Description
Monotype ABC
This book traces the remarkable journey of Estonian book culture through the history of Monotype typesetting, from the first ABC to the quiet survival of Western typefaces in Estonia across political upheavals. Rather than a traditional educational ABC, the publication offers an artistic exploration of the expressive and technical possibilities of the Monotype casting machine.
Typeset on the original Tartu machine itself, the publication honors the craft, people, and typography that shaped Estonian print culture. This book was made in honor of the Estonian Book year 2025, marking 500 years since the first known book in Estonian.
The Design
The project moved from digital design to machine casting, letterpress printing, proofreading, binding, and the creation of a dust jacket. While the layout was developed on screen, the majority of the work unfolded through the physical process of casting and printing.
Monotype casting and letterpress printing allow no shortcuts, demand precision, discipline and patience, while revealing their rewards through material discovery.
As an object, the book is built around materials intrinsic to the Monotype process. The thread traditionally used to secure cast type binds the signatures, while the perforated paper (that is normally discarded after use) functions here as a dust jacket and a conceptual link between keyboard and caster. The color palette draws from the Monotype keyboard, using red, green, black and creamy Munken paper.
Made by and for enthusiasts
The interior is organised as spreads pairing each letter with a term with Monotype composed visual shapes reminiscent of ASCII art. The book is set in typefaces from the collection that support (mostly) Estonian and English and aims to offer artists, designers, and letterpress enthusiasts a tangible encounter with a system that helped to shape modern day printing and design.
Compilators:
Charlotte Biszewski
Danila Rygovskiy
Jörgen Loot
Merilin Metsamaa
Pawel Schulz
Designer:
Merilin Metsamaa
Editors:
Charlotte Biszewski
Ello Varjas
Author of the foreword:
Danila Rygovskiy
Casting & print:
Jörgen Loot
ESC volunteers:
Mariami Chimen, Patrycja Dunikowska, Sidharth Jaishankar, Manpreet Kaur, Natalia Kekelia, Göktürk Kilcan, Eto Kopaliani, Stamatis Kozas, Preslav Kushev, Yunru Li, Lana Mailian, Liam McLoughlin, Giorgi Nozadze, Achilles Tzallas and Sofia Vuorenmaa
Big thank you to:
Ian Gabb, Sallie Morris, University of Tartu, the whole TYPA team, Asia Bartonowicz, Tadeusz Sobczyk, Kärt Haak, Natalia Rygovskiy, Aleksandra Mozhaeva, Emilie Vahi, Teona Dzuliashvili and everyone else who contributed to making this book!
This project was funded by the Ministry of Cultures Creative Research Programme in the Cultural and Creative Fields.
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