Where can you find misc letterpress type to purchase?

Answer 1

There is a plentiful amount of used type available from any of several dealers in used letterpress equipment (including Don Black Linecasting in Toronto, Dave Churchman in Indianapolis, John Barrett in Massachusets, and others) and type is both constantly being listed on eBay and offered on the Briar Press classified pages.

Although you should have no trouble finding used type in the second-hand market, if you can afford it you will find that nothing beats the pleasure of printing from newly cast metal type. There are a dozen or so remaining commercial type foundries around the world (although mostly in the US) which are generally maintained as labors of love by type founders who don't want to see this unique craft fade away. The patriarch of type founders (the man who literally wrote the book on the subject, and is virtually the only one still casting on original ATF Barth foundry casters) is the former linchpin of American Type Founders, Theo Rehak of the Dale Guild, in New Jersey. Bell Type and Rule Company is a full service type foundry In Los Angeles and has been making type for 78 years and still make letterpress printing type and foil stamping type, spacing material, setting composition, ornaments and setting Ludlow. There is some fund history about the foundry to read and a small type catalogue. But they still make all the faces they have since its inception in the 30's. New type is the way to go, because the letters are all the same high, type high .918, not chipped or damaged and if you are going to spend the time to set a job by hand, I think you should start with the best new type and avoid frustration of used type.

The largest in-stock selection of Monotype in the United States is probably from M&H Type in San Francisco (formerly known as Mackenzie & Harris, and now an affiliate of Andrew Hoyem's famous Arion Press). The Sterling Type Foundry in Indianapolis is, along with Quaker City Type Foundry in Pennsylvania, the oldest continually operating type foundry in the US (both were established in 1922). Sterling specializes in ornaments and decorative type revivals, and offers a bewildering array of almost 4000 different borders, ornaments and dingbats.

Dave Tribby maintains a very useful list of the six major foundries in America currently casting Monotype fonts, along with a cross-referenced index to the type faces they offer. Another good source for links to other founders is the Briar Press resource guide. They include Phil Ambrosi in Canada (for strip material), Michael & Winifred Bixler in upstate New York for stunning settings of classic English Monotype book faces, Swamp Press in Massachusetts, Skyline Type Foundry in Illinois, and several others. Fritz Klinke at NA Graphics also has a very large supply of new original stock ATF foundry type in stock, as well as type from a number of foundries including Dale Guild.

If you are thinking really big, and want to try your hand at printing from large wood type (think of the old "Wanted!" posters), the Hamilton Wood Type Museum in Wisconsin offers brand new wood type both by the individual piece and in full fonts in sixteen sizes.