Collections posts at Letterform Archive

July 5, 2018
Collections Publishing

This Just In: Jennifer Morla

The AIGA Medalist, AGI Member, and National Design Award Recipient donates her archive.

Left to Right: AIGA for SFMOMA Lecture Series; Morla Design Lecture for AIGA Los Angeles (cropped); Environmental Poster for AIGA.

June 26, 2018
Collections

This Just In: Amos Kennedy Jr.

We’re honored to share the wit and wisdom of the humble but powerful provocateur. Dozens of his prints are now at the Archive.

Left to Right: Someone Died for Your Right to Vote...; Power Concedes Nothing Without a Demand...; Everyday I Dream of Black Freedom and Pride — Left to Right: Someone Died for Your Right to Vote…; Power Concedes Nothing Without a Demand…; Fresh Food for the People.

June 13, 2018
Collections

From the Collection: Blissymbolics

If the “Father of Semantography” had his way with written language, we’d all be #blissed.

Books from the reference library of Aaron Marcus and Associates:
Blissymbols for Use, Barbara Hehner, Blissymbols Communication Institute, Ontario, 1980. Design: Jack Steiner. Illustrations: Alan Daniel. Symbol Drawings: Jim Grice.
The Book to the Film ‘Mr. Symbol Man’, Charles K. Bliss with contributions by Shirley McNaughton, Semantography-Blissymbolics Publications, 1975.

May 29, 2018
Collections

This Just In: Herbert Matter Letters & Logos

Sketches, comps, and cut paper tell the visual tale of a master designer at work.

April 17, 2018
Collections

This Just In: Posters of May ’68

We commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Paris uprising with a collection of posters by the Atelier Populaire (Popular Workshop).

Lutte Contre Le Cancer Gaulliste (Struggle Against the Gaullist Cancer)

March 30, 2018
Collections

From the Collection: Thomas Ingmire, Susan Skarsgard, Suzanne Moore

Among our holdings of contemporary calligraphy are three artists who break boundaries between visual art and the written word.

Suzanne Moore, Zero: Cypher of Infinity, 2014. — Suzanne Moore, Zero: Cypher of Infinity, handmade book, Vashon Island, WA, 2014, 28 x 38 cm.

March 16, 2018
Collections

This Just In: The Nuremberg Chronicle

Now at Letterform Archive, a landmark of 15th-century bookmaking.

We are thrilled to announce the acquisition of our first complete incunable (book printed before 1501). The Nuremberg Chronicle is one of the most densely illustrated and technically advanced incunables, and helps us tell the story of letterforms in the early years of printing.

Index half-title page, Nuremberg Chronicle. The calligraphic woodcut opening this German edition reads “REgister Des buchs der Croniken…” (Index of the book of Chronicles and stories with figures and images from the dawn of the world until this our time.). Note the ligatures with shared stems (‘de’) and marks that distinguish ‘u’ from ‘n’ (“pildnus-sen”) and indicate a double ‘n’ (“unnsere”).

February 15, 2018
Collections

This Just In: Saul Bass

Bass’s timeless minimalism made him the godfather of the modern movie poster. Several original prints recently arrived at the Archive.

Saul Bass, The Man with the Golden Arm, 1955. (Detail, see full poster in gallery below.)