Tinker, tinker, tinker

The March bundle from the Amalgamated Printer's Association arrived last week and contained the usual mix of printed pieces, spanning the spectrum from novice to professional. APA members send samples of their work to all the other members at least 4 times a year. Each month every member receives around 50 pieces of letterpress matter printed by fellow APAers. It's a wonderful way to see the work of new printers, as well as marvel at the skills of those old hands who have bridged so many generations of printing technology.

What caught my eye in this bundle was a lavishly illustrated and impeccably produced booklet entitled Typographic Curiosities 18. I'll let the colophon tell the details:

The series Typographic Curiosities has been done intermittently over the past 45 years by Richard L. Hopkins. Subject matter has ranged widely, but always related to hot metal type and/or typesetting. It is Monotype composed and letterpress printed at the Hill & Dale Private Press and Typefoundry, Box 263, Terra Alta, West Virginia 26764.

This installment is titled Finishing the Work of an Unknown Designer and details the arrival of a package of ornament matrices sent to Rich by a long-time printer friend. Rich takes us through the process of how he analyzes the mats to divine the intention of the designer. What were they to be used for? Were they meant to go together or were they successive variations on a single design?

The layout is simple, revelatory, and generously illustrated. But what's most telling is the fundamental approach Rich takes: physically handling the cast pieces. He reminds us that it's okay to take a dingbat (or a letterform or cut) and play with it. Hold it in your hand and study it. Rotate it around, try it as a border, or combine it with multiples of itself in different arrangements. Do something unexpected with it. In fact, it's not just okay to try this, it's vital. It's how we dissect and rebuild.

It's a good lesson to remember in the shop. Why not combine some rarely-used dingbat set into a background pattern? How about doing the same with various widths of rule? What about using a numeral 9 as a lowercase g? Tinkering around in the shop is what makes us creative typesetters, analytical thinkers, and better printers. Rich should know; he's one of the best.