Book on typographic hand-mold from Stan Nelson forthcoming

Craig Eliason

Typedrawers folks may be interested in this book that is coming:

The hand mould was arguably the most important development in the history of western printing. Without it, metal type could not have been cast in quantity, and the development of the printing industry, the printing press and printers’ ink, and later of mechanical typecasting technologies, would not have been possible. R. Stanley (‘Stan’) Nelson – Curator Emeritus of the Division of Graphic Arts at the Smithsonian – has been researching the history of the subject, and making hand moulds himself, for some fifty years. His new monograph, The Typefounder’s Hand Mould, represents the fruit of that research, both in an examination of historical moulds, their form, manufacture and use, and in a detailed description of the practical process of making a type-mould and using it to cast type. It is the first such study, and the only detailed work on the subject in the English language. Lavishly illustrated with photographs of historical and modern moulds, and with the author’s diagrams and working drawings, in colour and monochrome, the book is being published by the Legacy Press and the Norwich Printing Museum in July 2026. Large octavo. 296 pp. Cloth with a dust-jacket. ISBN 9781940965383 (USA), 9781872333793 (UK). Price $75.00 or £55.00. Purchasers in Europe may buy copies at the pre-publication price of £45 (post-free in the UK) by contacting the publisher, care of Paul W. Nash, 19 Fosseway Drive, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, GL56 0DU. Tel: 07580 663400. E-mail: paul@strawberrypress.co.uk. The pre-publication price will apply to orders received before 1 July. The book will be also be available directly from The Legacy Press and from Oak Knoll in the United States.

Launch parties are planned for the book in London and Norwich, and further details of these will follow.

From: https://metaltype.co.uk/wpress/advert/new-monograph-on-the-typefounders-hand-mould/