Two Announcements of Interest to WAGPCS Members--Nov. 14th Kluge Talk & Letterform Archive
November 05, 2013
Theatrical Bank Notes: Satire and the Politics of Paper Money in Britain, 1780-1870 with Amanda Lahikainen, Kluge Fellow at The John W. Kluge Center Thursday, November 14 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. in the Woodrow Wilson Room (LJ-113)
LETTERFORM ARCHIVE ANNOUNCES FIRST LIMITED-EDITION PUBLICATION: 2014 CALENDAR
October 28, 2013 SAN FRANCISCO — Letterform Archive has launched a crowd-funding campaign to publish its 2014 Letterforms and Birthdays wall calendar. The campaign is hosted by Kickstarter and can be visited at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1444321873/letterforms-and-birthdays-2014-wall-calendar.
The calendar measures 123⁄4 x 13”, and is printed in five colors on 80 lb. Sappi Flo Dull cover stock and wire bound. Each month features a large, high-fidelity, full-color image of a page or spread from a rare masterwork of lettering. Featured artists include A.M. Cassandre, Edward Johnston, Francisco Javier de Santiago y Palomares, Piet Zwart, Ben Shahn, Ladislav Sutnar, William Addison Dwiggins, and Filippo Marinetti. A gallery of all featured images may be accessed at http://letterformarchive.org/calendar-2014/.
The calendar also publishes the first ever list of birthdays of important practitioners, for a total of 240 scribes, type designers, typographers, printers, writing-masters, and lettering artists.
Certain pledge levels include a set of twelve postcards featuring the same twelve masterworks as the calendar. Additionally, every backer, regardless of support level, will receive a download link for 12 monthly wallpapers (computer desktop images) featuring the same masterworks.
The “Early Bird” purchase price of $20 is limited to the first 500 backers. Meanwhile, the two highest pledge levels entitle backers to a small-group lunch or dinner at Letterform Archive, and a viewing of the collection, in addition to the package of calendar, postcards, and wallpapers.
The Kickstarter funding campaign ends November 19, after which production will begin. Calendars will be mailed out in early December, in time for the New Year.
Commenting on the project, calendar designer, birthday list compiler, and Archive Curator Rob Saunders said, “Our aim for the calendar was that it should show off the strengths and scope of the collection. The result, we think, is a grab-bag showcase of lesser-known works by well-known lettering artists. No two months’ images look the same. We are grateful for the support and encouragement we have already received from the lettering community through various online channels, because we hope this will be the first of many projects which will help bring our digital content to the printed page.”
Letterform Archive is a digital and physical archive of material related to lettering, typography, and design. The collection now includes over 7,000 books, 5,000 pieces of ephemera, and 1,500 volumes of periodicals, in addition to manuscripts, proofs, posters, and pamphlets. The digital Archive is housed at http://www.letterformarchive.org, wherein emphasis is placed on capturing the tactile aesthetics of photographed objects, not only digitizing what’s on the surface. Curator Rob Saunders has been a calligrapher, graphic designer, publisher, and educator, as well as an avid collector.