Iedereen die serieus in lettergieten is geïnteresseerd (en genoeg tijd en geld heeft), zou volgende maand moeten afreizen naar North Andover, Massachusetts. In het Museum of Printing wordt van 14 tot 16 augustus de American Type Fellowship Bi-annual Conference gehouden.
Het programma en de lijst met sprekers is indrukwekkend:
14 augustus
The Very First Phototypesetter (the beginning of the “end” for hot-metal).
Bill Wheatley, who has a long and extensive background in font design and preparation for both phototypesetting and digital work, has studied the Intertype Fotosetter in detail. Museum has on display one of the very few in existence. Its uniqueness is the use of photo matrices.
Building a Monotype Shop
“What I have learned about setting up a private Monotype shop after having built two separate shops for myself,” by Jim Walczak. We will also hear what others have learned about moving and installing casting machinery.
Building Historic Hand Molds
Stan Nelson has built (by hand) over fifty hand molds for many individuals and institutions over the past forty years and is retired from the Smithsonian Institution. His works are pieces of art in addition to being functional tools. Each is an historically correct rendering of various historic tools and his bible continues to be Joseph Moxon’s Mechanick Exercises of 1683.
Training Newcomers
A round-robin session featuring Rich Hopkins (Monotype University), Sky Shipley (Thompson Tech), and others on training sessions they have conducted in the past. Monotype University now has about 30 graduates and Thompson Tech has a couple dozen too. Comments from folks who have graduated from these sessions are expected.
Computer Interface for the Monotype Composition Caster
Bill Welliver is now equipping both Mason Miller and Rob LoMascolo (Mono U 8 grads) with interfaces and has more than a dozen of these interfaces out there and functioning. Previous Conferences have focused on the prospects of such an interface. This is a hear-and-now report on real-time use of the system. Capabilities now include hanging punctuation, padded outer margins (quads to keep last letters from falling off), hanging indents, and more. Those who use the interface will participate. For example, Rich Hopkins will explain the Interface’s versatility used to keyboard and cast a 4-page issue of Ben Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette (filled with the long s and its ligatures) for the Franklin Printing Shop (National Park Service) in Philadelphia.
“My Insanity in Casting Big Type on the Pivotal Caster”
Greg Walters acquired several of these machines (plus Barth casters too!) at the auction sale of American Type Founders in 1993. He has them all at his “building” in Piqua, Ohio. This is first-hand presentation on using one of them — burns, squirts and all!
Commercial Typecasting and Letterpress Printing in the 21st Century
This will be a roundtable discussion featuring the boys from M&H Type, Michael Bixler, long-time supplier of Monotype composition and letterpress printing from Skaneateles, N. Y., Sky Shipley of Skyline Type in Prescott, Ariz., and John Kristenesen of Firefly Press, Boston. Others are invited to participate. Learn firsthand what the landscape is in this new century.
Jason Dewinetz and his Super Caster
In 2010 Jason acquired the casting shop of the late Jim Rimmer, the last person in Canada that was still designing, engraving, and casting his own metal types. The equipment sat (sadly) in storage for a few years, but last fall Jason restored Jim’s Super Caster and has been teaching himself to operate it (with the help of many ATF folks via email) for the past 6 months. Along the way he’s run into all kinds of issues, most of which have been solved, but a few continue to cause him problems. He will give a short slide presentation discussing his efforts to learn to run the caster, and then discuss some of the problems he has solved. He will also raise a few of the ongoing issues, and throw them out to the audience. It will be a sort of reverse Q&A, where the presenter asks the questions and the audience shares their experience and suggestions.
16 augustus
Modern-Day Typecasting Apprentices
Presented by Mark Sargianis and Chris Godek of M&H Type in San Francisco, which is probably the last-remaining U.S. commercial type foundry. The firm has been around since about 1907. M&H is now under the umbrella of the Arion Press, headed by Andrew Hoyem. The plant now is located at El Presidio, a decommissioned US Naval Base, housed in the former laundry building which served a huge veterans hospital, also decommissioned. Hoyem put together financial sponsorship for a typecasting apprenticeship program and both speakers are with M&H under that program. They will explain the apprenticeship program and how one might become a student, and also give a brief viewing of their facility. John Kristensen will chime in with a few details on the apprenticeship program he established with help of State funds.
Meet the authors
Rich and Frank talk about their respective books on the Monotype and the Linotype.
History of Cherokee Type
Now being returned to matrix form for casting and hand-setting, by Ed Rayer and Frank Brannon at the Swamp Press. There will also be a discussion of matrix engraving on the Benton Pantograph as being utilized for this and other type-making projects.
How We Amassed Today’s Casting Equipment
Recounting how present equipment came to be preserved and laments over so many machines which went to the scrappers. By Rich Hopkins, a collector and user for over forty years.
Keynote: Preserving the Past of Letterpress: My Father’s Shop, by Frank Romano.
In de marge worden bovendien nog allerlei andere activiteiten georganiseerd: een markt, een veiling, een bezoek aan Firefly Press.
Meer informatie op de site van het museum: www.museumofprinting.org