Then, a copy of the New Yorker arrived, and in it Nicholson Baker twice made the same point. Kindle electronic books was his topic, and he quoted someone in their favor. “I’ve always been creeped out by library books and used books,” said Baker’s source. “You never know where they’ve been!” And later in that article, Baker revisited the point, quoting a former library patron whose books always smelled of smoke, but who now, thanks to electronic books, could read in a smoke-free environment.

These comments constituted three references to something dismayingly new in my culture.

Or was it new? I did some research. I Googled “unhealthy library books” and turned up references to unhealthy content—mental morbidity of one kind or another—and occasionally a librarian spoke of depressing work environments. But nothing on personal cleanliness. So, it is a new thing. Reading has joined the public health debate, a fresh toxin in the antiseptic society.

Exhibit P-21. Brush and News Gothic, in red ink.

Morris Benton designed News Gothic for the American Typefounders company. It was a narrower and lighter version of Franklin Gothic, a sans serif letter Benton had introduced in 1905.

Exhibits N-77. Some Text Alternatives.

 Brief.
 

Briefer.
 

Briefest.

Exhibit P-21. Some Design Alternatives.

   
Exhibit P-44. Brush script and Park Avenue, in black ink.

Ward Wegner expands the genre by using three typefaces! A pair of scripts, Brush and Park Avenue, join a generic serifed roman, which is a letter style not often used on boxes. The result is splendid, if busy. Alas, Mr. Wegner then neglects to letterspace his ellipsis, permitting purists to fault it all as wretched excess.
 

Exhibit P-36. Typo Upright, in black ink.

Tom Krautkramer’s signature is a version of a script called Typo Upright, a letter deriving from French handwriting styles of the seventeenth century. One of these styles, called a ronde, became a staple of financial writing rooms. The famously busy typographer Morris Benton designed a ronde for the American Typefounders company that first appeared in the firm’s 1906 catalog. It remains typical of fancy social printing—of wedding planners and Tom Krautkramer’s box printing crew.

Exhibit N-49. Souvenir bold and Brush script, in black ink.

Nice line spacing exhibited here by Ed Mitchem, Jr., accompanying a crisp impression of Souvenir bold and Brush. A misstep there on that first line, “it’s” spoils his fine work. Printers who are otherwise careful often neglect the simplest copy editing requirements.

Exhibit N-1. A type and ink  sampler.

This concludes A Museum of Box Colophons.

Bibliography

Giulia Bologna. Illuminated Manuscripts. New York: Crescent Books, 1995.

Johanna Drucker. Figuring the Word: Essays on Books, Writing, and Visual Poetics. New York: Granary Books, 1998.

Philip Gaskell. A New Introduction to Bibliography. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972 (1974).

Gerard Genette. Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Alexander Lawson. Anatomy of a Typeface. Boston: Godine, 1990.

J. Ben Lieberman. Type and Typefaces. New Rochelle, New York: The Myriade Press, 1978.

When printers announce themselves at the end of books, it’s called a colophon and it’s there for all to see. Box printers such as Mr. Ramos (left) hide their colophons under a flap at the bottom of the box. The following exhibit, probably unique, honors these tradespeople.

Exhibit P-1. Brush script, in black ink.

Charles Texeira is here, as well as F. Stuber and Orlando Singleton, printers whose time has arrived. In June 1991, The Nation’s Alexander Cockburn assessed modern Bolshevism and thought many Muscovites remained favorable to the goals of the original revolution. And then, parenthetically, he wrote: “Sandy McCroskey, type-setting this column, asks, ‘Does the “revolution” equal Lenin’s hijacking of it by force?’ ” It did, replied Cockburn . . . but suddenly that was no longer the point. An author was conversing with his compositor. Boundaries were blurring. 

Exhibit P-5. Brush script, in black ink.

The box colophon of Raymond Cox and his crew is typical, in layout and inking as well as the wording itself. Cox set his statement in a condensed version of a standard sans serif print-shop typeface called News Gothic. For his signature, Cox used heavy script lettering in a style called Brush, which, in 1942, Robert E. Smith designed for the American Typefounders company. Traditional graphic design frowned on the awkward mixing of light script letters with unadorned sans serif typefaces. For many printing purposes, Smith’s Brush typeface replaced older pen-drawn characters. Brush remains a shopfloor typographic favorite. Most box “signatures” are versions of it.

Exhibit N-8. Typo Script and Helvetica, in blue ink.

This script is a bold adaptation of a letter called Imperial Script, the original rendering of which was based on that of the Frenchman Firmin Didot’s Anglais typeface, of 1809. The American Typefounders company called its version of this face Typo Script. The box dates to August 1992.

Exhibit P-17. Brush and Helvetica, in blue ink.

Carton printing is high-volume work, done quickly on pliant surfaces. Tom Clements’ brisk design and neat imposition are exceptional. His secondary colophon type is Helvetica, the classic workaday san serif face in the English-speaking world. Helvetica is not, however, the usual choice among box printers, who often favor News Gothic. Apparently their task is prosaic enough as it is.

Exhibit N-12. Brush and News Gothic, in black ink.

For many, typeface recognition shares a kinship with birdwatching. Birding aficionados discriminate among dozens of seemingly identical “peep” sandpipers. They are wicked amid warblers. In the same way, graphic design recognizes the many renditions of a generic sans serif typeface called gothic. Among these, box printers favor one called News Gothic.

 See Part 2 of A Museum of Box Colophons.

Mizuno

Exhibit 9
Much—theological, zoological, and golfing—is offered the visitor to southeastern Thailand. The Buddhist Wat Yanasangwararam Woramahawihan contains the Mondop where a replica of the Buddha’s footprint is enshrined. In addition, the private Sri Racha Tiger Zoo features several hundred tigers, thousands of alligators, and, according to its website, “some other animals.” There are daily performances at the zoo’s Amazing Circus and Crocodile Show. Scorpion Lady’s shirt is covered with scorpions. And, of course, the area offers a dozen world class golf courses, including the Laem Chabang International Country Club, a layout designed by Jack Nicklaus.

TaylorMade

Exhibit 8
The Titleist/FootJoy plant at Laem Chabang Industrial Estate is about 15 miles north of the southeastern Thai city of Pattaya, some 80 miles from Bangkok. Once a sleepy fishing town, Pattaya first boomed as a Vietnam War R&R locale. That got the place trashed, however, and left Pattaya with a lingering “seedy” image. Happily, much is improved, as the city reformed itself into a family-friendly hot spot. These days, there is plenty more to see and do than drink and assess folks with nothing on.