The Handy Book of Artistic Printing: Collection of Letterpress Examples with Specimens of Type, Ornament, Corner Fills, Borders, Twisters, Wrinklers, and other Freaks of Fancy

I mean this is a hilarious and witty book. I sat down for the eye-candy, and next thing I knew I was telling myself "it's okay, the pictures will still be there when you're done reading this, your'e doing fine, sweetie."And keep in mind, the authors were competeing with moments where I had to feel the page because the effect was so three dimensional I was convinced it had to be embossed to look like that. Spoiler: it is not. The quality of the printing is just that good, and the printers who are deservedly given their due in this tome were also just that good.Let me give you a few examples of the writing. On page 68: "One look at this "Improved Memoranda Calendar" immediately makes one wish there was more information to be had about [the printer] Mr. West. The calendar's slightly disturbing design concept showcases West's own disembodied head with what can only be termed "ear horns", which trumpet self-promotional boilerplate." That's just great writing right there. Ten pages on here's another. "A charming study in wrongheadedness, this specimen flouts every rule of legibility and logic." The thing is, this description is so friggin true! The way the ad is arranged it accidentally reads "OUR AIM IS TO SELL NOTHING" with the rest of the sentence sort of floating around on the other side of the advert. It's so bad it's genius, and you can tell the authors of this book appreciated that.Also a shout-out to the back cover. Instead of having blurbs about the book, it has blurbs about Artistic Printing itself. "Bombastic, Distorted, and Over-Ornamental" from 1947, contrasted with "Such attractive FRESHNESS in design, such unusual adeptness in manipulation, and such exquisite taste and perfect restraint in treatment" from 1888, just to lay out the history of the changing reaction to this style of printing. This is a great tie-in to the wildly serious way in which some people lost their entire minds over, essentially, page layouts and fonts and decor. You think the nineteenth century had to calm down? Just wait til you get to the twentieth, lads.And speaking of lads, it's predictable as the sun rising in the east, no matter how male dominated a profession is (and I think this one was exclusively so), someone somewhere finds a way to blame women for everything wrong with it-- and the authors got this across, as well as the classism and racism of the era, without indulging in a bunch of modern fingerpointing and virtue signalling, so, kudos for that too.Anyway, the book is stunning, the art is great, the writing is engaging and engaged, and I beg you, make sure to check the very last page. Just do it. The entire thing is truly superb from beginning to end.

Great resource for design ideas. I particularly found this book useful in getting ideas about how type and design styles work well together. I use this for a lot of label, packaging and card design in my personal crafting activities. This book really not only celebrates and informs about an era when printers really made a real effort to marry type and design, but presents the ideas and history in a fashion that is applicable today - even if you are going for a vintage look. Also, I love the substantial feel of the paper and binding (paperback), I really appreciate when a book about type, design and printing goes the extra mile in the instantiation of the subject matter.

If the words "artistic printing" and "letterpress" set your pulse on high, buy this book. It is jam-packed with hundreds of illustrations, many of them from samplers or other marketing literature. Letterpress is the oldest form of printing, dating back to Gutenberg. This book captures the letterpress 'scene' at the height, just before other cheaper forms of printing overtook it.Although this is a collection of the finest work, the authors also include examples of typomania and other artistic mistakes.I bought this for my typomaniac granddaughter who absolutely flipped over it.

Interesting survey of ornamental and artistic printing. So much labor contained in these examples.

Just like my title says, this is a great reference book. Tons if illustration that's perfect for inspiration. Yes, I would definitely recommend this book to a friend.

If my university library is ever missing some of its Victorian-era books -- the ones with those elaborate cover designs and long-winded titles -- the prime suspect will be me. However, the danger of me actually stealing one of these objects of desire is much lessened now that I can enjoy a full tour of the whole of artistic printing in one lush volume. What a cool book, and you can tell just from the title how much fun the authors had putting this luxurious masterpiece together. The writing is packed with fun facts, scholarly history, and wry commentary, and the images are a plentiful, detailed, and take you back to a time when people just went nuts with their printing presses. Now that my first copy has been broken in, I'm hoping someone gives me another copy for my birthday (wink wink!) to keep in pristine condition. For everyone who has taken a fancy to the printing on everything from old-West wanted posters to antique packages, this book is a total treat.

This book is just heavenly...a well written historical discussion of early artistic printing in America. Should you have any appreciation for decorative type, or interest in the history of typography, or just love to look at gorgeous ornamental type and borders...this book is a must. Thank you, Mr Clouse and Ms. Voulangas. I proudly add this book to our design book collection and look forward to sharing it with others.

Finally a book about an art (yes printing can be an art) that was neglected by mainstream book publishing.This book is fun, interesting and well written. The samples shown are incredible.I suggest it to everybody: from the historian to the lover of contemporary cool type.There is always something to learn from the past and from this book there is plenty to learn.

Artisitc Prinitng describes the philosophy, mechanics, aesthetics and commercial forces that influenced the style of decorative Victorian Printing known as Artistic Printing.The book is split into roughly one third history and stylistics and two thirds examples of the best of the different styles of letterpress printing available during this time.The early chapters describe the role of printers as modern day graphic designers, who, when faced with lithography pushed the limiting technology of blocks of letters bent wires, intricate block packing and other innovative means of typesetting as far as it would go to create the most eye-catching and decorative print-work that they could in the spirit of an age that eschewed minimalism for cluttered and intricate decoration inspired by eastern influences and mechanical innovation, spurred on by professional one-upmanship and a hungry customer-base wanting more and more refined and delicate print work for all types of ephemera.The examples themselves are amazing, hundreds of different graphic flourishes, all within the discipline of the mediums constraints but as organic in it's way as vector artwork can sometimes be today. As an inspirational overview, there is enough variety and more than enough of a feel for the aesthetic, palette and conventions of Artistic printing to understand it. The historical chapters also show the decline, away from such showy conventions and how they were regarded when print-design became more spare.I, personally would liked to have seen a little more information about the mechanics of typesetting and what the plates would have looked like messily crammed with letter blocks and pieces of wood and metal to produce something so pristine and a little more about the block innovations as well as the printed results but that is probably a book on it's own.I expect to see some of the ideas from this book creeping into modern design in the next year or two.

A great glimpse in the past of advertising. Should become a series of books detailing everything in respect to artistic printing.

divertissent et amusant. une vision de la couleur et des graphismes d'impression a une époque. a lire et a relire