Here is another letter from the modern poster type lot. The biggest oddity with this block is the trenches left by whatever tool was used to carve it. This seemed to me to be too gruesome to be the work of a pantograph, but after a conversation with Nick Sherman he has convinced me that it could have been created by pantograph, just a little sloppily (Here is a great video of a pantograph in action). He hypothesizes that the final pass could have been set up a little deeper than necessary, which caused the trench, and the circular shapes on the top and bottom of the arm of the E came when the pantograph stylus was changing direction, “floating” before finding the edge of the template again. The previous passes with the pantograph might have been shallower because the bit was a different length. The first passes might have been done with a larger bit, to make the job go faster, and because the area wasn’t going to be printed. The router could have then been substituted for a smaller, more precise bit, which might have been less worn and thus a tiny bit longer, cutting the trenches into the slug.

This block has a lot of small remnant of various colors. I particularly enjoy the flecks of red on the face of the letter. The style is the most condensed variant of the Modern Sans serif style I have. I am working ona big article showing the different weights and widths of this typeface that I have. There is a bit of damage on the bottom of the letter, I haven’t gotten to pull a print to see how it transfers.

Style: Airport Tourist/Futura Display
Style first appeared: 1832
Size: 48 line
Manufacturer: Unknown
Manufacturing Method: Unknown
Is it part of a complete set? No