Do you have any Collier in your shop? Have you ever even heard of this rare face? Little is known about it, except that it apparently was associated with Collier’s magazine (1888-1957). Somewhat reminiscent of Globe Gothic, it’s distinguished by the inverted-triangle tittles on lowercase I and J, which mirror the (non-inverted) punctuation. Not to mention the lowercase G that only a mother could love, bless its little heart. McGrew attributes the design to New York artist Samuel Winfield (Tommy) Thompson. Date is unknown but a good guess is the 1920s or 30s. No figures were cut, nor did Tommy regard the colon and semicolon as worthy of inclusion. For your printing and collecting pleasure we present Collier in 36 point—the largest of three sizes for which we hold matrices, very likely the only ones in existence.
Also new for February is Border No. 1329 in 18 point. This is a classic and versatile laurel-wreath design that we also offer in a smaller size.
Recast and back in stock: Borders No. F-524 and G-73, the Massey Two-Color Ornamental Initials (seventh casting, possibly our most popular item), and Collection No. 49, linecast Decorative Dashes. In other good news, we’ve hired a type finisher/packer and are now at last back to our pre-pandemic crew of three.
In January we picked up a large lot of 12 point Chinese Type as scrap from a certain institution. It’s all near new and carefully arrayed in 76 small wooden trays similar to a quarter-case. While curious as a collector’s item it’s not exactly useful. For a limited time these are available for purchase in The Junk Bin section of the Skyline web site. This is your window of opportunity; if there’s no interest it’s all headed for reincarnation in another month or two.
Lastly— one of our students at a Letterpress Boot Camp staged recently here at Skyline was a gentleman from California who is internationally known for conservation and restoration of antique books and manuscripts. He is also a practicing attorney, and in conversation offered a very thoughtful comment on that much-maligned profession. “Being a lawyer is like getting a back-stage pass to the nature of human nature,” he reflected. “And within three years you’ll want to give the pass back.”