A Collection of Collective Nouns
This year, the wonderful Alistair Hall of WeMadeThis and London Street Signs fame, is the Chair of the Wynkyn de Worde Society. Now, not only did he ask us to be the society’s honorary designers, but he also asked us to talk at a members’ luncheon. And so in May we found ourselves in the rather grand setting of Stationers’ Hall, close to the location of Wynkyn de Worde’s original press, speaking about our press.
As well as the talk, we designed, typeset and letterpress printed the menu and keepsake.
The keepsake was a nod to our book A Gathering of Gatherings, which was a selection of the weird and wonderful collective nouns we use in English. But as the focus of the Wynkyn de Worde Society is the world of printing, in all its different guises, we collected* a new collection of collective nouns based around members’ professions in the society.
Both the keepsake and the menu were designed and typeset using a different collection—the Desmond Jeffery Type Collection, which we hold at The Counter Press. With so many printers, designers and typographic folk, it was the perfect place to use some more unusual type, including Jan van Krimpen’s Romulus and Romanée Italic, both cast by Enschedé, as well as Neue Haas Grotesk and a set of geometric ornaments.
The edition was printed on our Grafix proofing press and used Shiro Echo Raw Grey and Colorset Mango kindly supplied by Fenner Paper.
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* OK, not strictly collected… Some may have been concocted and cooked-up by us…
Find our more about the Wynkyn de Worde Society, and other keepsakes, here.
Stationers’ Hall is probably the only place with a printing press as a stained glass window, and is also the grandest room we’ll ever speak in.
