I recently acquired a copy of “Art of the Printed Book”, which was published in 1973 for $15, for $15 at The Owl Pen used book store in Bracebridge, Ontario. Score! The 125 plates are printed in superfine duotone (I can barely make out the screen through a loupe). Most of the classic typographers are represented, from Gutenburg to Rogers. I thoroughly recommend this!
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/offer-listing/0879232595/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used
Comments
I think you now understand my preference for halftone reproduction of type specimens--that is, halftones made by people who know what they're doing and printed accordingly.
The technique is actually 300-line screen tritone, by the late, great Meriden Gravure Co. The books were photographed directly from the originals using a graphic arts camera, whose frame was bolted into the bedrock below the building to avoid vibrations from passing trains. For those of you interested in the book, you should try to get one of the early printings, in which the text was printed letterpress, in English Monotype Baskerville.
The cost of the original edition was so low because of a subsidy from Morgan Library.
In fact, all digitized files produce bitmapped images when rasterized! But there is a preconception that “bitmapped” is the low-res alternative to vector files. That is what probably prejudiced you against my method.
The book I have (third printing, 1978) is “actually” printed in duotone, not tritone—at least, that’s what it says on the back cover.
The text is indeed letterpress Baskerville, but it doesn’t appear to be printed letterpress.
Talking about historical reproductions, one can imagine that the existence of very early, quite large 3D-scanners and -printers in combination with solar energy would probably have reduced the practical impact of certain scenical acts dramatically.
Nick, you should try to get a first or second printing; you'll see a big difference. As wonderful as it is, the photography looks a little soft to me, but that's a personal preference. The difference between stochastic and the bitmap method you described, is that the stochastic is non-linear and a lot more supple.
Talking about historical reproductions, one can imagine that the existence of very early, quite large 3D-scanners and -printers
in combination with solar energywould probably have reduced the practical impact of certain scenical acts dramatically.