How Could I Resist?

I'm not normally one to judge a book by its cover, much less a wine by its label. This morning, however, I spotted a wine label that simply had to come home with me.

It's this:

Mine is a Chandler & Price Oldstyle (10 x 15), but the Favorite looks a whole lot like it!

I bought the Shiraz. I like the way the white shows off the engraving better.
Good old Trader Joe's strikes again. Happy New Year to me!

Stereo Cards: Sears Printing. Who knew!

Picked these up today. They are No. 32, 34, and 21 in a series about the Sears & Roebuck Co. in Chicago. They are undated. The photo of the lobby seems to tell me, from the women's fashions, that it was taken between 1900 and 1915 [update: correct. The website linked below confirms a date of appx 1905, corroborated by several cards which show more fashionable ladies). However, the large presses pictured in the press room seem rather advanced for that date. I will defer to my friends from Letpress in hopes of further information.
NOTE: to see these well, you will have to double click to biggify them!

And an update, thanks to Dr. David MacMillan on Letpress: the complete set is viewable here, with all text on the obverses. Important because a set from the Edgar Rice Burroughs collection is online, but only a few of the cards' obverse sides are included.

Can't resist

A printers "hellbox" is where old type goes to die. Thrown into a convenient receptacle because it's worn or damaged, hellbox type finds new life only by being traded to the typefounder, who melts it down to make brand new type.

After the Wayzgoose in Phoenix, we traveled to Skyline Type Foundry in Prescott. I had a reasonably full hellbox to trade in-- but this pic shows the granddaddy hellbox of them all. It's from the International Printing Museum, where I volunteer once a month.

Even after the feeding frenzy of the Goose, and our new purchases at Sky's, could any of us resist pawing through it? Might there be good sorts? There were a few still-wrapped fonts in there!

Thanks to Tom Parsons for this shot.

More Victorian

 Biggify to truly enjoy this great old design!

 Purchased from Dave Peat, well-known collector: Bruce's Ornamented No. 1515, known as Belgian (despite the label!). I found out that Dave Peat had purchased Paul Hayden Duensing's cutting of 24 Belgian, and Bob Magill of Monumental Type Foundry cast them. Duensing himself wasn't pleased with it, and cast only a few sorts before selling the mats to Peat. I don't know how many fonts Monumental produced: Dave had two at the Wayzgoose, and I bought one.

The Bruce Company itself was in business for most of the 19th century. Their designer Julius Herriet Sr. is given credit for the lowercase in 1867, two years after its initial use as a titling font. Thanks for Dr. David MacMillan for fuller information.

Victorian Dreams

When I began letterpress printing 26 years ago, very few fonts were available to me, and none at all which captured the exuberance and style of the Victorian era I so love. Fast forward to the revival of revival type foundries-- and my prayers are answered. Skyline Type Foundry has reproduced some decorative fonts long unavailable for purchase, including one of my favorites, Arboret. To get a better view of this beauty, please double click to biggify. You won't be sorry!

PS Not the best pic, but still!  :)

The friendly proprietor and me

Too Much of a Good Thing

I have a challenge to meet for my Amalgamated Printers Association (APA) June bundle: a mini-poster to compose and set. Guidelines are 3.5 x 5" size, no font over 24 pt, and the rest is up to me.

I searched both shops for my little bust with the Phrenology map on it, but that cut cannot be found. I decided to rely on words and typefaces, in the manner of a 19th century poster or title page, changing styles every line to show off the type.

It's now set, using a combination of revival castings and actual antique fonts, and I'm happy with it. Minor detail: the type as it sits measures five inches! There's no room for top and bottom margins. Aargh.

The job is lurking on the stone awaiting my further attentions. Something surely has got to give!

Shop's Log, Stardate 2013

My shop is a small building in the back yard, and I find myself continually writing hurried notes and stuffing them into a pocket to either take to the shop, or bring into the house from the shop. It's time for another approach-- one which is not so prone to blowing away.

