Zoom – Paul F. Gehl on Bob Middleton, The Designer-Craftsman Par Excellence

March Midday Program

Robert Hunter Middleton (1898-1985) was a Caxton Club stalwart for half a century. He is now remembered primarily as a pioneer in the revival of the great engraver on wood, Thomas Bewick. In his own day, however, Middleton was best known as the prolific designer of types for the Ludlow Typograph Company of Chicago. In 1985, the Caxton Club published a retrospective of Middleton’s career as RHM: The Man and His Letters, still the standard reference. In this talk, Paul Gehl will illustrate how Middleton embodied (and wrote about) the relationship of fine press printing and other craft practices to design for mass-market, industrial scale printing.

Paul is Curator Emeritus at the Newberry Library. At the Newberry, he processed the Middleton archive, and after retirement he authored a book on Middleton’s early career as type designer. Just this year he edited a volume with the title, The Designer-Craftsman Speaks: Writings of Robert Hunter Middleton.

Both of Paul’s books and the Caxton Club’s memorial volume will be available for purchase upon registering for the program. See details below. Prices include tax and shipping.

Register today.

Preregistration required via website. Zoom presentation is free and open to all. Please forward this notice to anyone who may find it of interest.

Even if you can’t attend at the scheduled time, if you’re interested, please register. After the program, we’ll send an email to all registrants, asking if you’d like a link to the complete recording. That way you can see the program even if you couldn’t attend live, ran into technical issues, or simply wanted to watch it again.