This final month of the year brings us the two major winter holidays: Brumal Solstice and Boxing Day. In celebration of these we have reached way back into the 19th century and dredged up an antique type face you may never have seen before. This rickety-looking design was issued about 150 years ago by the historic Bruce Type Foundry of Boston. Here then is Bruce Ornamented No. 540 for your brumal printing pleasure.
This is yet another from the Chas. Broad Matrix Collection, which we have been dipping into for twenty years, and still not produced everything that Charlie did in five or six. I like to think he would be very pleased to see how Skyline has resurrected and is carrying on the work of his one-man operation, Typefounders of Phoenix. In the 1960-1965 era of typographical austerity (Spartan. Stymie and Vogue reigned), the 75-year old Victorians that Charlie and his predecessor/colleague John Carroll revived were probably looked upon by commercial printers as goofy, frilly has-beens. Today they are twice as old and the type produced from these very same matrices is treasured and used by the 21st century letterpress community, and is Skyline’s bread and butter.
November’s recasts are Neuland in 30 point (we now once again have all 4 sizes of Neuland in stock, plus the Inline in 18) , Border No. 165, Border No. 1423, Collection No. 15 (the Skyline Zoo, 1 of 2), and Collection No. 68, Leafstorm.