THE OLD SCHOOL PRESS

Moments in the making of Oxford's Ornaments

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As well as the text itself, a book needs running heads and folios (page numbers). In this book I have two line lengths (32em and 24em) and the ornaments come in a number of different sizes which requires spacing for 8pt up to 30pt. The result is that a mass of material has to be kept handy, and even though I have a large 'stone' it rapidly fills as work proceeds. Middle left you can see the block I had made of one of the ornaments much enlarged - this was used on the dust-jackets of the standard copies.

One occasionally gets the opportunity to buy some equipment from a print-shop that is closing and one buys a mass of material - leads, spacing, Resalite furniture, etc - and it can feel like an extravagance. But at moments like this it pays off! I even had three composing sticks going here.