Tuesday 26 June 2012

ABC Wednesday - X

Can you spot the X?  If I had been thinking "X is one of the tricky letters for ABC Wednesday" while I gazed at this typeset  it could have been centre stage, but I was only thinking that I liked the different sized compartments on this typesetting sort.  I'll make it easy by cropping
There it is second row down next to the Y on the left.  The type sorts were in the Plantin Moretus Museum the location of two of the oldest printing presses in the world and both home and workshop of the Plantin Moretus family from the 16th Century until in 1876 when the whole caboodle was sold to the city of Antwerp and today is on the UNESCO World Heritage List
It houses libraries, maps and rare books such as this 16th Century Bible Polyglotta written in five languages. Just imagine how many different little letters and fonts you would need to make this page. 
But it is just as interesting to walk around this museum and see how a Flemish trading family lived in those sometimes turbulent centuries.  Here is its tranquil courtyard which at a stretch could contain another X if you considered it a tree planted garden walk, a xystus ---

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a walk through the alphabet from A to Z


10 comments:

Roger Owen Green said...

love the word polyglotta - knew what it meant, but still appreciated it.
ROG, ABC Wednesday team

Meoww said...

Good one for the x!

Leslie: said...

How cool is that - you photographed just the right letter for us at ABCW!

Leslie
abcw team

Rajesh said...

Wonderful choice and museum looks good.

EJ said...

Oh yeah, huge X.

X is for Xeroderma

Paula Scott Molokai Girl Studio said...

I'm a sucker for anything that has to do with typography-especially typesets like this one!

Chubskulit Rose said...

Love that last X, beautiful!

Xanthopsia
Rose, ABC Wednesday Team

VioletSky said...

I love typesets and have started a collection of odd letters. I still have a ways to go as I only have 8 (different letters) out of 26.

Oakland Daily Photo said...

You are a clever soul. A literal and conceptual X. Most of us are challenged to find only one. The first typeset photo is wonderful. Think of the zillions of words and books these metal letters create!

Anonymous said...

so interesting, and the courtyard and garden look so peaceful