Since Three Toad Press is 25 years old as of December, 2013, I decided a Shop Log would be a good approach. In it, I can record what I worked on and what I need to do next, as well as add reminders about what things from the house need to go outside, and which things need to come back inside!

So here you have Three Toad Press's first Log Book. About time, after 25 years of printing!

Saddles

This weekend I picked up the roller saddles for my C&P from Jay Robison (who doesn't have a website) at his shop in Santa Clara.

Jay bored out the worn areas and filled them with bronze, then drilled new bearing surfaces for the rollers. He then made new fittings to hold the saddles in place. Formerly they were press fit. To remove them required drilling them out.

Now I can remove the roller saddles if I need to, and of course re-install them myself.

Jay makes custom remanufactured parts for antique autos and other things, including a replica of the Wright Flyer. Seriously. He's even done specialty machine work for BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit). I was thrilled at his price: under $200 for this great refit pair.

Once they're installed I'll have to post again. First, I'll have to solve the other problems the C&P has, like below type-high rails and undersize trucks. All in a day's printing exercise, right?

But see the beauty of the remanufactured parts. Enjoy!

Resolutions for the Shop

Everybody needs a few resolutions. I decided my shop deserved some this year.

This case is double-laid, a larger size with a smaller one. I need to make sure all my type is neatly distributed and in good shape.

1. I want to print something for the APA Bundle every month of 2013. And mail it on time!

2. I want to take control of the mess in the shop, much of which is the result of buying out somebody else's mess a few years ago.

3. I want to work on my 1890 Pearl and get it up and running. I'm so close, but so far. Even disassembled, the thing is too heavy for me alone. I've found myself a helper, so I have hope for this year.

4. I need to winnow the type collection. Unless it's an antique survivor, there's simply no point in keeping a beat up font. Better to donate it to the Printing Museum and let them melt it down and make new type.

And today, the first of January, I made progress on some of the above! I consolodated Pearl parts (#3) and got rid of the big unwieldy box they were in; sorted type in a rusted galley(#2); and last week I printed two bundle pieces, so I'm a month ahead. I have til Friday to mail them.

Best wishes to all for a happy and productive New Year!

For the Win!

It's November. No kidding.

Once again, for the fourth November in a row, I have participated in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), and WON.

Despite the hazards of the game -- duties, company, errands, other projects, and journeys-- I stuck to it and produced wordage. 50,000 more than I would have written without the spur of this annual event.

This year it is more of an accomplishment. I bogged down in the middle of a sequel, and switched to my historical novel of last year. I tacked that on to the document already underway and kept writing. Net effect is 50,000 words, but they are destined to be edited into two other novels. I struggled with each story line, but by judicious application of buns to chair and fingers to keys, I finished.

Whew.

Now I can enjoy the coming season. There are no classes to distract me, and I won't be editing my novel until after Christmas. I'm working on getting my press (the C&P this time) repaired, ordering the wood parts for my dad's Model T, and catching up on sewing projects.

Guess I'd better print some Christmas cards too. This year, on the Vandercook!

By the Numbers

I bought these on eBay. They'll come in handy some time. They're about 5-line numerals. The seller, though not a printer, had "celtic" in the image title. She may be right. I'm posting them for a cross-check with other printers, so leave a comment if Celtic isn't the correct name.

Toolbox

Here is the first of my tool contributions for the Toolbox. The uneven look of the type is its rugged design: Pabst Oldstyle. Kids' art foam sheet mounted on a mag base printed the saw. Apologies that the cell phone shot doesn't display the Lettra paper effect.

Inking Issues

This post is mostly for friends from Letpress, the letterpress printers' listserv.

If you look carefully at the pic (double-click to biggify), you can see the areas which are not inking.

The last letter, s, in Pins, and the thimble at the bottom of the cut are simply not taking ink. The sad part is that they were inking perfectly all during makeready, and now they are simply not. At All.

As far as I can see, there was no contamination, no washup between makeready and printing, and no color change. I didn't even change packing.

Pressure is a little heavy; the cut sits a wee bit high, and I have had to add a sheet of typman under the type to bring it up, since I cannot remove anything from the cut.

