iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

I somehow totally relate to this self-portrait? by Georg Fuhriman (Switzerland, 1685). His little feet are my favorite my favorite part. Also, i have so many questions . #NewberryLibrary

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Tell me your favorite typography-related things in Paris….

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

I agree that it is super romantic!

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

For our anniversary, my boyfriend bought us each a share in The Library Company of Philadelphia! I was matched with a share once owned by James Ronaldson, 1/2 of Binny&Ronaldson, the 1st U.S. type foundry. We were also given a copy of the first LCP catalogue, which bf is using as a shopping list.

Certificate from The Library Company of Philadelphia listing the previous owners of share #236. The list includes: Richard Humphrey (1769); Peter Benson (1791); Matthew Kean (1800); and James Ronaldson (1803).

Underneath that list is a small printed card about shareholding at the Library Company

Front cover of a book featuring paste paper boards and a small label reading Catalogue of the Library Company of Philadelphia. 1741

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Thanks! It’s a reminder to take any unusual pain seriously!

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

I was at Graceland Cemetery last week to visit the grave of my friend Bob Williams, who died last year. His marker is a reproduction of his bookplate, which was designed by Thomas Ingmire. Right around the corner from Bob is the grave of László Moholy-Nagy! I think that would please him…

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

I was very happy to stumble upon this grave at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago! It’s not often one sees a log font on a grave.

Log shaped headstone of Olof Vider (1834-1914); Sara Vider (1839-1935); and Emel Vider(d. 1881). The name “Vider” is rendered in a log font.

Log-shaped headstone of the Vider family

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Just going to say that in 2019 I had an aortic dissection. My only symptom was really weird jaw pain in the middle of the night that prompted me to go to the hospital.

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

There’s something quite mesmerizing about this.

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

New signs are up on my train platform! My cats are excited to listen to the concert while I am at work.

Blue, black, and white sign on train platform reading “59th St./Univ. of Chicago”. Underneath is a new addition reading “Obama Presidential Center “

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

I forgot that I wrote this! I Love Typography also has a blog post on this that is good, iirc.

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Springtide Press always sends the loveliest ephemera!

Small letterpress print on cream paper with yellow flowers and green display type that reads: Bouquet the Day and Spring Tidings

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Thanks- this is so fascinating!

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Well then anyone would have made that mistake.🦷

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

What’s a wrong dental appointment?

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

My boyfriend went to the Museum of the American Revolution and all he sent me was this photo that does not center Lafayette’s writing box.

Manuscript draft of the 1789 French Declaration of the Rights of Man by Lafayette. To the right, mostly cropped out of the shot is a wooden box that held Lafayette’s writing set. You can just see the tip of a quill!

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Is this the same type on the “Today I shall have the confidence of a CTA bus driver “ print?

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

I would totally have bought that

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

For #NationalHandwritingDay -18th c writing master Ralph Snow’s letter to his future wife, written in gold ink. Classy! #NewberryLibrary

Letter written in English round hand in gold ink. At the top is the salutation “Madam” written in more of a black letter style, with a very decorative “M”.

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

The anniversary of Paine’s Common Sense prompted me to look through the copies we have at home. My favorite is this 1819 edition with a note that it was purchased in an ale house. It doesn’t get more radical than 1819 + ale house!

Title page of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense (London, 1819)

Manuscript note reading “Purchased 1827. from an ale house in Magdalen Parish, through Bradfield. 0.3.6”

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Polytype was essentially a copying process! It could reproduce handwriting very quickly: Franklin & Jefferson saw it demoed in Paris (TJ writes about it in some of his letter). It could also be used as a stereotyping process for printed books. André Jammes did a short book about it.

Polytyped print of a handwritten note with a manuscript note added at the bottom. You can see the edges of the plate (like an engraved plate) along the edges

Title page of Jammes’ book L’Imprimerie Polytype: Une Officine Expétimentale et Clandestine au Service du Duc D’Orléans. 1783-1787

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

The Jammes item I probably show most often is the (20th c) prints from the original 17th c Grandjean Romain du Roi plates. Such a treat, always. Love. 💗 #NewberryLibrary

Sheet show construction of uppercase letters on a grid system

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Another item I acquired more recently from Jammes is this suite of model letters from L. Labbé, c. 1900, including these fun Lettres Tordues. #NewberryLibrary

White uppercase letters on a pink background. The letters appear to be bending or twisting up off the page

A variety of lettering for different signs. Includes a delightful printer’s fist for a Sortie sign.

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

One of my fave #NewberryLibrary acquisitions from Jammes is a collection from L’Imprimerie Polytype, the 37th of 36(!) presses in Paris -allowed only because of its use of a new polytype method of printing-incl. the 1786-7 day-book which somehow survived the dramatic shutdown of the press in 1787.

Prospectus of Journal Polytype in a script font.

Opening of day book from 1787, showing manuscript entries

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

Note from Hans Baron stapled onto 1954 Jammes catalogue

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

André Jammes was immensely important in the building of the Wing collection at the #NewberryLibrary….

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

Does anyone know the origin of Isaiah Thomas’s Long Primer no. IV? I don’t find it in any Caslon specimens that I have to hand.

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

My Trader Joe’s shopping list for later today;-) From the hugely enjoyable Typographic Advertiser (London, 1863), a type specimen masquerading as a magazine. #NewberryLibrary

A 18th century illustration with a man holding a signboard while a small group of women and children crowd around him. The sign proclaims “Soap, candles, shrimps, gooseberries, and treacle “

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

If the State Dept doesn’t want to use Calibri or Times New Roman, they could always opt for Satanick, an 1890s knockoff of William Morris’s Troy by ATF

Title page of a type specimen for ATF’s Satanick, a semi-gothic typeface. It features a red “S” along with William Morris-style leafy flourishes

Advertisement with the type specimen that says The Satanick Specimen is printed with the Nathan German Printing Inks for which the American Type founders Co. is United States agent. The ad features a woodcut initial and a floral flourish

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

These are great. I love Astronef Super.

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Just going to leave this here. What think ye of the Congress Now? (James Rivington, 1775)

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

Jamie has a lot of questions about Thomas McKean. Yes, I know that the Declaration is crooked.

A chunky black and white cat stares at the signatures on a framed William Stone engraving of the Declaration of Independence

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Of course they would know!!😍🥰

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Serious question: What happened to all those giant copies of the Constitution that I saw being carried in the protests on Saturday? Where do they live? Asking for a friend who collects Constitutions.

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

There is only one king in my life.

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

Our new exhibition is now open!

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Dr. Jill E Gage @jillegage.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

I have never taken a photo that better captures the personality of this cat.

Grey tabby cat lying with her body on the radiator and her head resting on a 19th century settee. She looks very depressed

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