The 1882 Specimens of Printing Types Made at Bruce’s New-York Type-Foundry is arguably the greatest type specimen ever published by a type foundry. Not only does the book include the complete text of The Invention of Printing by Theodore Low De Vinne (1878), but nearly all of the text entries for its over 1500 typefaces are disguised facts and a bibliography about the history of printing and its components. This short talk will summarize the origins of this amazing book and its 19 supplements from 1865 to 1894; its contents and multiple parts; and who received copies.
Paul Shaw
Presenter
Specimens of Printing Types Made at Bruce’s New-York Type-Foundry 1882
Paul Shaw
Paul Shaw / Letter Design
Paul Shaw is type designer/typographer/type historian. He has taught the History of Type at the School of Visual Arts since 2004 and for California Rare Book School since 2012. He is the author of Revival Type; co-author of Blackletter: Type and National Identity; and editor of The Eternal Letter. He has written about type for Print, Baseline and Eye magazines and was the editor of Codex for two issues. Paul’s website is a major source of information for digitized type specimens.
