Fuck Yeah, Book Arts!

gingerkins:

For all you nicotine fiends like myself…

nevver:

The Hungry Workshop

superawesomeshop:

“[We] developed a passion for vintage – especially paper ephemera, illustration, stationary, and books. We have a personal collection of vintage notebooks that we found while hunting at antique stationary stores and flea markets. Soon, our love of vintage aesthetics, paper, and the feeling of something unique grew into a passion for making. We learned about letterpress, book binding, and other traditional techniques, and now we have our own letterpress studio where we make our notebooks and posters.”

From this week’s Featured Etsy Seller interview.

(via sosuperawesome)

Handbound Letterpress Miniature Book by typesticker

My second miniature book was a poem published in 1593 “Her Face, My Heart” printed letterpress in 6 pt Garamond 459 types. Dedicated to my wife, the type was imposed in such a way that the entire book was printed on one side of the sheet, which was turned and printed again making two books per sheet. It was bound in Japanese washi and foil stamped in gold. It measures 3/16” x 13/16”.

Zync Journal. Beautiful white foil stamping and colour spine.

(Source: underconsideration.com)

nevver:

Calligraphuck

Memory and a Dream - Poem in a Bag

Poem printed using a Chandler Price press on handmade paper containing wild flowers, flax and abaca. Made in conjunction with “A Memory and a Dream” installation.

ianbrooks:

Made Up Stats Letterpress

Facts are usually true, so I never question anybody when they start referencing them. This collection of some of the most interesting facts in history come to you from the minds at Made Up Stats, which seems totally legit to me. The cards are available from Sapling Press’ etsy.

prostheticknowledge:

Intricate Japanese Movable Type Sets 

Dark Roasted Blend provides some history and great photos on the subject of early Japanese (and Asia) printing:

Craft letterpress companies are experiencing a revival in recent times, and nowhere it is more evident than in Japan. Most of you will be familiar with the ancient Chinese and Japanese art of woodblock printing, but masterpieces created with wood and metal movable type are somewhat lesser known, although they show craftsmanship and attention to detail similar to fine woodblock prints. 

The first movable type and printing presses were invented in Asia, not Europe.

…but their development stalled because of the extreme complexity and sheer number of Chinese and Korean characters (the same problem that the Asian cultures faced with the transition to typewriters and the internet). We can thank the simplicity of Western alphabets for the rapid development and adoption of the printed word in Europe, which quickly lead to the Renaissance and further advances in culture and education.

It is a widespread misconception that Johannes Gutenberg created the first movable type system and the printing press, around 1450 A.D. It’s true, Gutenberg was the first to make his movable type from a certain alloy of lead, tin, and antimony (which was more efficient than iron, used in Asia) - but movable type itself was originally invented in China around 1040 A.D. by Bi Seng (during the Song Dynasty). The new system was badly needed to replace the labor-intensive woodblock printing technique, where a single wooden block was carved to represent a single page.

More interesting information and great photos on the subject can be found at Dark Roasted Blend here

(via asoftskeleton)

marsico:

Blind Desire, bilingual artist book printed in English and Braille. Letterpress, archival pigmented prints.