2015 as the closing event of the APHA conference at RIT. The Goudy Award is a tradition that is co-sponsored by the Cary Graphic Arts Collection and the RIT School of Media Sciences that honors outstanding practitioners in type design and its related fields. The first Goudy laureate in 1969 was Professor Hermann Zapf, (1918–2015), who later taught at RIT in the 1970s and 80s. It was fitting that the latest Goudy Award should go to one of Zapf’s most successful students, Jerry Kelly, a leading calligrapher, book designer, type designer, and typographer who practices out of New York City. [Read more]
