The Faces of Victor Hammer
2022
6.5" x 6.5" 40pp hard cover letterpress and pigment prints
Foreword by Dan Reynolds
Edition of 50 copies
Wells College Press – Aurora, New York
Dry Inc. – Rochester, New York
ISBN 978-1-887196-19-2
The finest examples of any of Victor Hammer’s typefaces in use are found in his own limited-edition books that feature elegant compositions with generous leading and understated simplicity. Hammer’s dedication to and focus on the uncial form occupied many years of his prolific and varied artistic life. The archives of the Wells College Book Arts Center in Aurora, New York, hold the majority of the extant materials related to the making of his typefaces. Various punches, matrices, and trial castings found in this archive have inspired the typefaces presented in this book. The Faces of Victor Hammer features an intimate look at the man through a series of seven black and white photographs taken at Wells College in the 1940s by his friend, fellow Austrian expatriate Robert Haas. These portraits are paired with printed specimens of his typefaces. Materials were sourced from the Wells College Archives and reproductions were made where original materials could not be found. Specimens included feature the typefaces: Hammer Unziale (Hammerschrift), Ratdolt, Samson, Pindar, Aurora Uncial, American Uncial (3 sizes), Andromaque, Underwood Typewriter, plus Greek variants and test plate proofs.
This book was begun in the summer of 2018 at Wells College Press and completed Spring 2022 at Dry Inc., Rochester, NY. Photographs printed in black and grey pigment with an Epson Stylus Photo R2880 on 196g Hahnemühle Photo Rag Duo. Additional page paper is Hahnemühle 180g cotton. Metal type specimens are printed on tipped-in Kozuke White paper. The specimen header type is the same hand-set metal Spiral type used by Victor Hammer at Wells College, Aurora, NY. The running text is set in digital Emerson by Jerry Kelly. Additional specimens and running text are printed from photopolymer plates produced at Boxcar Press, Syracuse, NY. Marbled endpapers were made by Susan Doran specifically for this book. Case bound in rust colored Asahi cloth with inset "VH" title label. Design, printing, and binding by Richard Kegler. Signed and numbered 1-50.