Monthly Archives: June 2020

Lost words of letterpress

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A2 Letterpress printed poster of printing terms
Lost words of Fleet Street, Mick Clayton and Catherine Dixon, Printed at St Bride, 2019

For those of you who have been introduced to letterpress, you will be aware of the many confusing terms we use in the workshop. I’m sure you’ve already forgotten what a Quoin is. Well, let me confuse you further.

I am fortunate enough to work alongside others at St Bride Foundation who worked in letterpress when it was a larger part of the printing industry. One of the things I love about my role at St Bride is the wealth of letterpress history that I am taught through my colleagues. They’re constantly reminiscing about the good old days, in specific, the ‘words’ they used to use whilst on the job as seen below:

A.B.P. — anything but print (a lazy person)

Bang Out — celebration of retirement or conclusion of apprenticeship

K.D. — A private job (keep dark)

Knowing Your Boxes — Being aware of what you are doing or talking about

N.F. — a companion who hears or observes something intended for them and ignores it (no fly)

On the Coach — Not speaking to someone

Out of Sorts — running out of the type you need

Pieing Your Case — accidentally mixing the type so that they have to be sorted out

Putting up the Half-Double — ending a conversation on a particular subject

Quire — twenty-five copies / sheets of the same paper

Space Up — an argument

Stop Press — a small stereo added to a blank column, for breaking news while printing

Wrong Fount — a suspicious character

If you are interested in printing history, LCC archive have a fantastic collection linking back to its time at St Bride Foundation. St Bride Library holds one of the world’s most significant collections of books about printing. As well as many physical objects available for viewing, but not until the pandemic restrictions allow. Until then, please stay tuned for the next letterpress post and stay safe and well.

In the mean time, why not watch this short film Banging Out — Fleet Street Remembered a documentary film based on oral history interviews with former printers and journalists.

References:

Mick Clayton and Catherine Dixon, Lost Words of Fleet Street, A2 Letterpress Poster part of the Collections and Collaborations event held on 14 May 2019 as a visual celebration of the St Bride Library. Available at St Bride.

Rowles, G., 1949. The ‘Line’ Is On. London: London Society of Compositors, pp.101-103.

Featured Graduate: Shihui Yang with a step-by-step guide on how to make your own Long Stitch Binding

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  • Bee’s Knee Press in Singapore
  • Shihui Yang running a Book Arts Workshop
  • Based Book Arts Workshop at Bee’s Knee Press

Shihui Yang is a book artist based in Singapore. She started her book arts journey 8 years ago when she came to London to undertake her Bachelor’s degree in Book Arts and Design at London College of Communication. Whilst in the UK, she has worked with global publishing house, Dorling Kindersley, which saw her creating professional book mock-ups for presentation at international book fairs. She also did work experience at the London Centre for Book Arts where she learned how to run a workshop and deepened her book making skills. Upon graduation, she continued to explore the different formats and structure of the book as she worked as a junior art director at an advertising firm.

Longing to take her passion full time, she started Based Book Arts Workshop – an independent creative workshop dedicated to educating book making and book arts. She has since been conducting bookbinding workshops and creating works at a quaint printmaking workshop – The Bee’s Knees Press. 

Since we are all spending more time at home nowadays, she has turned her Long Stitch bookbinding workshop into an online tutorial for you to download and to make your own long stitch binding without using any glue.

Image is showing a Long Stitch Binding and all materials required for making it: awl, bone folder, needle, thread, cutting knife, pencil, ruler cutting mat, eraser, scissors
Long Stitch Binding and Tools

Download tutorial here:

Long Stitch TutorialDownload

Before starting you might want to make yourself familiar with the terminologies of a book, which are used in this tutorial as well as create your own punching cradle by following the step-by-step guide here.

Image is showing all materials required for a Long Stitch Binding: cover paper, text paper, waste paper, awl, bone folder, needle, thread, cutting knife, pencil, ruler cutting mat, eraser
Materials for a Long Stitch Binding

Print Curiosities – No. 1: Paul Peter Piech

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By Richard Roberts

Over the coming weeks I’ll be picking out and writing about a variety of print curiosities from my own collection. This post will focus on a Linocut print by Paul Peter Piech, (pronounced Peach), ‘When I Give Food To The Poor They Call Me A Saint, When I Ask Why The Poor Have No Food, They Call Me A Communist’. The Dom Hélder Câmara referred to in the print was a Brazilian Catholic Archbishop who was critical of the military regime of the time.

A framed Linocut print by Paul Peter Piech 1987
Signed Linocut Print – Paul Peter Piech – 1987

Piech (1920-1996) was a prolific printmaker and self-publisher who started out as a graphic designer. He founded his own imprint, Taurus Press, whose purpose, in his own words, was “to stimulate interest in and concern for humanity as a whole. I want to publish only work which I feel does this.” (V&A Archive)

Interestingly, he has a connection to LCC, teaching at the original London College of Printing for a time. In 2013 Four Corners Books, in association with the V&A, published The Graphic World of Paul Peter Piech which reproduced over 120 prints drawn from the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the University of Reading. This book and other Taurus Press publications are held in the LCC Library.

The book cover of The Graphic World of Paul Peter Piech by Four Corners Books.
Four Corners Books – V&A Publishing

In 2016, The People’s History Museum in Manchester staged an exhibition entitled: Dedicated to all Defenders of Human Freedoms: The Art of Paul Peter Piech. A lot of his posters really resonate in these turbulent times so if you haven’t already, go and check him out. Even better, if you feel inspired, how about picking up a V gauge yourself and giving Lino-cutting a go. Go on, you know you want to! On that cheesy note I’ll sign off. Bye for now.

