St Bride Library

Events at St Bride Library

• Fred Smeijers: Life After Counterpunch at St Bride Library

  Special Event

  21 Feb 2012

  Having been out of print for nearly four years, a second edition of Counterpunch: making type in the sixteenth century, designing typefaces now was published in summer 2011. The first edition was introduced in 1996 at the ATypI conference in The Hague, and nearly fifteen years later it seems the book is still sought after. One reason for the sustained interest over those years may have been the book’s down-to-earth approach. It offered a clear view on punchcutting, that was easy to understand, and which was joined up with essential historical knowledge not easily accessible at the time. Counterpunch also included many illustrations that brought the subject to life and linked it into (then) contemporary digital practices. This talk is not a sales pitch for the new edition. Instead, it will reflect on what has happened in the years since 1996. My research has continued along lines that are not very different from those I was following in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In those days I did what was within reach of my research tools, technically speaking. But since Counterpunch was published, I have been able to reflect on earlier conclusions by comparing them with findings arrived at through research tools of greater technical precision, in particular microscope images of historical type material at the Plantin-Moretus Museum. These images have brought a more objective perspective to my conclusions and will be a feature of this talk.