Today, I launched a Kickstarter campaign for a second edition of Six Centuries of Type & Printing. The book briskly tells the story across 64 pages of the evolution of type and printing, starting with early documented efforts and surviving artifacts from China and Korea, and introducing Gutenberg and his innovations. It then takes you through each generation of increasing sophistication in metal and relief printing until the abrupt 20th century shift into flat offset printing, which was made possible through photographic and digital improvements, and phototypesetting and digital composition.

If you have been following my adventures for a few years, you might remember the 2019 project, The Tiny Type Museum & Time Capsule. Collaborator Anna Peterson created over 100 hand-crafted wooden cases, and I collected and commissioned thousands of type and printing artifacts (including original artwork) and wrote and produced the Six Centuries book.

That 2020 edition of the book was in an edition of about 425 set in hot metal in the north of England, printed by letterpress in London, and bound in Germany. The price ranged from $125 to $175 from Kickstarter to selling out early in 2025.

This new edition will capture all of the qualities of the original book but be printed by offset in North America, making it far more affordable. I had wanted to bring the book back into print, and many people had told me that they would purchase a copy if only it were not so dearly priced.

I plan to update the book’s text to incorporate new insights and research, digitally typeset it, and have it bound with the same look as the letterpress edition: the stark red endpapers with printed type and printing artifacts, the green cloth cover, and the bronze foil stamping.

The campaign has several tiers, from ebook only ($10), print/ebook bundle ($32 for all-comers), signed and inscribed ($55), and signed, inscribed, and gift-wrapped in paper derived from the book ($75). (Shipping is additional.)

There’s also a special limited tier called Tiny Type Underwriter. At that $750 level, you get a unique set of type artifacts that I sourced for or had made for the Tiny Type Museum. You’re also thanked in the book, and receive three copies of the print and ebook editions. Each print book can be separately gift-wrapped and inscribed as well.

You can back the campaign for the next 30 days at Kickstarter!