In the mid-nineteenth century, the French Ministry of the Navy ordered all fishermen to register with local authorities. Drifter boats and sardine luggers were henceforth required to sport a clearly visible number and initial letter on their bows and sails, in order to help the gendarmes identify them. Boat numbers followed a consistent ‘Didot’ style until the mid-1880s before they began to shift. Blackletter initials occasionally popped up on hulls, as did ornamental squares or diamonds. Rounded letters opened up to the point of illegibility, ending in assertive ball terminals and spectacular bifurcations (or ‘barbs’) appeared at the feet of numerals with vertical stems. According to some old seadogs, the alphabet à barbes was invented to make the figures ‘favourable for fishing’ and to bring good fortune. But other witnesses rejected this superstitious idea. Far from being incompatible, these viewpoints provide insights into the varied perspectives of seafarers. Written by Yoann De Roeck and edited by Alice Savoie and Jérôme Knebusch in the Poem Pamphlet series.

Bilingual (French, German) supplement to Pangramme: learning type catalogue, published by ESAL Metz, published at the occasion of the traveling exhibition at Biennale de design graphique Chaumont and Museum für Druckkunst Leipzig in 2017 and 2018. Texts by Andrea Tinnes, Thomas Huot-Marchand, Sébastien Morlighem and Jérôme Knebusch. 15x26 cm, 16 pages pamphlet. Free PDF downloads (links below). More information about the exhibtion here.

It is usually believed that the typefounder Robert Thorne (1753–1820) was the first to have introduced in the early 19th century the ‘fat face’, a swollen offspring of the new ‘modern’ types then in vogue. Sébastien Morlighem’s essay intends to reassess his precise role in its development as well as other English founders. It is built on a re-reading of several key texts and a careful survey of original specimen books from the Thorne, Caslon & Catherwood, Fry & Steele and Figgins foundries. Edited by Alice Savoie and Jérôme Knebusch in the Poem Pamphlet series.

Louis Hoell cut the punches for the only published typeface Otto Eckmann ever designed. The story of the Eckmannschrift’s creation has often been told. In retrospect, it was the release that made Karl Klingspor’s reputation as a typefoundry director of note. Yet instead of looking at the Eckmannschrift from Klingspor or Eckmann’s point of view, Dan Reynolds's essay directs its focus to what Hoell’s design contributions to the project might have been. With rare and unpublished material from the Klingspor archives in Offenbach am Main. Edited by Alice Savoie and Jérôme Knebusch in the Poem Pamphlet series.

Editorial design of the Pangramme: learning type design catalogue, published by ESAL Metz, 2016. The catalogue showcases fifty unpublished student type designs, interviews held by the Design graphique & Typographie class at ESAL Metz with the jury members: Andrea Tinnes (Germany), Alejandro Lo Celso (Argentina), Matthieu Cortat (France), Hans-Jürg Hunziker (Switzerland) & Gerard Unger (Netherlands). The catalogue features also bibliography in images, essential books when learning type design, published between 1905 and 2016. Book entirely printed in single black, and distributed freely at the opening of the exhibition. 15x26 cm, 200 pages, soft-cover with dustjacket, limited to 300 copies. Free PDF download of the catalogue (link below). More information about the exhibition here.

Rudolf Koch's and Fritz Kredel's remarkable Blumenbuch [the flower book] was published several times between 1929 and 1942, from pocket book editions to precious volumes and portfolios, involving many collaborators, printers and publishers like Mainzer Presse, Ernst-Ludwig-Presse in Darmstadt and Insel-Verlag, Leipzig. The essay by Jérôme Knebusch compiles a detailed chronology of the different editions and presents rare and unpublished material from the archives of the Klingspor Museum, Offenbach am Main. About the Blumenbuch is the first of the Poem Pamphlet series edited by Alice Savoie and Jérôme Knebusch.

From metal type to phototypesetting, from the typewriter to the Minitel, and from engraving to dry-transfer lettering, the typographical work of Ange Degheest (1928-2009) testifies of the numerous technical changes the printing and telecommunication sectors went through during the second half of the twentieth century. Ange Degheest’s story is remarkable and a perfect illustration of the technical odyssey that took place throughout the twentieth century. Yet it is astonishing and disturbing to realise that, in spite of the quality and diversity of her lettering and type design work, her name has been forgotten amongst the list of those who have shaped the history of typography to this day. Reviving Ange Degheest was collectively written in Benjamin Gomez's type design class at EESAB Rennes by Eugénie Bidaut, Oriane Charvieux, Anaïs Déal, Luna Delabre, Camille Depalle, Mandy Elbé, Justine Herbel and May Jolivet. Afterword 'Ange Degheest, a female ghost of France’s type history' by Alice Savoie. Edited by Alice Savoie and Jérôme Knebusch in the Poem Pamphlet series.