Dan Reynolds

New-ish Wuppertaler and a research associate the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. I teach typography and design stuff but spend most of my time looking into late-19th and early-20th-century German typefounding.

Public Key

npub12r7xs76n0zwe737f2p73n2luureyz36kq64gq6g75ejelkn6pf2q9e6u82

NIP-05 Address

typeoff_at_typo.social@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs9plrg0dfh38vlgly4qlge407wpujpgatqd25qdy02vevlmfaq54qprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wdmksetjv5hxxmmdz8npt3

Publishing to

relay.noswhere.com

Author Public Key

npub12r7xs76n0zwe737f2p73n2luureyz36kq64gq6g75ejelkn6pf2q9e6u82

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Last Notes

2024-09-25 09:10:55

I’m about to switch jobs, so I’m cleaning files off a computer I need to give back. Going through the unsorted files on the Desktop, I found this image. I’ve probably posted it before, but I can’t help posting it again!
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/113/197/401/755/659/893/original/4827ade81fa13354.jpeg

2024-09-14 09:31:38

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@npub1r2h…srzq That is nice, of course, but this was his best piece!
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/113/135/198/649/832/492/original/a3f824798f9e0ee5.png

2024-09-14 07:57:07

If you like Hermann Eidenbenz – and, I mean, who doesn’t – there are some works form him and his students in the Forum Gestaltung, located inside Magdeburg‘s former Kunstgewerbeschule. He taught in the building from 1926 until 1932.
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/113/134/830/829/333/356/original/0d537f9450e34ec6.jpeg
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/113/134/830/883/228/552/original/97cc171192096b24.jpeg
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/113/134/830/930/882/831/original/62337dbc05de0d67.jpeg

2024-09-09 15:39:46

Does anyone here ever visit the Pennsylvania Historical Society in Philadelphia?

2024-08-25 16:51:09

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@npub1zp6…d8he I confirm that they are excellent!

2024-08-24 12:49:41

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@npub1urz…39sc It is really breathtaking. I love it!

2024-08-24 09:06:46

Hey fediverse, my family and I have just moved to #Wuppertal. This is a new place for me and I still don’t know much about it yet. Please hit me up with your favorite bookstores and cafes. Bonus points if you can point me towards people working at the uni here, in media studies or the media design parts! 🙏

2024-08-11 08:22:18

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@npub1phu…ufs3 Es dauerte doch etwas mehr als zwei Wochen, aber jetzt sind alle Fotos im Netz!

2024-08-11 08:21:21

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By “all,” alas, I mean all punches that are not wrapped up in paper envelopes. But most envelopes are named and their contents could be viewed in-person in Berlin, or maybe even photographed at a future date.

2024-08-11 08:20:02

I’m wary of “quoting” myself but in April, I posted that half the punches from the Berlin Decker/Reichsdruckerei foundry had been photographed and placed online. If you click on the link in my older toot, you will now see photos of all the punches.
https://typo.social/@typeoff/112337147968322797

2024-08-04 09:12:34

The thick envelope has just come in the mail.
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/902/977/281/850/976/original/1b39e43410bb6897.jpeg

2024-08-04 08:29:36

Periodic reminder that those of us outside the United States can’t access a great deal of the content on HathiTrust.

2024-08-01 07:39:26

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@npub13g5…rpv3 Oh that sounds like a tremendous mistake.

2024-07-17 07:32:49

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@npub1g83…dsge I think that’s very likely. But maybe he didn’t mind them as much, either 🤷‍♂️

2024-07-17 06:41:29

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@npub1g83…dsge The new typographers were big Genzsch & Heyse fans. Early Tschichold also recommended one of its serif faces for similar reasons.
https://fontsinuse.com/typefaces/72956/fridericus-parlaments-antiqua

2024-07-16 06:42:09

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@npub1l76…q02y So there was a few for matrix production (which I assume included punchcutting), a design fee for characters in which no model was provided, and the cost of the cast fonts themselves.

2024-07-15 16:22:34

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@npub1swg…yl4f On the few occasions I’ve received manuscripts from French authors, full word spaces had always been keyed in between those punctuation marks and words.

2024-07-14 06:48:34

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I don’t know what Theinhardt himself would have charged. But in 1855, his justified matrices sold for about three times as much, if you go by purchasing-power tables.

2024-07-13 20:12:56

In the early 1890s, after Ferdinand Theinhardt had retired, his former foundry charged 60 Pfennig per letter in punchcutting costs for “custom typefaces.”
That was likely comparable to other Berlin foundries’ prices.
1890s currency conversion is difficult but, at that time, Berlin university students working on research projects were paid 60 Pfennig per hour!
Virtually no punch could have been cut that quickly, so this says something about how little punchcutter labor was valued then.

