The Culture & Craft of Wood Type

Course Description

This course will cover the materials and manufacture of wood type, the design of wood type, including the influence of signwriting and stone lettering, and the description of identification of typefaces and designs. It will aim to contextualize wood type in the burgeoning consumer and entertainment economies of the US and UK, and will open up new perspectives on the global and local cultures of wood type, examining the international, and frequently colonial, histories of the wood used to manufacture type, and the distinctive histories of individual wood type manufacturers. Topics will include individual type designers and manufacturers; specimen books; influence and innovation; advertising and entertainment; revivals; and the global voyages of both raw materials and finished products. The course is intended for students with little or no experience in the history of typography.  

Taught in York Explore Library and Thin Ice Press: the York Centre for Print, the course will take advantage of the newly recovered DeLittle Archives and the DeLittle collection, allowing students to get hands on with a remarkable corpus of previously unstudied documentary evidence alongside material and samples from every stage of the design and manufacturing process. The course will include opportunities to get hands on in Thin Ice Press’s well-equipped printing studio, as well as to work with their extensive collection of wood type.  

Faculty

Nick Gill

Nick Gill is Master Printer at Thin Ice Press: the York Centre for Print and the owner and operator of Effra Press & Typefoundry. He has experience of a wide …

Helen Smith

Helen Smith is Professor of Literature at the University of York, UK and Director of Thin Ice Press: the York Centre for Print. She has published widely on the history …

Course History