Typophile

looking for images of type casiting (hand?) mould, circa 1750, England

sdmac

I am working on a historical novel set in 18th century Birmingham, England, about, among other things, John Baskerville. I am looking for an illustration (or other image...photos of replicas?) or a good (i.e. detailed) written description of a type-casting mould of the kind in use at this time. Can you help? Print and typographical history are just part of the ongoing research for this project, so any other recommended resources on the subject--great books, websites, etc.--would be much appreciated. So much to learn....

sdmac

Sorry for the typo in the subject line. Can't figure out how to edit it!

jslabovitz

Stan Nelson of Atelier Press is a recognized expert on hand-moulds. He doesn't really have a website, but there are several YouTube videos of him working with moulds. Here's one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTnVAjYxfwQ

--John

Craig Eliason


Check Legros and Grant, Typographical Printing Surfaces (1916), available at Google Books.

George Thomas

Check out www.briarpress.org, a site devoted to everything letterpress. Over 72,000 members plus many links that might prove to be helpful.

David Berlow

Closer to the right century...
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Craig Eliason

Great video from the Plantin-Moretus!

Hrant H Papazian

Doesn't the Jim Rimmer video show that too? I forget.

BTW I noticed that Guy Hutsebaut (the man in the Plantin-Moretus video, whom I had the pleasure of meeting at the second Thessaloniki conference) isn't flicking the mould up as he pours the type-metal, which is supposed to reduce air bubbles in the sort (by making the metal settle faster). Maybe that's actually a bit of romanticism, or maybe you only do that if you're making thousands of sorts a day...

hhp

John Hudson

Hrant: Doesn't the Jim Rimmer video show that too?

I don't think so. Jim used an early 20th Century machine caster.

Hrant H Papazian

That is what he used in his usual production, but since he dabbled in many related type-founding techniques (like he helped me cut a punch* even though he almost never did that himself) I was thinking he might have shown some oldschool mould action as well. Hmmm, great excuse to watch the DVD again...

* http://www.flickr.com/photos/48413419@N00/4098975081

hhp

sdmac

Thank you so much! This really helps. I had imagined the mould as metal with wood on the outside (something I read somewhere along the line suggested this to me...the wood being for insulation?) but these sources seems to suggest it was only metal. Deeply appreciate the help. S

Craig Eliason

? All of these examples have wood on the outside.

sdmac

In the images posted by bbg there doesn't appear to be any metal on the mould; I took the darker parts with strike marks for metal--wrongly? And I thought your FIG 215 was all metal but I guess the lines are meant to suggest wood grain? The others have wood but appear newer.

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