Common Press Makers Blog

Beyond the physical spaces between words and letters, we can examine the Declaration of Independence for the uneven space that was afforded for people in the document. Of the 1,320 words in the Declaration, there is space offered for two large categories of humans: the masculine (“He”, “Mankind”, “Men”) and the words “merciless Indian Savages”.

Ironworks, like crucibles, functioned as melting pots of a sort in which capital, people, and ideas from Europe, Africa, and North America met, collided, and melded to form something new and uniquely American. -John Bezis-Selfa

Time in the Revolutionary Era

This will be an interesting experiment to try to see what printing was like before modern illumination. Without strong lighting, it may take us a little while longer to print copies of the broadside, but slowing down and enjoying the process is not a bad thing at all.

In January 1775, three newspapers launched in Philadelphia. Each of these printers promised to preserve the liberty of the press. The proposals for these newspapers show the opportunities and challenges of sharing information during the tumult of the Revolutionary War.

A brief history of the Dunlap broadside and the Caslon type that was used to print it, for the Uncovered Narratives #1: Printing and Type in the Revolutionary era.

An introduction to The Typography of Independence and the Makers Blog