Purchasing old type-specimens
Kasper Pyndt
Posts: 34
Hey!
I'm looking to start a collection of old type specimens (basically anything before 1980), and I'm wondering if you have any insights as to where to purchase some? I've been looking a bit on Amazon, but haven't been able to find much. Maybe I'm not using the right key words? Or maybe you know of specific sites/sellers or other tips that you can share?
Thanks a lot,
Kasper
I'm looking to start a collection of old type specimens (basically anything before 1980), and I'm wondering if you have any insights as to where to purchase some? I've been looking a bit on Amazon, but haven't been able to find much. Maybe I'm not using the right key words? Or maybe you know of specific sites/sellers or other tips that you can share?
Thanks a lot,
Kasper
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Just realised I posted this in the wrong category. If a moderator sees this, feel free to move it to the correct category.0
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eBay for auctions, abe.com which is an online marketplace for used book sellers. Also, Oak Knoll Books at oakknoll.com.
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Specifically on eBay—Business and Industrial/Printing & Graphic Arts/Printing & Graphics Essentials—has both wood and foundry type for sale or auction.
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How old is old?
Only original printed books or scanned ones?
ZVAB has many used books related to typography:
https://www.zvab.com/buch-suchen/titel/d-stempel-ag/
Complete set of types or only a line like Hamburgis?
I have 220 of free available scanned books, catalogues and even the scanned file cards of the German registry of type faces 1910-1960 (Association of German Typefoundries = Verein der Schriftgiessereien). http://www.klingspor-museum.de/Verein-der-Schriftgiessereien-VdS.html See other links here: http://www.klingspor-museum.de/index.html
Also a collection of ~3000 free available historic fonts, where I can print specimens myself.
Some are hard to get like the complete specimens of Bodoni, Manuale Tipografico. [Parma 1818]
There are modern reprints of it, you can maybe get as used book:
Handbuch der Typographie, manuale tipografico. Hrsg. von Stephan Füssel. Köln 2011. ISBN 978-3-8365-0552-9
There are still producers of metal typefaces like https://www.rainer-gerstenberg.de/bleischriften/ with downloadable specimens. Click on "Schriftprobe".
Some of the scanned ones available on archive.org. Links maybe don't work, but you can use part of the title as search term:American Type Founders, 1896American Type Founders, 1897American Type Founders, 1900American Type Founders, 1903http://openlibrary.org/works/OL6818264W/ Specimens_of_borders_and_ornaments_cuts_and_brass_rules_and_illustrated_catalogue_and_price_list_of_printing_material_and_printers%27_suppliesAmerican Type Founders, 1912Barnhart Brothers & Spindler, 1907Bauersche Gießerei, ca. 1915http://openlibrary.org/books/OL24981137M/ Hauptprobe_in_gedr%C3%A4ngter_Form_der_Bauerschen_Giesserei_Frankfurt_am_Main_Filialen_in_Barcelona_und_Madrid_A._Numrich_Co._in_LeipzigBinny & Ronaldson, 1812Boston Type Foundry, 1860William Caslon, 1785Cincinnati Type Foundry, 1882Cleveland Type Foundry, 1895http://openlibrary.org/books/OL7191181M/ Catalogue_and_book_of_specimens_of_type_faces_and_printing_material_and_machinery.Franklin Type Foundry, 1889Inland Type Foundry, 1897Keystone Type Foundry, 1906Lanston Monotype, 1922MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan, 1891Miller & Richard, 1921Montreal Type Foundry, 1850Palmer & Rey, 1884Toronto Type Foundry, 1899
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I bought a page from the 1400s set in original Jenson on eBay for $70 maybe 5-10 years ago. Not originally printed as a type specimen per se, but lovely to have for a typophile nonetheless.3
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Thanks Helmut. Great list!0 -
John Nolan said:
Thanks Helmut. Great list!
My interest is very special: Collect shapes of typefaces for identification of the typeface (OFR - Optical Font Recognition) and improvement of OCR.
But searching sources for other interests would be similar and depends mainly on keywords for query terms.
Keywords:
- type (DE: Typen, Figuren, Lettern)
- specimen (FR: specimen, DE: Probe(n), Gesamtprobe, Hauptprobe, Arbeitsprobe, Schriftmuster)
- catalogue (DE: Katalog, Verzeichnis)
E. g. "Schriftmuster" finds 400+ entries of offered used books at ZVAB https://www.zvab.com/servlet/SearchResults?cm_sp=SearchF-_-topnav-_-Results&kn=schriftmuster&sts=t, but most shops do not ship outside Germany. Maybe there are similar platforms in your region, or try Amazon, eBay.
Or you search for names of designs/fonts, designers, type foundries, history of typography/printing etc.
Look into references and links in Wikipedia articles. Sometimes it helps knowing the title, name, author etc. as base for extended search. Some original specimen are hard to find.
E. g. I searched hard to find an original of the very popular Breitkopf-Fraktur (1750), with many recuts after 1850, recuts for Linotype and Monotype, 12+ digital fonts. Per occasion I found a high quality book by Elsevier, 1919, where they restaurated old typeforms of German typefaces, 15th to 19th century, and bingo, one Tertia (16 P) Schwabacher by Breitkopf jun., Kleincicero (12 P, swashed h) Fraktur Breitkopf 1763, and Kleinmittel (14 P, unswashed h) Fraktur Breitkopf 1763.0 -
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This is great! Thanks y'all for your contributions!0
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If you ever visit the Letterform Archive in San Francisco, enquire whether they have any specimens for sale. They often have duplicates of specimens in their collection, which they sell to raise funds.0
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