Words Rather than Pictures

This spectacular type specimen book, consisting of 48 very large pages, not only presents the new SuperScotch serif typeface developed by François Rappo but also offers a successful homage to the art of printing. The volume’s letterpress printing – which necessitated a great deal of handcraftsmanship – alludes to the typeface’s historical inspiration in Scottish typography of nineteenth-century travel publications. Six different paper types – some of which include cotton fibre – occasion an intriguing haptic diversity, and both the ink application and the impression left by the printing plates confer to the sometimes huge characters a tangible impact. The texts, consisting of extracts from two books by John Baldessari, printed in very strong black and in varying layouts, create an expressive effect; yet they are executed in a thoughtful and controlled fashion and draw the reader in. The design manages to achieve a sense of unity, despite the numerous changes in paper, layout and letter size. The landscape-format screen-printed cover has the air of a bonus feature and is reminiscent of the semi-card used in the printing industry to separate stacks of paper. Treading a fine line between historical reproduction and new creation, the publication accurately reflects the identity of the typeface.

Editor
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Author
John Baldessari (1931–2020)

Design
Studio Optimo – Gilles Gavillet, Joana Siniavskaja, Genève (CH)

Printing
Non, c’est Noir sur Noir – Che Huber, Genève (CH)

Publisher
Optimo, Genève (CH)

ISBN
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