First Principles of Typography, 2012

Stanley Morison’s classic essay on the foundational principles of typographic design which first appeared as the entry for ‘typography’ in the 1929 Encyclopedia Britannica is reproduced here from the 1946 Dutch Balkema edition. Canadian typographer Jason Dewinetz has appropriately chosen to print the wrapper, half-title, copyright, preface and colophon in Jan van Krimpen’s foundry Romanée, cast in Haarlem The Netherlands, by the House of Enschedé in 1928. The rest of the book is set in a digital revival of the Romanée types, with the specimen on page 11 in a digital revival of Lutetia, both redrawn and developed into OpenType fonts by Dewinetz. The paper is handmade Magnani Velata which has been hand-sewn and bound into a stiff wrapper of the same stock, the binding executed by Alanna Simenson in Vancouver. The printing was undertaken by Dewinetz on a Vandercook 15-21 at the Greenboathouse Press.

Edition of 50, 245 x 155mm, 28 pages.

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Alphabetum Romanum, The Letterforms of Felice Feliciano, c. 1460, Verona, 2010

Letterforms based on the original drawings of Felice Feliciano, c. 1460, redrawn and printed (‘alone and vital on the page’) by Jason Dewinetz with a foreword by Paul F. Gehl and an afterword by Jason Dewinetz. Also included is one of Jason Dewinetz’s reproductions of an Egon Shiele drawing and a bibliography for those wanting the background to this extraordinary work of art which received an Alcuin Award for Excellence in Book Design in Canada.

‘For him (Feliciano) geometrically constructed letters express eternal, mathematical ideals. They embody, and can confer immortality’. This is really a love story. The story of Jason Dewinetz’s love of letterforms and particularly those of Felice Feliciano. It is a slim volume that contains at least 550 years of typographic history.

Jason Dewinetz is a writer, editor, typographer, printer and publisher from the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada, with a background in English literature. His design and productions have won seven national book design awards and in 2010 his design for ‘This (And That Was That’) was shortlisted at the Frankfurt and Leipzig International Book Fairs in the ‘Best Book Design from All Over the World’ Competition.

80 pages, 200 x 155 mm, edition of 115 copies.

Letterforms printed from polymer plates on Magnani Biblos paper made in Italy. The wrapper and endsheets were handmade by Reg Lissel in Vancouver.

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