Found Type Friday #15

Hugo sent me excerpts from Allan Hutt's Newspaper Design a couple of weeks ago, then our internet died on us and we were webless for days. Think I've already mentioned it but it went on a bit. Frankly, we were professionally crippled and personally frustrated. Life without the web is horrible.

Special thanks to Hugo who sent me lots more interesting stuff too.

They reminded me of these pamphlets* that I found in the amazing but sadly short-lived Naylor's Emporium. It was years ago and my memory of it is sketchy but what I remember is that Naylor's was a London printer with an abundance of defunct letterpress paraphenalia: wood and metal type, type specimens, sales literature and manuals etc. So they opended a shop and flogged the lot.

We bought what we could afford and sadly, before we could save our pennies for another spending frenzy, it closed, never to be heard of again. In fact, I was recounting all this in a comment on NDG a while back and I started to wonder if I'd just imagined the whole thing, likening Naylor's to some kind of graphic designer's Brigadoon. Thankfully, I have these and a pile of, to be blogged, wood type as hard evidence (exhibits A, B, C, D, E, F etc, you might say).

* You don't hear the word 'pamphlet' much nowadays do you? Leaflets, flyers, handouts but not 'pamphlets'. I like the word pamphlet, I'm going to use it more. We used to have a client who loved the fact that we used the word 'groovy' a lot. We used to like using the word 'snazzy' too. Actually, still do. There's just no substitute for 'groovy' or 'snazzy'. You can try your best, try cleverer words if you like but you won't better them.

'Brilliant', now that's a good word. I use that an awful lot on Ace Jet. It's just, well you know...

If anyone else would like to contribute to FTF you can now email me at foundtype[at]acejet170.com.

Comments

[davidthedesigner]

Richard, when it comes to letterpress paraphenalia I need to point you in the direction of http://www.harringtonandsquires.co.uk/ - who, they tell me, are still keeping the faith. There is a connection between Harrington, Squires and myself, which I'll post about one day soon.

[julie]

what about 'snappy'?
or 'keen'?

[Richard]

I like "snappy".