“A Specimen of Wood Type”
A tour-de-force of typographic design and a celebration of American printing innovation
A Specimen of Wood Type is a hand-bound, hard-cover letterpress printed book by Richard Kegler of P22 Type Foundry. It features 26 wood type specimen pages along with accompanying descriptive text that was set and cast in metal type by the celebrated Press & Letterfoundry of Michael and Winifred Bixler of Skaneateles, NY.
Title page, Table of contents (The only page printed from Polymer plates) and spreads of Aetna and American Chromatic
First group of pages printed at residence at the Hamilton Wood Type Musuem in Two Rivers, WI — Jan 2017
Case-sewn and bound by Richard Kegler in two options: deep red or orange Asahi Book Cloth. Each book uses unique makeready sheets with multiple layers of ink as end-papers. The covers are foil-stamped with the Hamilton Wood Type Collection 'H' logo at Boxcar Press in Syracuse, NY. This hand-made limited-edition is just 75 copies.
RIchard Kegler shown setting the title page at P22 in Rochester NY
Richard Kegler printed the specimens using vintage wood type collections at six locations across the USA. These include the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum (Two Rivers, WI); Wells Book Arts Center (Aurora, NY); RIT Cary Graphic Arts Collection (Rochester, NY); the WNY Book Arts Center (Buffalo, NY); Flower City Book Arts Center (Rochester, NY); and P22 Analog Press (Rochester, NY). The typographic showings vary from one to three colors each for a total of 82 press runs.
Time-lapse video of the sewing and binding of one of the books.
Various dummy and mockup bindings for the final design
The pages were hand-printed between January 2017 and October 2019 using the original wood types referenced to digitize the Hamilton Wood Type Collection (HWT) collection from P22 Type Foundry. Multi-color innovative layouts highlight the type designs that are now available as digital fonts in the Hamilton Wood Type Collection from P22 Type Foundry.
A small portfolio edition of 20 unbound copies is also available. These were printed as single-sided, unpaginated sheets—suitable for framing—and are presented in a custom clamshell box bound in blue Asahi cloth made by book artist Leah Mackin.
Original Aetna Type from the Hamilton Wood Type Museum Collection used for printing in the specimen book
The Bernice ornaments were created with a border stamping machine at the Hamilton Wood Type Museum. Three layers were printed to show layering pattern possibilities. The form shown is the Magenta layer.
This page of borders was printed at three different locations. The silver layer was printed at the WNY Book Arts Center in Buffalo NY.
An underpacking sheet used on the Vandercook press gradually picked up oil from the tympan sheet with the pressure of each impression to create a translucency where the type hit the paper.
Unique endpapers for each book were created from the makeready sheets used in press alignment and ink removal.
Spreads from historical types: Republic Gothic, Arabesque, Roman Extended Lightface and Slab (Columbian and Antique)
This is a unique document of this important era in American graphic design and printing history—A Specimen of Wood Type is sure to inspire designers of all disciplines and aficionados of the printing arts.
Contemporary wood type designs as part of the "Hamilton Legacy Series"— Konop and VanLanen
A Specimen of Wood Type by Richard Kegler
Rochester, NY: P22 Publications, 2020.
Rochester, NY: P22 Publications, 2020.
- 26 wood type specimens
- 55 pages + front and back matter printed on Arjowiggins Utopia 2, Ivory Matte, #100 text
- 9.5 x 12.5 inches
- 82 hand-press runs in six different print shops
- 55 pages + front and back matter printed on Arjowiggins Utopia 2, Ivory Matte, #100 text
- 9.5 x 12.5 inches
- 82 hand-press runs in six different print shops
