Printers Project (1 results)

(New York), The Distaff Side, 1939. Cloth-backed boards. Approx. 200 p., generally printed on folded sheets with blank verso. With two fold-out contributions. Some in colour and most on different types of laid paper (but also one on wrapping paper). All contributions were printed by women. Issued in 195 numbered copies. 1st edition. Light edge wear. Frederic W. Goudy (pronounced 'Gaudi', 1865-1947) was a very productive type designer (133 self-designed types!), who worked mainly intuitively. Some of the typefaces still in use are Goudy, Copperplate Gothic (for business cards), Kennerley Old Style and Deepdene. The reason he received a celebratory book on his 74th birthday is that in 1939 his workshop with margin equipment and work archive was lost to a fire for the second time - the first time was in 1908. Goudy's wife, Bertha Matilda Sprinks (1869-1935) was a feminist activist and brought together a number of female printers, who united in this book to encourage her widower. With contributions from Jane Grabhorn (Jumbo Press), Helen Olson (Spiral Press), Lucina Wakefield (Marchbanks Press) and the Club of Printing Women of New York. Writings by Ruth Grannis, Christopher Morley, Robert Stuart, Daniel Berkeley Updike and of course Goudy himself.