2024-07-05 16:25:41

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@npub187d…gz6d Interpretive Dance

2024-07-05 16:07:38

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@npub187d…gz6d So far it is not a game but a theater piece

2024-06-30 11:05:02

The Timeless Child/Flux storylines were better than all of RTD2 so far, even though his specials and this season were alright. #doctorwho

2024-06-30 07:19:22

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@npub1qd2…4jhz I think you are right. It is not “original” but it is historic.

2024-06-28 15:50:18

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@npub1qd2…4jhz Thank you!

2024-06-28 15:49:44

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@npub1kuk…6hr5 Thank you!

2024-06-28 15:49:26

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@npub1xqv…230r Yes, we still have them but they are being verdrängt.

2024-06-28 14:09:12

BRB, I’m gonna go take the German naturalization test.

2024-05-15 12:06:38

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Here’s the digitization I mentioned: https://digital.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/werkansicht?PPN=PPN1752972201&PHYSID=PHYS_0001&DMDID=

2024-05-15 12:05:31

There’s no Royal-Grotesk in this specimen, and the specimen is otherwise a little more represented in German collections than Oak Knoll’s description states. One copy was even recently digitized! But some nice collector with lots of dollars should still buy this specimen, because Theinhardt’s foundry was pretty cool in its own right. https://www.oakknoll.com/pages/books/140348/ferdinand-theinhardt/musterbuch-von-ferd-theinhardt-schriftgieszligerei-berlin-s-w

2024-04-30 05:28:45

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@npub1swg…yl4f Munich has a pretty expensive living standard, from a German perspective. But I think that salary expectations are still nothing like the Bay Area.

2024-04-26 13:15:16

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@npub1phu…ufs3 Fotos von dem anderen Schrank werden in etwa zwei Wochen folgen!

2024-04-26 10:55:31

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If you are looking for some background information about these punches, I published a short blog post about them four years ago. It includes some more illustrations, literature recommendations, and links. You can read that here: https://www.typeoff.de/2020/01/decker-and-reichsdruckerei-punches-part-2/

2024-03-15 12:25:36

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@npub187d…gz6d Wir hatten eine hochschulweite Vereinbarung. Man bis zu 60% mobil arbeiten dürfte. Der Präsident kündigte die Vereinbarung zum 31.12.23. Ob es eine Neue Vereinbarung gibt ist noch nicht zu meinen Ohren bis jetzt bekommen.

2024-02-20 12:12:53

I reviewed a fabulous and already-sold-out book covering the history of some of the graphic-design made for the BBC television sci-fi program Doctor Who in the 1960s through the 1980s. It is the most personal article that I’ve published on @npub1jcr…uxnj News. If you’ve ever seen the show, or if stories about old TV productions are your jam, check it out over here:
https://fontstand.com/news/book-reviews/adventures-in-type-and-space/

2023-12-15 15:47:40

The cheapest subscription plan for that Monotype is now offering is $199/year for a single person or a small team. It includes permission to use fonts on zero websites.

2023-12-02 13:38:36

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@npub1pck…3cuz @npub187d…gz6d That is a good rate!

2023-11-30 11:45:15

In terms of authors, this is an impressive get for any foundry. Great article that you should read and look at. Even if you think you already know the contents. https://www.abyme.net/revue/thefirstsanseriftype/

2023-10-23 11:34:08

Collections employees & archivists at the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin have cataloged a large number of drawings for Berthold’s Diatype phototypesetting typefaces. Berthold made 2,100+ fonts for this product line, necessitating over 270,000 drawings!
I helped draft a German-language post on their work last week. Now, I’ve an English-language translation for you, too. Perhaps there are typefaces in the museum that are important to your upcoming research or practice?
https://www.typeoff.de/2023/10/hand-drawings-for-bertholds-phototypesetting-library/

2023-10-10 09:14:45

Hey, do you like near Frankfurt? Are you coming to the Frankfurter Buchmesse?
Jérôme Knebusch, Edvinas Žukauskas, and I will be speaking at the Klingspor Museum in Offenbach on Friday October 20th at 7pm. There are drinks available beforehand, from 6pm.
Come here about Gebr. Klingspor’s Neuland, designed by Rudolf Koch, and its newest revival Koch Grotesk, from Poem. It would be great to see you!
https://www.offenbach.de/microsite/klingspor_museum/programm/content-iii.17-neuland-revival.php

2023-10-09 11:24:31

I just backed Words of Type. It has a long way to go to meet its funding goal. Please help!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hellolisahuang/words-of-type?ref=thanks-copy-believe-in-it

2023-10-05 14:39:34

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@npub187d…gz6d Hab’s gegoogelt. Es handelt sich auf jeden Fall um Küpfer! Made for you, das Bier ist.

2023-09-23 12:59:44

Here someone refers to me as “the Doctor” and I don’t even have a companion with me to introduce, or a tin dog!

