A design festival for people who use type
Tour: Typographic Treasures at Columbia University
In 1941 Columbia University took possession of the American Type Founders Library & Museum. The collection includes the type specimens from the various firms absorbed by ATF and the collection created by Henry Lewis Bullen while he worked there. It was a working reference library for the company and “to serve as a model of art and craftsmanship to students of typography…to memorialize or honor predecessors in our profession or printers now living…[and to] enhance the appreciation by the general public of printing as an art and influence.”
The Rare Book and Manuscript Library has specialized in the history of printing since its founding in 1930. In this visit you’ll look at some of the highlights of the collections up close such as 16th century writing masters’ manuals, original type specimens and typographically important books from the earliest days of print up to the 21st century.
About Jane Siegel
Jane Rodgers Siegel is the Rare Book Librarian at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University, where she has spent nearly 30 years in the company of the best collection of type specimens on this continent.