Thursday, 23 April 2026 (1pm BST)
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Richard Ardagh talked about his recently published book, Type Archived, which documents the treasures of traditional typefounding held at London’s legendary Type Archive. Showcasing highlights from some eight million items, these collections form a tangible history of typography and printing in the UK, from the ancient materials of Sheffield foundry Stephenson Blake and the woodletter factory of Robert DeLittle in York, to the precision ‘hot-metal’ machinery and global operations of The Monotype Corporation. Richard studied punchcutting and matrix-making with the senior staff on site, until the Archive’s closure in 2023. In this talk, he shared his experiences of ‘engineering the word’, thoughts on tacit knowledge, the ‘obsolete’ skills that he acquired, and how his discoveries eventually became a book.
About the speaker
Richard Ardagh is a typographer whose design sensibility has been informed by working with letterpress. His eponymous graphic design practice is known for its beautifully produced art publications and he runs this alongside artisan letterpress studio New North Press, where he is a partner. In 2014 he commissioned A23D, a 3D-printed letterpress font which won an award for Typographic Excellence from Type Directors Club, New York.