1. About the Conference

The 2012 Conference of the American Typecasting Fellowship was held at the C. C. Stern Type Foundry in Portland, OR. It was the 18th biennial conference of the group.

2. Keepsakes

While I was obliged to cancel my attendance at the 2012 American Typecasting Fellowship meeting at the last minute, the Conference hosts at C.C.Stern Type Foundry very kindly sent me a copy of the collection of keepsakes. I don't think that the complete keepsake set for any ATF conference has ever been recorded before, so here's a list of what people brought and gave.

The order is alphabetical by foundry or press name (if applicable) or personal name. Dimensions are approximate, in millimeters; width before height.

The Dale Guild (Micah Currier) gave an Announcent of the new metal typeface "Nicolas," designed by Russell Maret and released in 2011. Set in Nicolas. 175x130mm.

Denver Back-Alley Type (Tom Parson) gave two items, a January 2012 New Years card (folded, 140x107mm, set in 18pt Garamont Italic and ornaments cast at the foundry) and a specimen of 18 pt ornaments cast at the foundry in October 2011 (216x140mm).

Fox & Found Press (Yvon Lantaigne) gave broadside with a quotation by Antoine de Saint Exupery (202x256mm).

Jim Gard (San Jose Printers' Guild) gave two items: New-old-stock copies of Leonard A. Spencer's booklet Linecasting Machine Basics (Gladsome Press, Leonard and Alnora Spencer, 1998). 107x137mm, 16pp + covers, and a card, "Discover Intriquing History Park!" [location of the San Jose Printers' Guild] with a letterpress-printed halftone, 101x153mm.

The Greenboathouse Press (Jason Dewinetz) gave "A Sampling of Types Designed[,] Cut & Cast by Jim Rimmer." Including: 24 pt Fellowship, 18 pt Juliana Oldstyle, 18 pt Nephi Mediaeval, 18 pt Hannibal Oldstyle, 14 pt Quill, 14 pt Cree Syllabic, 18 pt Duensing Titling, 16 pt Stern. Not shown: Albertan, Cartier. 187x520mm.

Hill Press (Stephen Heaver) gave broadside with a prospectus for a book on Dutch Types at the Oxford University Press (210x310mm).

Hill and Dale Private Press and Typefoundry (Rich Hopkins) gave three items. The first was a lovely print of a drawing by Lee Teter of the Monotype Composition Caster (304x431mm) together with a printed sheet explaining its history (140x302). The second was a placard/sign "American Typecasting Fellowship[:] A Marvelous Circle of Friends." Oval, 273x178. The third was an offset printed tri-fold brochure for his upcoming book Tolbert Lanston and the Monotype.

The International Printing Museum (Carson, CA, Mark Barbour, Ethan Lipton, Bill Berkuta) gave two cards printed in their Ludlow Project, "Welcome to the Jungle Lounge" (216x138mm) & "MARS: Weekly Departures from Santa Monica" (138x216mm) and a broadside on patriotic themes (350x510mm).

Letterpress Commons gave a card announcing the upcoming launch of their website. 147x104mm.

M & H Type Foundry (Mark Sarigianis) gave a fascinating video (on DVD), Lewis Mitchell & the M & H Type Crew Replace the Friction Wheel on a Thompson Type Caster . Note: The Thompson they are repairing is an early machine of the style made by the Thompson Type Machine Company before their purchase by Monotype. At one point, Mitchell refers to a machine as "the last machine Monotype ever made"; at that point, however, he is pointing to a different machine, clear in the Lanston-Monotype style.

Patrick Reagh Printers gave two specimens of their casting of (English) Monotype "Flight" borders (B1479-1488), together with a card introducing them; all in an envelope. Specimens 113x152, card 152x108mm.

Philoxenia Press (Norman McKnight) and Noble Impressions (Alan Dye) gave a magnificent bound set of showings and settings of several faces cast by notable foundries, past and present: 36 pt. Sachsenwald ( Michael & Winifred Bixler Letterfoundry), 20 & 36 pt. Legend ( Bauer Foundry, Barcelona), 14 pt. Fabritius ( Harold Berliner), 16 pt. Hyperion ( Bauer Foundry, Barcelona), with wrappers in 30 & 48 pt. Chisel Expanded ( Stephenson, Blake), 20 pt. Privat ( Bauer Foundry, Barcelona), and 22 pt. Arrighi Italic ( M & H).

The School of Visual Concepts, Seattle, gave a Prop card. 90x75mm, and a card for their "11th Annual Letterpress Wayzgoose - Steamroller Smackdown," 178x126mm (card design by KeeganMeegan & Co., printed by Evolution Press).

The C. C. Stern Type Foundry (event organizers) gave a copy of their die-cut fold-and-assemble composing stick or iPhone stand. 237x307 unassembled.

Stumptown Printers, Portland, gave a broadside, "Have You Lost Your Head?" (290x440mm) and a Prop. card. Brian Bagdonas and Rebecca Gilbert of Stumptown are also principals in C. C. Stern and organizers of the Conference. 135x78mm.

Someone (it is not credited and I wasn't there, but perhaps Peter Stinely, who attended from Colonial Williamsburg?) gave a reprint of the January 24, 1777 issue (No. 104) of The Virginia Gazette. (255x410mm, 4pp).

3. Papers and Presentations

I do not have a full list of the papers/talks presented. I was to have given a short talk/Q&A on the subject of preserving typecasting and linecasting documents in the digital era. Had I been able to do this, I would have simply hit upon some of the highlights of a paper on that subject and then opened the discussion up to questions. In any event, here is the paper, in PDF and also the original (editable) OpenOffice ".odt" formats: atf2012dmm.pdf and atf2012dmm.odt