24 Hot-metal type The EconomistDecember 21st 2019
2 Even in China, where letterpress poses the same challenges as in
Japan, there are signs of a revival among graphic designers.
In America Martha Stewart, a homemaking guru, must take
some credit for the boom: she popularised letterpress wedding in-
vitations. At the other end of the scale, in terms of cost and com-
plexity, sit Mr Maret and his fellow book artists. They create beau-
tiful volumes in tiny runs, often writing the text, drawing the
illustrations, designing the fonts and printing the books. These
works belong to a different discipline from books which showcaseartmade insomeothermedium.ForMrMaretandothergreat
book-artists,suchasVeronikaSchäpersandDidierMutel,thebook
isitsownmedium,a uniquelysatisfyingcombinationoftheintel-
lectual,visualandtactile.
Beyonditscreators,dealersandcollectors,bookartisknownto
few,becauseitcannotsatisfactorilybeexhibited.Leavinga book
openata singlepageina gallerywouldnotallowvisitorstoappre-
ciateit;lettingvisitorsleafthroughitwouldruinit.Butalthough
theworldofbookartissmall,it isflourishing.
In 2005 PeterKoch,a bookartist,andSusanFilter,a papercon-
servator,decidedthattherewasanappetitefora fine-printing
showonAmerica’swestcoast.In 2019 Codex,theirbiennialfair,
had 240 exhibitors.In2015,$1.4m-worthofworkwassoldatthe
fair;in2017,thatroseto$2.3m.Booksonshow,saysMsFilter,sell
foranythingfrom$10to$50,000.
Thisisnotthefirsttimethatoldprintingtechniqueshavebeen
reborn.Inthelate19thcenturyWilliamMorris,a reactionaryso-
cialistaghastattheeffectsoftheIndustrialRevolution,founded
theKelmscottPresstorevivetheskillofhand-printing,spawning
a movementthatthrivedintheearly20thcentury.Today’srevival
isnotdissimilar.“Digitalprintingistooeasy,”saysMrsShaw.“Thecomputer does it all for you.” In Tokyo Mr
Takaoka echoes her feelings: “There’s
something special about things that are in-
convenient.” Perhaps the skill and effort
that goes into letterpress printing answer a
human need. The view of work in neoclas-
sical economics as something that people
will do only in exchange for money was al-
ways crude: skilled labour demands effort
but also brings joy.
The connection with history is also im-
portant. “I realised that ever since we were
children, we’ve been told printing is one of
our four great inventions,” says Wei Di-
ming, who has opened a letterpress shop in
the Chinese city of Xian. “But no one has
really seen what letterpress printing is like
and how to use it. So I spent over two years
to revive it so that people would be able to
experience this cultural tradition.” Mr Ma-
tar, in Jeddah, is similarly moved: “Type
represents a revolution in the human
mind: as an artist, when I touch the letters,
it’s a very big thing.”
Touch is something workers in a digital
age often need more of; staring at a screen
all day leaves many with a sense that some-
thing is not quite right. “Humans are hap-
tic animals,” says Ms Filter. “People want to
pick up a stone and make a tool of it.”
Consumers like the feel of things, too. In the age of
the digital download growth in the sales of vinyl re-
cords, which can be held and treasured, is accelerating.
Their devotees find that vinyl gives a different quality
to the sound; similarly, with printing, people like the
fact that letterpressed paper has a distinctive feel.
This causes wry amusement to some printers. In
the past the embossing of a letter was regarded as a sign
of bad workmanship. “What printers were after”, says
BobRichardson,a formerbbcgraphicdesignerwho
worksattheTypeArchive,“wasa ‘kissimpression’,
wherethetypetouchesthepaperlightlyenoughjustto
inkit.Ifyouembossedonesideofthepaper,it madeit
difficulttoprintontheotherside.”MrTakaokaisout-
ragedbythefadforclumsyletterpressproducts.“The
over-pressingand over-inking...it’s aninsultto us
craftsmen.For 500 years,peoplehaveworkedhardto
maintaintheartofletterpressprinting.Tobehonest,I
justwantthis‘resurgence’or‘boom’togoaway.”
Ifitfailsto,thatwillbeinpartbecauseofpeople
likeMarkStorey.Heexpresseshisloveforbeautifully
printed booksnotby making them but by buying
them—anactivityforwhichhisjobaschairmanofa
private-equitycompanyequipshimcomfortably.Ina
cavernousroom,MrStoreyhasanastonishinglibrary
oftheancientandthemodernthatincludesseveral
DovesPressvolumes,numbersofwhichwerelimited
bythedecisionofoneofthefounderstothrowtheen-
tirestockoftypeintotheThamestoensurethatit was
neverusedina mechanicalpress;a 1935LecternBible
intheCentaurfontdesignedbyBruceRogersforusein
churches;anda numberofMrMaret’sbooks.
MrStoreyhandleshisbookswithgreatdelicacy;
partoftheirappealistactile.Buthisenthusiasmfor
hand-printedbooksisalsoelegiac.“There’sa senseof
thingsnotquitelost,hangingononlybecausepeople“There is something special about
things that are inconvenient”1