I was at Graceland Cemetery last week to visit the grave of my friend Bob Williams, who died last year. His marker is a reproduction of his bookplate, which was designed by Thomas Ingmire. Right around the corner from Bob is the grave of László Moholy-Nagy! I think that would please him…

I was very happy to stumble upon this grave at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago! It’s not often one sees a log font on a grave.

Just going to say that in 2019 I had an aortic dissection. My only symptom was really weird jaw pain in the middle of the night that prompted me to go to the hospital.

There’s something quite mesmerizing about this.

New signs are up on my train platform! My cats are excited to listen to the concert while I am at work.

My two handsome guys.

Springtide Press always sends the loveliest ephemera!

My boyfriend went to the Museum of the American Revolution and all he sent me was this photo that does not center Lafayette’s writing box.

!!!

For #NationalHandwritingDay -18th c writing master Ralph Snow’s letter to his future wife, written in gold ink. Classy! #NewberryLibrary

The anniversary of Paine’s Common Sense prompted me to look through the copies we have at home. My favorite is this 1819 edition with a note that it was purchased in an ale house. It doesn’t get more radical than 1819 + ale house!

The Jammes item I probably show most often is the (20th c) prints from the original 17th c Grandjean Romain du Roi plates. Such a treat, always. Love. 💗 #NewberryLibrary

Another item I acquired more recently from Jammes is this suite of model letters from L. Labbé, c. 1900, including these fun Lettres Tordues. #NewberryLibrary

One of my fave #NewberryLibrary acquisitions from Jammes is a collection from L’Imprimerie Polytype, the 37th of 36(!) presses in Paris -allowed only because of its use of a new polytype method of printing-incl. the 1786-7 day-book which somehow survived the dramatic shutdown of the press in 1787.

André Jammes was immensely important in the building of the Wing collection at the #NewberryLibrary….

Does anyone know the origin of Isaiah Thomas’s Long Primer no. IV? I don’t find it in any Caslon specimens that I have to hand.

My Trader Joe’s shopping list for later today;-) From the hugely enjoyable Typographic Advertiser (London, 1863), a type specimen masquerading as a magazine. #NewberryLibrary

If the State Dept doesn’t want to use Calibri or Times New Roman, they could always opt for Satanick, an 1890s knockoff of William Morris’s Troy by ATF

This feels very @starshapedpress.bsky.social !

Just going to leave this here. What think ye of the Congress Now? (James Rivington, 1775)

Jamie has a lot of questions about Thomas McKean. Yes, I know that the Declaration is crooked.

Happy Halloween! Woodcut by Bob Borja. #NewberryLibrary

Serious question: What happened to all those giant copies of the Constitution that I saw being carried in the protests on Saturday? Where do they live? Asking for a friend who collects Constitutions.

There is only one king in my life.

Our new exhibition is now open!

I have never taken a photo that better captures the personality of this cat.

Every year for my birthday my boyfriend gives me a copy of Samuel Johnson’s Rasselas. This year’s gift is a French-English facing page translation (Paris, 1840) that ended up in gold rush era San Francisco!

I don’t have the heart to tell this cat that I am going away this weekend and taking my shoes with me.

I love every single thing about this typeface: the stress on the “o”; the uncial “h”; the weird serifs on the “u”. Found in Cicero. Orationes (Venice, Adam de Ambergau, 1472). #NewberryLibrary

Lady cat with peach.

Ok, this is a weird mashup of the Declaration and the Constitution. On Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s back. On the cover of Rolling Stone. That someone in my house bought.

My friend Bob Williams died at the end of June and I haven’t been able to bring myself to post about him. He used to make people beautiful little cards for birthdays. Here are two that he made for me….

So the first image of continental unity in 1774 is an emblem of 12 hands touching…a phallus???? So many John Hancock jokes here.

Rare occasion when my interests in lowercase “g” and Chablis intersect. What’s going on with that …ascending ear?

Very fun and very non-Jenson lowercase “g”. Cicero, De oficiis (Venice, c1472). Printer of Ausonius. Bonus = Jenson-style lowercase “h” with straight arm instead of uncial in the margin to the left. Also, slightly left-leaning lowercase “s”? #NewberryLibrary

Every day my boyfriend takes a photo of my cats waiting for me. Here’s today’s photo.

I took this photo for the typeface (Flame?) and only later realized that it is advertising something called an Ice Burger. J’en ai peur.

He’s ready for his Monster Munch.

Messages from my cat sitter: ”someone had diarrhea in the kitchen. Have a great weekend!”

Who wouldn’t want to do this??!!!

This French cat wants you to know that he did not sign a model release.

I feel like this is giving RFK energy. From The History of the Holy Jesus (Boston, 1774). #NewberryLibrary

A lot of our old book dealer catalogues are marked up with great notes from book selectors: this one from Librairie Jammes (1954) has a note from Hans Baron that says it may be “the most important catalogue we’ve ever received “(!) HB always made the best notes. #NewberryLibrary

I’m going to France in 2 weeks, but I already miss my cats.

I showed my boyfriend this video about my recent exhibition on immigrant printing in Chicago and his only comment was: “Are you also playing the piano?” Now all I hear is the piano.

Happy Birthday, Shakespeare! When I was preparing for my 2016 Shax exhibition, I bought a ton of stuff on eBay, including what might be the most boring board game of all time. I love the dog on the box.#NewberryLibrary

I also love this advertisement for Julia’s diary from the Chicago Tribune, also 1933, right above an ad for SANE SEX LIFE (NY: Eugenics Pub Co)

I had a question today about the diary of Julia Newberry, written in the 1870s, but not published until 1933. I ran across all kinds of weird articles about it, including this from the #NYT: “OUR BRAIN POWER HAS DETERIORATED.” #NewberryLibrary

New favorite thing=1 of our copies of Scalzini’s Il Secretario (Venice, 1587). The tp bears an ownership mark of Girolamo Mannucci of Abrezzo. It may be his hand found interlined throughout the book. For example, the 1st & 3rd lines on this page are ms; the 2nd line is engraved. #NewberryLibrary 1/4

A random reminder that if you type “Claude Garamond” into the Google search box, the results page comes up in Garamond. Alas, this does not work for Robert Granjon.