The Type Archive in the U.K., a repository of typographic hardware, amassed some eight million artifacts over the years. It closed in 2023, orphaning the historic materials of the Stephenson Blake foundry, the hot-metal technology of the early Monotype Corporation and the innovative wood letters produced by the factory of Robert DeLittle.
This post is in support of a new book by typographer and long-serving Type Archive volunteer Richard Ardagh, who has assumed responsibility for celebrating these extraordinary materials. The book is scheduled to be published in winter 2025 by Volume.
I recently reached out to Ardagh to learn more about it—and the fate of the archive. I got exactly what I wanted.
How did you become involved with the Type Archive?
After working on A23D, my project to create the first 3D-printed letterpress font, I was fascinated to understand the processes of traditional typefounding. I started volunteering at the Type Archive as an apprentice learning how to make Monotype matrices to fulfill orders. I ended up specializing in punch-cutting, having delved through most parts of the extensive collections.
What is the process of collecting and cataloging the overwhelming weighty objects of the archive?
At first I began bringing my camera to document artifacts that I found interesting and to help founder Susan Shaw with promotion. After she died in 2020 I tried to take more photos, as the future of the archive began to be questioned. The book is made up of these images, as well as some that I commissioned especially and others inherited from before I was involved. It’s arranged in sections by material: iron, steel, copper, brass, bronze, wood, paper. The history of typefounding spans 500 years and is quite complex, so this ordering is an attempt to make the content accessible at first glance and also to highlight how many different materials a letterform passed through before appearing on the printed page
Why did it close in 2023, and where have the holdings gone?
The Type Archive had to relinquish its premises in 2023. The Science Museum has moved the Monotype Collection to the National Collections Centre near Swindon, and the Stephenson Blake Collection is also being housed there, on behalf of the V&A. The DeLittle Collection is returning to York, the company’s city of origin. Its records are currently undergoing conservation and its objects are on display and in storage with York Centre for Print, which is associated with University of York.
How much material can you cram into the book? And more important, is your intent simply to preserve a memory—or something more ambitious?
The book contains photography and descriptions of around 150 artifacts. The intention is to share the highlights that I was able to document and increase understanding of their importance.
