Steven Heller and Gail Anderson have come out with a new book entitled New Vintage Type. Five letterpress pieces produced by Ray and Jill, except as noted, through Raven Press at the University of Delaware were included. There may have been students involved I cannot remember at this point. If you read this and were involved drop me an email and I’ll correct the credits below.

From the top left clockwise:

1) The cover of New Vintage Type by Steven Heller and Gail Anderson.

2) Program for the International Association for Robin Hood Studies
held at the University of Delaware, produced by Ray Nichols & Jill Cypher, 14″ x 22″, 40 copies, 2005.

Book caption: MORRIS AND HIS CIRCLE—Raymond Nichols reports that William Morris and the Kelmscott Press were the prime influences here, particularly in the illuminated initials. The main typeface, Troy, named after The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, was designed by Morris in the Arts and Crafts aesthetic of the mid-nineteenth century.

3) Poster for Black Maria Film & Video Festival
held at the University of Delaware, produced by Ray Nichols & Jill Cypher, 14″ x 22″, 40 copies, 2005.

Book caption: THAT HANDMADE LOOK—Black Maria Film & Video Festival is a film festival where many of the films being shown have a handmade look. “We thought letterpress would best represent that,” explains Raymond Nichols. The distressed slap serif type evokes the ad hoc sensibility, while setting it against the white background keeps it from being too musty.

4) Poster for Steven Heller lecture
(book’s author) for a talk he gave to Visual Communications at the University of Delaware, produced by Ray Nichols & Jill Cypher, 19.5″ x 30.5″, 25 copies 2005

Book caption: SCALE IS EVERYTHING—Raymond Nichols and Jill Cypher credit Hatch Show Print posters for inspiration. “We wanted the poster to look human because I think Steven {Helleer” comes off like that.” (Little did they know.”

5) Poster for Battle of the Bands for South Africa Aids Awareness Week
produced by Sarah Rosenthal, Courtney Bowditch, and Ray Nichols, 24″ x 18″, 40 copies, 2005.

Book caption: THE GOLD STANDARD—The Hatch Show Print posters are the gold standard of vernacular concert and fai bills. This poster may have been influenced by Hatch, but the University of Delaware print shop has developed its own hybrid of vintage and contemporary style.

6) Poster for Art Happens 2
an exhibition of graduate students in the Department of Fine Arts & Visual Communications, produced by Ray Nichols, Jill Cypher, David Huynh and Louis Flanigan, 22″ x 14″, 40 copies, 2004

Book caption: LOTS OF WOOD—Actual vintage woodtypes are at the core of Raven Press’s design activity. If an entire alphabet is not available in thee same point size, then they mix and match to get an aesthetically pleasing result. This is one of the man small jobs the Press handles for the University of Delaware. While it uses types of the past the design is of the present.

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