bookish lady

When I started working at Pyramid I decided that one of the first things I wanted to do was make a type catalog showing examples of all the typefaces there.  But with 88+ cases of type, that job was wayyyyyy easier said than done.  (I just learned from this New Yorker article that your average four-page newspaper took 16 hours to typeset in the early 18th century…and typesetting is just as slow today.)  It was clear that any catalog I made would have to be pretty damn exciting in order to hold my interest through all that assembly time.

My idea was to make a book of love letters, each one set in a different typeface.  Steve Cole, my friend and the Pyramid volunteer responsible for the “What Type Are You?” poster I’ve been selling at some shows, started working with me and about 4 months later, we’re almost finished!

(I) Love Letters features 15 letters (from the likes of James Joyce, Albert Einstein, Edith Wharton, Lewis Carroll, Lucrezia Borgia, Allen Ginsburg, George Bernard Shaw, and more)–chosen for their wit and originality–and about 20 typefaces.  Each letter was set by hand and letterpress printed at Pyramid Atlantic.  Then we bound them into a limited-edition 24-page pamphlet.  It’s available at a special pre-sale price for only a week!  The book ships February 3 and I think it’d make a gorgeous Valentine for a typography lover, a book art collector, or just a romantic!

Here are some pictures from along the way: