Reverting to Type

We are always delighted to hear of the many different ways our users draw on information from our collections, and we were fascinated to hear how details of local businesses, gleaned from the 1958 Post Office directory, had been used in the exhibition and portfolio Reverting To Type produced by New North Press.
Phil Baines, graphic designer, Professor of Typography at Central Saint Martins, and a regular visitor to the Archives, used the directory to find out which businesses had been located along Willesden High Road in 1958, and used this as inspiration for a hand-set and printed artwork. New North Press, an artisan letterpress studio in east London, recently ran an exhibition showing the work of letterpress studios from around the world, and an accompanying portfolio of typographic collaborations with writers, sculptors, and other ‘wordsmiths’, including Vikram Seth and Stevey Scullion.
Phil said of his contribution to the portfolio, entitled Willesden High Road in 1958, “I was seduced by the incredible variety of decorative types at the press and felt that they shared an affinity with old shop-fronts. I have re-imagined Willesden High Road in the year I was born using copy from the Post Office Directory for London.” He has donated one of the limited edition prints – both a beautiful work of art, and a little piece of local history – to the Archives.
You can find out more about the project at the New North Press website, and see photographs of printing work for Reverting To Type at Phil’s flickr site.