Studies in Type Design: Alphabets with Random Quotations by Ruzicka, Rudolf - 1968

Hanover, NH: Friends of the Dartmouth Library, 1968. Loose Broadsides. First edition. LACKING the portfolio and slipcase but complete and all plates are Fine otherwise; the introduction has light scuffs marks; suitable for framing. Ten large loose color plates, each with the English alphabet in a different font and with quotes from famous literary figures set in that font. Each plate is housed in a captioned folder. Quotes are by Robert Frost, Paul Valery, Melville, Coleridge, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Walt Whitman, Sir Thomas Browne, Thoreau, and "An inscription found in a guestbook of an inn in Chamonix, France." The plates are preceded by 4 pages with a title and copyright page, a brief introduction, and table of contents. The typefaces and design were by Rudolph Ruzicka (1883-1978), "a Czech-born American wood engraver, etcher, illustrator, typeface designer, and book designer. Ruzicka designed typefaces and wood engraving illustrations for Daniel Berkeley Updike's Merrymount Press, and was a designer for, and consultant to, the Mergenthaler Linotype Company for fifty years." Plate size: 11 x 13.75 inches. Our copy came from the estate of a former employee of the printer, Meriden Gravure, and were presumably brought home as a sample before they were delivered to the binder. Will be sandwiched securely between stiff layers of cardboard and shipped the next business day.