To mark the 200th anniversary of Herman Melville's birth the Bodleian Library invited contributions to the collective edition of 'Extracts' from Herman Melville's 1851 novel,
Moby-Dick. I’m proud to be one of the contributors.
So, in the beginning of September, armed with the following extract from Moby-Dick:
“The Whale is harpooned to be sure; but bethink you, how you would manage a powerful unbroken colt, with the mere appliance of a rope tied to the root of his tail.” and cases of wood and metal type I began typesetting the composition. The initial idea of making a typographic composition didn't work out as I didn't have enough type of certain size, they were all way too big for an A3 poster.
While looking for an idea I stumbled upon an ornament: tiny boat measuring 24pt which I've never used. Ha! So I thought to build an illustration around this tiny element. Typesetting a whale from metal ornaments proved to be challenging, especially when I didn't have enough ornaments, so I decided to turn the metal type upside down (btw, by doing so I discovered lovely texture underneath). 4 hours later the forme was locked and ready, two tiny botanical ornaments were added as a splash and tiny boat found its place on the huge whale’s nose. The letter 'J', the biggest wood type we have in the studio, represented a harpoon and was printed in gold, accompanied by 24 pt Bernhard Tango metal type, printed in two print runs as I had only 2 letters ‘w’. The whale was printed in Pantone 072. 2 copies were sent to the Bodliean Library and the works are to be considered for inclusion in a display which is due to open on 18 October - not long!
The display of printed Extracts, plus a few selected items from Bodleian Special Collections, will be open to the public at the Weston Library for Special Collections, Bodleian Libraries, on Broad Street in Oxford, from 18 October 2019 to 5 January 2020.
Very like a whale
Blackwell Hall, Weston Library, Broad Street, Oxford, OX1 3BG
18 October 2019 - 5 January 2020
Mon-Sat - 9 am to 5 pm
Sun - 11 am to 5 pm
Admission free
link
Very like a While
size - 30 x 40 cm
paper - Wild 150 gr
copies - 30
printed at the Letterpress Corner
shop
you might also like
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 38