I would love to get your thoughts on why this is happening when the proofs were all so good.

Books! Gotta Love 'em

Tonight somebody in my computer user group posted some thoughts on why e-books don't satisfy the way real ones (in print) do. It got me started musing on why I do like e-books, considering I am a printer and bookbinder and LOVE old books.

I realized that my use of e-books is probably atypical.  I use the e-book format for books I either a) can't find in print (and are totally unaffordable) b) take up too much room on a shelf, c) provide reference to specialized topics I am passionate about, or d) are too heavy for me to carry around.

Personal collection on my iPad:

- Complete works of Shakespeare with a little commentary
- complete Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- 2 versions of the Bible (modern & K. James)
- A few no-longer available bad Victorian novels, for fun
- at least 10 type catalogs & specimens (originally tomes over 300 pages in print)
- Numbers of knitting and tatting patterns, even entire books from Project Gutenburg
- complete printing press diagrams to go out to the press on the iPad
- Incunabula (which none of us can either find OR afford (see below)
- a few specialty costuming/sewing catalogs in digital form

These have all been free (yep, free!). Since most are what librarians call "reference" works, they would not circulate anyway, so having a nice, leisurely, personal relationship with most of them is not even an option. The e-book format allows me to enjoy them, use them again and again, and not waste valuable space in my house to keep them at hand.

So here's to books! Whether E or otherwise, I'm a voracious reader and I'll read what comes to hand. And I love my extensive e-library on the iPad, which weighs much less than one of the above-mentioned.

(example: page in Turnierbuch/Tournament Book - copy of original by Hans Burgkmair the Elder; 1540: Augsburg, Germany, in German and Latin. Held by the Bavarian State Library, www.bsb-muenchen.de)

Run One

I've been slowly working up to using my new-to-me proof press. After cleaning and oiling it thoroughly, the first impression I tried was a bust. I was new to this style proof press so I was in no hurry. Ordered new rollers, had a problem reinstalling them, and it took another year to get things together. More lag time. After all, my C&P platen does a fine job. While waiting, the Vandercook bed became the site of some Horizontal Surface Disease in the form of two type cases and assorted printers tools.

This week I cleared off the bed, and yesterday inked up to proof a large cut. Despite new rollers, I had no impression! What to do-- then I remembered I have no bed plate for this press. A galley fixed that problem, but I still had only a ghost of an impression. For a workaround I laid two sheets of tympan paper under the galley. Perfect!

Last night I finally got a decent print from my Vandercook No. 3. The Colt is not printed with "bite" impression, but he shows up clearly and the type is crisp. Now it's time to place the tympan paper in the packing rather than under the galley and have fun.

Yes. The ink is burgundy.

REAL Fonts

I mentioned committing typographic excess. Here's the (literal) proof! More literarily, here are the proofs:

 Concave

 Keynote

 Rustic

 Spread

Victoria Italic

All of the above are from Skyline Typefoundry in Arizona. Except for Keynote, all are 19th century designs. Sky has the matrices to cast these great old faces and many more. Needless to say I am a delighted customer.

Back to the shop!

After a lengthy drive to the Wayzgoose, committing typographic excess, I'm back to my little (typograhic) composing room. I laid away three fonts today, and a fourth yesterday. Perhaps some examples are in order.

Ransome Initials 

Missal Initials

 Pencraft Initials (BB&S), name courtesy of John Horn
from the Letpress Discussion List

These aren't the only ones: these were some used faces I purchased. I also have five brand-new fonts to put away. Typographic excess wasn't hyperbole!

Stay tuned!

Cornering the Market

I fell in love with some corner ornaments Dave Churchman cast several years ago and finally asked him if I could buy all the rest. Here's an example of why.

Arranging the corners yields circles, half-circles, and scrolly lines. I love playing with them. They're not easy to print with, actually. The few times I have tried, the ornaments do not meet seamlessly the way I would like them to. It could be the casting, but I suspect it is a makeready problem.

But aren't they pretty!