Typophile

Metal Type - Blackletter identities

lestaret

I have just taken up letterpress printing and have bought a collection of metal founts, some of which are easily identifiable, others less so. I have two blackletter founts that have got me stumped. Images are incuded here - if anyone needs bigger, higher quality images of specific character, just ask.

If it is of any help, I have amongst the type I have just purchased, quite a few that are clearly marked from the Stephenson Blake & Co. foundry. There are no marks on the blackletter type itself, but there are one or two bits of spacing material with their mark, but I'm unsure whether the spacing was originally with the type.

Any help or advice you can give would be very useful. Many thanks in anticipation of your response.

Kind regards,

Christopher Skinner
(Norfolk, England)

Nick Curtis

The last two pictures resemble the typeface Caxton, cut by Edward Prince for R. H. Stevens and Co., Ltd. generally, but there are a lot of subtle differences.

Atwe

Hi fellow letterpress newbie,

I'd venture this is Festival Text, although the specimen I see in the 1977 SB catalogue appears to be slightly different in places, but it's difficult to tell from the metal faces alone really.

Atwe

The last to may be Saxon Black, although the 3 looks different.

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