The Biggest Catch of Fish Lettering

Although several nice versions of this Prichard & Knoll trade card with novelty fish lettering were produced in the later 19th century, you might say they are now endangered. These two came from the same dealer and recently sold at auction for handsome sums. They are equally nice, however the first card has much finer detail held in the rainbow trout artwork and fish lettering. It was printed by Stahl & Jaeger Artistic Lithographers in NYC. The second card has the name reversed and several alternate letters, along with some clever wave-like handlettered text with flourishes below the fish which add to its appeal. They each have an eel ampersand. 
     Directly below is another unrelated trade card from 1871 with similar novelty lettering of fish. This particular card from Fisher Ice Boxes and Refrigerators of Chicago, found here, is sporting an amphibious eel for the letter S. Although this Fisher card is nowhere near as elaborate as the two above, the artist did provide some level of detail to the three-colored fish. I guess the imaginative art of fish lettering requires a fine line and some reel angling, just like fishing.

The art of fish lettering actually goes back much further than I had ever imagined. To track its amphibious influences required some further fishing of my own. Much to my surprise, I discovered this decorated initial S from a 7th or 8th century manuscript. The scribe likely had fun creating this with the aid of a compass. 
     For a completely different take, there is this contemporary Golden Fish alphabet created with goldfish tails by Lauren Nash. 

Dutch designer Monique Goossens uses actual fish called "sprats" to create her amphibious alphabet. And a bolder version you might want to wrap in newspaper from Handmade Font. Refrigerate after serving.

  

A Torch for Printing

A young Albert Maertens of Seattle made this book on The History of Printing for Miss Levine's class assignment in 1930. I found this treasure sitting atop an assorted pile of tools and junk in a scary basement of an 1891 house in the Georgetown neighborhood. It was an estate sale which brought me there just a few days after Christmas, and it was advertised as the oldest house in Georgetown. Visiting just before closing time was a bit of a lark as I recall, but I was curious to see the oldest house there. The book was my only purchase; for $10 I think. Now I'm not a big believer in fate or destiny, but finding this little book was a great delight. I felt it belonged in my hands (for now) and I would give it safe-keeping.

So thoughtful of Albert to take note of Gothic lettering (also known as Blackletter). He reminds us "We see them on Christmas." 

As a former teacher of typography and book design, I was pleased to see that young Albert followed instructions well and included the correct sequence of pages for his frontmatter; a Title Page, followed by his endearing Dedication page and then Table of Contents. Although he wasn't the best speller, his handlettering fittingly resembles a roman text font of the day, and he did manage to capture the spirit of initial caps by applying a box around each first letter of a sentence. All four of the tipped-on watercolor (and one pen and ink) illustrations are charming, as is the crafty cover design of cut paper letters, a small book and two curious little torches. The book itself measures approximately 5.5 x 7.5 inches, has three sewn signatures and is bound with construction paper wrapped boards and endsheets. Perhaps my favorite thing about young Albert's book however is the last page entitled I am the Printing Press by Robert Daves (Davis). It is an abbreviated version of an early 1900s advertisement written by Robert Davis to promote the Hoe printing press.
     My curiousity about Albert Maertens' life led me only to some general online records. He died in Seattle in 2007 at the age of 91. This would have placed him at the age of 13 or 14 when he made this book, and it must have been very meaningful as he kept it all of those many years. On Friday I will feature another child's handmade book from this same era which is a perfect companion to this book on printing. It is on the topic of paper.

Seasonal Typographic Adornments

On the heels of yesterday's post on the book Snowflakes and the "initial snow caps", I present another popular late 19th C journal with more scenic initial caps—many of them nature-inspired and in the seasonal holiday spirit. The first weekly publication of The Girls Own Paper, ("GOP"), appeared in London in 1880. It continued publication for another 76 years, featuring essays, poetry and short stories appealing to Victorian young ladies. In the early years an annual Christmas edition of the GOP was published with stories celebrating the season. These are just a small number of the steel engraved initial caps adorning the 1894 "Robin Redbreast" Christmas edition. Just below is my very favorite cap I call the "Ice T".

::All images from the Letterology archives.

1863 Book of Snowflakes

Snowflake lettering as decorative as the ice crystals themselves.
     Snow-flakes, A Chapter From the Book of Nature was first published in Boston in 1863 by the evangelical American Tract Society. The fanciful gothic blackletter foil-stamped imprint on the cover is repeated in the title page below. The book itself does not attempt to explore any scientific research, although many fine illustrations of snowflake structures are included which were drawn with the aid of a microscope by; no lie, a Mr. James Glaisher, Esq. The tone of the entire text takes on religious overtones, with chapter titles such as "Perfection, Purity, Grace and Beauty", but the accuracy of Mr. Glaisher's illustrations reasonably illustrate the variety of ice crystal formations.
     As an aside, the first photographs of the ephemeral crystals were made in 1885 by Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley of Vermont. After making this his life's work, he later published a monograph illustrated with 2500 snow crystal photographs which became the definitive guide to their structures. He donated many of his glass plates to the Buffalo Museum of Science which can be viewed in their digital archive.        

Initial Snow Caps

Each chapter opening in Snow-flakes begins with wood engraved scenes of ice, frost and snow-festooned initial cap letters. Not likely the designs of Mr. Glaisher, but appreciated much the same. Find the entire text here.
::Thank you Present & Correct!