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David Shields

@19cwt-obscura.bsky.social

146 followers 208 following 15 posts

Designer & typographer & archivist & professor & (accidentally?) historian. I’m author & designer of the monograph The Rob Roy Kelly American Wood Type Collection: A History and Catalog published by UT Press. Text missives at @19cwt.bsky.social

Posts Replies Media

Reposted by David Shields

Typofonderie: fonts & typography @typofonderie.com · 21/08/2025

E. Laurent et Deberny fonderie (mid 19th).

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David Shields @19cwt-obscura.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Letterform face-off across West O’Reilly Street in Presidio, Texas. #letterforms #SignPainting

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David Shields @19cwt-obscura.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

Some noodling on the RISO w/ all variants of Wm H Page & Co’s Gothic Paneled — 1st shown in its 1874 _Specimen of Chromatic Wood Type…_ and patented on 3 March 1874 as US Design Patent 7,230. www.woodtyperesearch.com/chromatic-…

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David Shields @19cwt-obscura.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

Happy Birthday, William Thomas Morgans, born July 2, 1844. He was one of the dominant producers & innovators of wood type in the US in the late 1870s, serving as the founding partner of the wood type companies Young & Morgans (1876) and later Morgans & Wilcox Mfg Co (1880).

Green paper cover with title of 1881 Morgans & Wilcox specimen catalog printed in black ink, held in Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University.

Cream color paper title page of 1882 Morgans & Wilcox specimen catalog printed in black ink, held in Cary Collection, RIT.

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Reposted by David Shields

Pooja Saxena @matratype.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

🥁 Welcome INDIA STREET LETTERING, the book! 🥁 I’m working with @blaft.bsky.social to bring together my documentation of letterforms from India’s cities into a 200-page hardcover full-colour book. Support the project on Kickstarter ➡️ www.kickstarter.com/projects/bla... I promise it’ll be amazing!

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David Shields @19cwt-obscura.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

I’ve updated the list of Rob Roy Kelly’s 1964 folio w/ newly located copies www.woodtyperesearch.com No 5, in a private collection, was Kelly’s personal copy, recently consigned by his daughter. #WoodType #TypeSpecimen #type #typography #LetterForms #NineteenthCentury #Archives #Bibliography

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David Shields @19cwt-obscura.bsky.social · 26/04/2025

Darius Wells born 26 April 1800 Kingsboro, NY. Invented the router (lateral revolving cutting tool) to make the 1st machine cut #WoodType in 1828. An active abolitionist he ran a station on the underground railroad in Patterson, NJ helping enslaved humans move north to Canada to live as free humans.

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David Shields @19cwt-obscura.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Accidental typographic palimpsest, encountered in Special Collections at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC. ——— #WoodType #letterforms #typography #archives #libraries #collections #bibliography #TypeSpecimen #TypeDesign #TypeHistory #letterpress #type #design #NineteethCentury #Palimpsest

Overlapping typographic forms from 1844 L. Johnson specimen catalog. Cream colored stock with low contrast tonal value letterforms.

Overlapping typographic forms from 1854 Wells & Webb wood type specimen catalog. Cream colored stock with low contrast tonal value letterforms.

Overlapping typographic forms from 1827 George Bruce specimen catalog. Cream colored stock with high contrast tonal value letterforms.

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David Shields @19cwt-obscura.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

HBD Henry P Hamilton born 21 Apr 1862 youngest of 3 brothers, worked with older brthr George at _The Detroit Record_ as a printer & then with oldest brthr James at Hamilton & Baker, later Hamilton Mfg Co Credited patents USD37308 & 37309 www.woodtyperesearch.com/hamilton-m… #WoodType

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David Shields @19cwt-obscura.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

HBD! Horatio Nelson Bill born in Lebanon, Conn., USA, March 25, 1824. He worked as a sign painter before cutting wood type for Edwin Allen (w/ brother Jeremiah). They formed their own wood type co., H & J Bill (1850), then Bill, Stark & Co (1853), closed in 1854, & was sold to Wm. H. Page in 1856.

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David Shields @19cwt-obscura.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

Happy Birthday William Hamilton Page,born in Tilton, NH, USA, March 14, 1829. Images shown here from his co’s 1878 specimen catalog, slightly repurposed from 1867. More at www.woodtyperesearch.com/william-hamilton-page/ #WoodType #TypeSpecimen #letterforms #typography #archives #libraries #19cwntu

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David Shields @19cwt-obscura.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

A few textures encountered while looking at type specimen catalogs held at the Smithsonian’s National American History Museum, and at the Library of Congress. File under: 2-jam-packed-days in DC. #WoodType #19thCentury #typography #Letterpress #WoodEngraving #archives #libraries

Black and white contour lines from close up of wood engraving.

Black and white cross hatched lines from close up of wood engraving.

Black and white wavy, undulating lines from close up of wood engraving.

Angled forms in tightly cropped detail of type specimen.

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