The Architecture of a Book

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“The book is an intimate communicator, revealing its secrets to those willing to move its pages and interpret its signs”
Anne-Catherine fallen, “In Context – Contemporary Artists’ Books and their Antecedents

The image is showing icons of a book, explaining its architecture
Terminologies of a book

book — A portable container consisting of a series of printed and bound pages that preserves, announces, expounds, and transmits knowledge to a literate readership across time and space.

codex — The physical form of Western books, i.e., printed leaves open at the right and bound together at the back edge.

cover — Thick paper or board that attaches to and protects the book block.

dust jacket — A protective paper sleeve around the cover of a book.

endpaper — The leaves of paper that are glued to the front- and backboards of a hardback book to strengthen the joint between the boards and the book block. They are often decorative.

french fold — A method of binding whereby a sheet of paper is folded in half and the open ends are bound into the spine so that the fold forms the fore-edge of the book.

fore edge — The outer vertical, trimmed edge of a book, opposite the spine.

head — The top of the book

hinge — A fold in the endpaper between the pastedown and the flyleaf

recto/verso — The two sides of a leaf in a codex. Recto is the right-hand, verso is the back of that same leaf, not the page facing to recto.

spine — Section of book cover that covers the bound edge. 

tail — The bottom of the book

For more details on book terminologies and book structures you can order a free copy of: Size|Format|Stock by emailing Justin@fennerpaper.co.uk. It is a booklet that was written by Justin Hobson from Fenner Papers in collaboration with Zoë Bather at Studio8. A great reference book for graphic designers and book makers.

Reference on the above terminology and further reading can be found here:
Fawcett-Tang, R. New Book Design. London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd, 2004
Haslam, A. Book Design. London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd, 2006
Smith, K. A. Structure of the Visual Book. New York: Keith Smith BOOKS, 2002
Stanley, R. Book Design, Systematic Aspects. New York & London: R. R. Bowker Company, 1979

Watch the Anatomy of a Book a short film by the New Yorker in which, antiquarian booksellers reel off the special language they use to catalogue a book’s condition and describe the methods for fixing its faults:

https://www.newyorker.com/video/watch/the-oddest-terms-used-for-antique-books-explained

Featured Graduate: Marion Bisserier

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Spread of Good Girl type specimen
Offset type specimen showcasing the three styles of Good Girl.

Marion graduated from BA (Hons) Graphic and Media Design (GMD) in 2019. She has a passion for type and its potential to visually convey meaning beyond the language it primarily serves. She also enjoys critical writing on typography and graphic design.

1. Tell us about yourself. Have you always been interested in art and design?

I’m a French designer who grew up in Amsterdam before I was lucky enough to move to London to pursue my design education. As a kid I was drawing loads in my free time and would get really excited whenever there was a chance to express my creativity at school.

 2.  You worked across multiple print techniques when you were at LCC. How did this influence your practice?

Being introduced to different printing techniques during my time at LCC had several significant impacts on my work. 

One of them being the ability to understand the production side of design. It’s one thing to imagine a design, but it’s whole other skill to make it come to life and stand on its own two feet. Spending time in the different printmaking facilities at LCC has allowed me to understand what each process requires and why they are worth the time and effort. Even if as a graphic designer I’m not really printing things myself now, being aware of how printers work in their respective fields and knowing what is possible but also what is not possible inevitably influences my ideas as a designer.

Another one is more directly related to letterpress, where I developed my understanding and love of typography. Even if InDesign is a great tool, when you open a document it has all of these default features of leading and tracking that you’re kind of tempted to just trust, especially as a student. When working with letterpress, there is no ‘default’ composition – you have to physically make all these decisions yourself and develop your own eye. You discover that not all typefaces are designed to look great at 10pt on 12pt leading with zero kerning. When you are designing a graphic outcome, say a book or a website, having this awareness of how much control you actually have with type alone unlocks so many ideas.

Close-up of a screen printed poster in yellow, black and silver
Detail of screen print promoting events around the image of music at the V&A.

3.  How do you stay up to date and connected in the design world?

I like to go to talks and events, especially the ones where people are relaxed about sharing work in progress or are seeking feedback from the audience like Type Thursday for instance. I find this sort of format very beneficial in the sense that it encourages conversation and makes networking much more organic.

I have also learned that connecting to the design world doesn’t necessarily mean just following famous designers on Instagram and attending their talks, but also nurturing my community of friends who just like me are still figuring their creative career out. In my group of friends from LCC, we’re all exploring a different direction in design and when we meet up, we often talk about things that didn’t go as we’d expected them to. Having that safe space to share your learning experiences with others and to feel supported when things don’t go right is super important.

4.  What does your current work setup look like?

Right now I am self-isolating in France with my family so my current set-up is essentially a desk in the living room with my sketchbook, my pencils and my laptop. Back in London, I have put up prints of people I know or whose work I love which makes me happy and some design books whenever I am tired of the screen. I also have this huge collection of paper scraps I’ve been collecting that I have yet to do something with!

Close up of letterpress printed Good Girl type specimen, black on pink paper
Detail of limited edition letterpress specimen of Good Girl.

 5. Looking back on your time at LCC, what advice would give to yourself, if you could travel back in time?

Don’t overestimate the limited and precious time you have in these amazing facilities with the technicians. If you want to make something, just listen to yourself and go for it rather than trying to fit into what you perceive the industry expects of you. The right job will come sooner if you are honest with yourself.

6.  Where can we see more of your work?  

You can check out my website (which I’m always tweaking) at www.marionbisserier.com or my Instagram at @marionbisserier. 

I’ve recently been interviewed on It’s Nice That, AIGA and Domestika.

https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/typographys-retort-to-manpreading/