A Little Binge Reading

To Be A Printer by Brooke Crutchley

Every so often I love to delve into reading about what I consider to be one of the zeniths of fine printing—that era between 1920 and 1945 in Great Britain. "Eras" are subjective historical references of course, especially in regard to the arts. But I'm hard put to find a more interesting period in printing history than the British university presses during the first half of the 20th century.

Crutchley's book is one of those windows into the arcane watchworks of the Cambridge University Press, where a cast of some of the most significant designers and printers crossed paths to work on book projects that stand today as benchmarks of the finest printing ever: Eric Gill, Stanley Morison, Francis Meynell, Bruce Rogers, to name a few. Complete with tales of triumphs and failures, Crutchley will have you wearing inky tweeds by the end of page 10.