The making of printers’ type
Monday 2 September 2024
To be held in the Museum and in one of the galleries in Blickling Hall, this is a day for the type connoisseur, the printing historian, and anyone interested in the long history of type from ancient China, Japan and Korea, through early Mainz printing and the spread of the technology across Europe and around the world, industrialization and mechanization, to the introduction of photosetting and the contemporary world of digital type. No previous knowledge of type-history is required, as the presentations will begin from first principles. New theories about early type-production methods will be discussed by Paul W. Nash and Jack Norfolk. Jeremy Tankard (an independent type-designer) will describe his working methods and philosophy in the creation of new fonts. Practical typecasting sessions and other demonstrations will be held using the resources of the Museum, and examples of physical types, and the products of the early presses, will be available for study.
The programme will be as follows:
10:00–10:30 Introduction. The first printed (woodcut) texts; the invention and early introduction of moveable type in China, Japan and Korea; the early woodcut in Europe.
10:30–11:15 The invention of moveable type in Mainz around 1450; the punch-matrix-mould method of casting type and the work of the first printers; the art of the punch-cutter; the spread of typefounding across Europe and the world after 1462. With a type-casting demonstration in the Museum.
11:15–11:45 Break for coffee
11:45–12:30 Alternative theories of early type-casting. Paul W. Nash and Jack Norfolk will present their different theories about how the earliest European types may have been cast, before the perfecting of the punch-matrix-mould method. With a type-production demonstration by Nash, who aims to make a usable and repeatable metal type-sort from scratch, without the use of a letter-punch, before lunch.
12:30–2:00 Break for lunch
2:00–2:45 The use of type. Examples of printing, of type in use, from the 1460s to the end of the hand-press era (around 1850), with specimens available to discuss and examine.
2:45–3:30 The industrialization of type-production including early type-setting machines, Monotype and Linotype, photocomposition and the early days of digital type. Including a visit to the Museum to examine the Monotype keyboard and caster there.
3:30–4:00 Jeremy Tankard on type-design and his own working methods today.
4:00–4:30 Closing remarks and discussion.
Places are limited and the cost is £80.00 per person (concessions are available for students in full-time education).
Further details may be found on the NPM website at norwichprintingmuseum.co.uk.
For booking please see the website or contact npmtrustees@gmail.com.
