Gill, A Sort of Type

At Libre Livre we have over 370 individual trays of type, virtually all of it vintage. Much of it arrived in our workshop ill sorted and labeled. Sorting, cleaning and recording all this has been a major job. Just numbering each tray has taken ages, but this week I producd a first cut report of our type inventory, sorted by font, by tray and by size.

Despite the range of type we hold, (Dorechester script, Times New Roman, Glouster, Bodoni, Palace, Falstaffa and Runic Condensed to name but a few) Libre Livre specialises producing work in that most beautiful of fonts, Gill Sans Serif*. Eric Gill lived for years just a few miles from our workshop in Lewes, and it seems entirely appropriate for us to celebrate the connection.

Although this type was first cut by Eric Gill, it is rooted in history: the capitals being based on monumental Roman script, and the lower case on the Carolingian script in wide use between the years 800 and 1200.

* - for those who do not know, the "serif" is the small, often triangular "tails" seen on the ends of many fonts (such as the one used ofr this blog): a "sans serif" font is stripped of such intricacy and appears clear and fresh on the page.