WHITTINGTON PRESS. ~ A Miscellany of Type.
Specimens of 21 typefaces in several sizes, each one with a brief description and with 5 pages of specimen, there is also a tipped-in specimen of Centaur type. With wood engravings and other illustrations by various artists, including Miriam Macgregor, Howard Phipps, Gwenda Morgan, Robert Gibbings, Hellmuth Weissenborn and Edward Ardizzone. Introduction by John Randle. One of 460 copies, this no. 159, of a complete edition of 530 copies. Printed on Zerkall mould-made paper. Pp. 125. Folio, bound by The Fine Bindery in original quarter brown buckram over patterned paper covered boards, gilt lettering to spine, housed in the original brown buckram-edged tan paper slipcase. A very good copy.
A superb and moumental production - the purpose of the book is to celebrate the typographical renaissance wrought by Stanley Morison and the show off the Monotype faces held at the Whittington Press - in 1986 the press had bought all the Monotype faces from OUP. The texts used to illustrate the type specimens are extracts from various books and articles published by the Whittington Press. The faces shown here are Bakerville, Bell, Bembo, Bodoni, Caslon, Centaur, Cochin, Fournier and Barbou, Garamond, Gill Sans, Goudy Modern, Lutetia, Modern, Perpetua, Plantin, Poliphilus and Blado, Romulus, Scotch Roman, Times Roman, Van Dijck and Walbaum.