Type Archived, by Richard Ardagh, is a new book about the collections of the Type Archive in London, which was forced to close in 2023. The tools and machinery of traditional typefounding and machine typesetting are richly illustrated in chapters organised by material: iron, steel, copper, brass, bronze, lead, tin and antimony, and paper.
Founded in 1992, the Type Archive helped to save the artefacts of the United Kingdom’s preeminent typefounding industry, including the ancient materials of Stephenson Blake & Co, the hot-metal technology of The Monotype Corporation and the innovative wood-letter factory of Robert DeLittle.
The book, along with various rewards including a slipcased companion letterpress edition, has launched on Thames & Hudson’s Volume website, which takes pre-orders to enable publishing. At the time of writing the project is 70% funded.
Full details of the publication can be found here:
https://vol.co/collections/type-archived