For the Love of Letterpress

Cathie Ruggie Saunders has been making letterpress books since 1973 and has over 25 years of experience teaching letterpress printing to graduate and undergraduate students at the School of Art Institute in Chicago. Martha Chiplis has an MFA in Graphics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She worked for Sherwin Beach Press as a letterpress printer and designer for 16 years, and began teaching at the School of the Art Institute in 2008.

Acknowledgements

1 The Sensual, Printed Artifact
The Allure
The Passion

2 The Historical Legacy: Connecting the Past and Future
Frederic Goudy
Oswald Cooper
Robert Hunter Middleton

3 Printer’s Primer
Terminology
Measurement
Lay of the Case
Spacing and Leading
Setting Type by Hand
Tying up the Form
Alignment
Ink
Paper for Proofing
Proofing

4 Press and Printing
Paper
The Vandercook Proof Press: “The Editioning Press”
Lock-Up
Press Operation
Checking the Impression
Makeready
Registering Multiple Colors
Editioning
After Printing: Cleaning the Press
Platen Presses (Chandler & Price)

5 Relief Matrices
Foundry Type
Monotype
Linotype
Ludlow
Images
Ornaments
Woodcuts
Wood Engraving
Linoleum Cut
Laser-Cut Materials
Other

6 Contemporary Processes
Found Objects and Other Materials
Pressure Printing
Split Fountain
Debossing
Printing without Ink
Damping
Monoprint
Hand Inking
Splatter
Ghosting
Backwards Transfer
Floriated Initial Image Transfer
Brayer Roll-Outs
Stencil

7 Creating a Concept
Sources of Inspiration
Time

8 Envisioning the Object
Structural Possibilities
Relationship of Content and Structure
The Function of Dummy Structures
Choosing Appropriate Typefaces
Choosing Appropriate Paper
Choosing an Appropriate Color Palette
The Colophon

9 Assessing the Object Envisioned
Critique Format Models
The Synergy of Form and Content

10 Gallery of Lettepress

Conclusion

Appendices
Further Reading
Additional Resources
Letterpress Nomenclature (Glossary)
Index