


Typography
It all starts with typesetting by hand with lead type, similar to those invented by Gutenberg nearly 600 years ago. We compose our books exclusively by hand and select historic, elegant and easy-to-read typefaces. We have most often cast new typefaces from the historic original matrices by the world's last active founder, Rainer Gerstenberg in Darmstadt.
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An example is the Janson-Antiqua, which the Hungarian theologian and typographer Miklós Kis carved in steel in 1683. The matrices obtained with the steel punches arrived in Germany after many adventures until Mr. Gerstenberg could cast new typefaces. There are also digitized versions of the Janson-Antiqua, but only the lead character respects the original form, that carved by the hand of Kis in the 17th century. The know-how of this technique permeates these letters; tiny irregularities and differences from one body to another make it all the charm. There emerges from a page composed in lead with these original characters a harmonious vivacity which is often lacking in digital composition.
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Added to this is the slight treading that the letters leave in the paper. This relief gives the page a feel that cannot be achieved by the flatbed or digital printing commonly used today.
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The choice of support is also of great importance. Most of the papers we print on are handmade papers made by the latest artisanal paper mills German still in activity (Hahnemühle or Zerkall). For deluxe editions, we also offer the best Japanese papers. The sensuality of these sheets, their sound, their smell and their structure give the lead composition a special cachet. The edge to the vat is retained as much as possible when printing.
The selected texts are put in parallel with original illustrations, in order to establish a dialogue between the text and the image. We use the classic techniques of relief printing (woodcut, end grain and linocut) and intaglio (drypoint). For this work, we take the chisel ourselves or else we collaborate with artists like Karl-Friedrich Groß.