I believe this is my first punctuation block on End Grain. This block came with the huge mixed lot of over 150 blocks which was my first wood type purchase. There are a few letters that match the ampersand, all cut side grain. I always find it a little disappointing when small blocks like these are cut side grain, they lack the firmness and polish of an end grain block. ...

Last fall, several lots of type (most of which is 5 inches or more) came up on eBay, and I quickly snatched up as much as I could. What drew me to the lots was that most of the type was derived from a modern, rounded style sans serif. This is one of my favorites style of typefaces and I had not seen much wood type in that style, particularity at this size. This style became popular in the '20s and '30s, which was well into the life of letterpress printing. Most of the movable type I have seen in this style has been metal type, and the typeface was called Airport Tourist.

The number 4 just looks so brilliant in this typeface. Vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines and it’s all punctuated with those big meaty serifs. I just want to take this block everywhere and stamp it on various items and people. This block as been cut into for storage or kerning purposes. You can still see the grain on it and i like how it’s really light and red-ish in certain ...

This set of French Antique letters has such a lovely patina. I think the traces of red are what give them such a rich color. One neat advantage to scanning small or extremely stretched letterforms like these is getting to zoom in and see the work that went into hand finishing them. It’s great to be able to compare the upper and lower case forms of a letter that’s similar in ...