Tag Archives: movabletype

Printing Press Drawers as Shelves

As I said perviously, I do like the drawers for movable type, and I do have a fascination with furniture that serves no purpose today, and so it’s not surprise that I perk up when I see a movable type drawer used as shelves. I think it’s the combination of the regularity and irregularity of the cells that appeals to me. Yes it’s big, and it fills up a wall, but the individual cells are pretty shallow. Probably less than six inches, but definitely no more. I don’t know what I would actually want to show off in it. When you see pictures of these utilized, they end up being filled up with crappy trinkets, and that doesn’t really fit my personality.

Previously. Previously.

Lead Type

I’m a sucker for movable type. (The lead blocks, not the software, I have no opinion on the software.) The idea of assembling little blocks to make words and sentences makes my heart flutter. I don’t know why. I guess it’s sort of like legos. I love the large trays holding the letters, and I particularly like how the bins are different sizes depending on the character distribution of the language. As I read about how movable type was used and evolved over the years, I gained a greater appreciation of typography. Ligatures, kerning, why periods go inside quotation marks, and why it’s as irrelevant today as the creation MLA’s parenthetical citations 30 years ago.

I don’t think I would have the patience to use movable type. Laser printing is just too easy, and hot metal typesetting seems like cheating. Although in the world where movable type was common, U certainly would have used it instead of carving individual presses for every page.

via Dark Roasted Blend: Intricate Japanese Movable Type Sets