2023-09-19 18:22:33

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@npub1zg3…mmpw Gumbert was describing something like this already in 1974, I think. Do you know when his first visualization was and if he and Noordzij knew each other?

2023-09-19 08:29:06

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@npub1urz…39sc My meetings are dominated by people talking about their feelings. We can trade if you want.

2023-09-06 07:05:09

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@npub1g83…dsge This is because of the sale of “David Berlow’s” fonts to Monotype, though. Right?

2023-08-19 07:30:53

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@npub186v…za0g Here is the page with the contact details for your case. https://foundrysupport.monotype.com/hc/en-us/articles/360029957811

2023-07-17 08:45:06

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@npub13g5…rpv3 The best thing to do is probably to create a Character Style for superscripts and then apply that to numbers that should be superscripts, I guess. At least in InDesign?

2023-07-05 15:23:43

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@npub15l6…5uge The Commercial Classics website also states that Ionic No. 2 was cut by a punchcutter named Pernie. In the middle of the 19th Century, I don’t think it was yet too widespread for punchcutters to be interpreting “designs” drawn in paper as concepts and provided to them, as would eventually become the norm.

2023-07-05 15:21:19

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@npub15l6…5uge William Caslon I’s son died in 1788, which was about three-quarters of a century before Caslon‘s Ionic No. 2 appeared. I think that, by that time, none of the members of the Caslon family were designing and/or cutting type. But Ionic No. 2 is still a very nice-looking typeface.

2023-07-03 06:33:30

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@npub1g83…dsge Many Technotype letters are similar in spirit and structure. I don’t have a specimen at hand, but you can see a few more here. https://www.typografie.info/3/Schriften/fonts.html/technotyp-r89/

2023-07-03 06:30:15

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@npub1g83…dsge I have not dug into the source material very much, but I am not convinced that this design was that old. That would be shockingly fast for a typeface only published in 1926. Also, that kind of prominent use for sans serif type in 1926 is rather early. In the correspondence from DIN regarding lettering kept in the same folder, one person ca. 1940 suggested that sans serifs had not really not been useable before Paul Renner’s Futura was published in 1927.

2023-07-03 06:25:46

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@npub1g83…dsge Various Internet sources state that Thannhäuser had designed a previous Berlin street sign system in 1932, based on Schelter & Giesecke’s Schulfraktur. It would be understandable that the city’s building department would come to him again.

2023-07-03 06:23:33

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@npub1g83…dsge I’m not sure, on two fronts: First, I can’t say what his exact relationship with Schelter & Giesecke was. As in, was he a freelance consultant who could take jobs from other clients? Also, there is some debate about when exactly this design was made, which I cannot yet exactly parse. This could have been designed as late as 1941/42, after the official turn away from blackletters, while Thannhäuser was in the military.

2023-07-03 06:13:48

Most designers I know love the West Berlin street sign lettering. It isn’t clear to me how much evidence researchers have found regarding its design and attribution. Last week I found a print from Ludwig Goller’s correspondence in the DIN Archive at the Deutsches Technikmuseum attributing the letters to Herbert Thannhäuser. This print is kept in SDTB I.3.015 DIN-Archiv 307/1.
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/110/648/667/307/948/920/original/e1caece7d620451f.jpeg

2023-06-23 20:57:20

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@npub1pqy…j8e3 Back in 2004–5, I thought that this website was bonkers, mostly because he made hay with a phrase I ghostwrote for someone else, which appeared in a Linotype email newsletter. With hindsight though, I think that just about all of his takes are correct. Or at least, they get more right than they may be getting wrong.

2023-06-18 09:34:05

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@npub186v…za0g @npub1urz…39sc A bunch of FontBooks were loaded into a station wagon and taken to p98a. Erik sold them in his shop, and I think that was a pretty popular online sale. I don’t know if his shop has any left or not. It must have been like about four years ago now

2023-06-18 09:30:38

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@npub186v…za0g @npub1urz…39sc Some FontShop/FontFont staff organized a give-away party on the Saturday morning before the old Kreuzberg office closed. I think that all the old FontBooks & other printed ephemera were taken then. IIRC, Monotype didn’t want to have any of that stuff in its pristine new office on the other side of Berlin. My impression is that history is a burden Monotype does not want to pay to preserve. An exec told me it was Mono’s stuff and Monotype could dispose of it if it wanted 🤷‍♂️

2023-06-17 11:11:33

Schon mega. Herzlichen Glückwunsch an Spector Books! https://www.leipzig.de/news/news/gutenbergpreis-der-stadt-leipzig-2023-geht-an-spector-books

2023-06-17 06:17:34

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@npub19lw…72hg +1 for a @npub1k6f…92q8 book! I know that @npub156j…lxwq is working on another book already, but his posts could surely form an excellent start for such a project.

2023-05-06 09:23:01

Lieber Oliver Cromwell II. als Charles III. 🤦‍♂️