Playing detective
At a recent Galley Club meeting, one of my fellow members asked me if I would like an old type catalogue he was getting rid of. Although my studio doesn’t have much spare shelf space, I am a bit of a typo geek, so I took one look and knew I had to have it.
I’ve never heard of Riscatype before, but the more I looked at the cover, I realised that I could probably play detective and date the catalogue using some powers of deduction:
1. The paper is very yellowed, as well as being a bit dog-eared, so it must be a few decades old (OK, we can all spot that!).
2. Judging from the kerning (letter spacing) between the T an A, this has been printed by letterpress, so is probably pre1975.
3. Inside, there are no fonts typical of the 1960’s with stark geometric caps, amorphous psychedelic lettering, nor Helvetica, so it must be pre-1960. There are also no brush-lettering scripts so it’s pre-1950.
4. Looking at the general design, the colours and the decorative borders, as well as the fonts, I think this was printed in the 1940s.
If anyone can enlighten me further, please leave a comment and put me out of my misery!
