Chromatic Wood Type Explained

Posted by: Matt Rieck 7 years, 6 months ago

In the middle of the American Victorian era (1860s–1870s) a new method of introducing a splash of color to letterpress printing was invented by William H. Page in Connecticut. Chromatic wood type allowed for a circus-like color effect to dance across the printed page. Through the passage of time and loss of actual chromatic fonts, the concept of overprinting one ink on a second ink using separate wood type blocks to create a third color has been lost and/or misunderstood. Here we will showcase how the letterpress printer can unleash a circus of color with Virgin Wood Type's Chromatic Ornate.

Illustration of how chromatic type works

NEXT BLOG POST: Looking at William H. Page's Specimens of Chromatic Wood Type.



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