Welcome to “Shelf Life”

When bookstores were commonplace, we would spend hours just wandering from one to another. Discovering a beautifully illustrated book or a unique magazine was always such a thrill (and remains so today) especially if we could make it part of our collection.

With the digital age and its accompanying distractions taking over our lives, I rarely get the time to browse the collection of books and magazines we have gathered over the years. There never seems to be enough time! When we were organizing the studio recently, it dawned on me that our book collection might be of interest to others. Maybe it would be interesting to take a look at what we have and show some items in this blog. This might be a new lease on life for these books and magazines that have lived a quiet shelf life for too long.

With this in mind we will feature some of our unique publications here on a regular basis. We hope you enjoy “Shelf Life” as we periodically pick our favorite selections from our shelves to share with you.

Lincolniana and Various Display Prints in Denby Types (published by Coq d’Or Press Inc,  New York, in 1942) is a technical manual about the display of type. It’s interesting to note that the book was published as America entered its second year of World War II, and the bulk of the chosen text reflects the feelings and mood of that dark time in history. Of course the writings of Abraham Lincoln figure predominately throughout the book (hence the title). But there are also excerpts of writing from President Roosevelt and Rudyard Kipling; all beautifully type-set of course.

A page from the Lincolniana vintage typography book

Two sample pages from the Lincolniana vintage typography book

Two pages from the Lincolniana vintage typography book