Last Copies of Six Centuries and Pre-Orders for How Comics Were Made
Welcome to May, everyone! A few projects updates in this brief issue.
A Week of Research and Visits
I spent last week in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut, visiting research libraries at Princeton, Columbia, and Yale, though not in that order. (Let me tell you some time about my planning on how to not go to New York with a rental car. It worked out great!) I also visited the studios of Garry Trudeau’s colorist and designer, George Corsillo, and “Zippy the Pinhead” cartoonist, the legendary Bill Griffith.
This was part of a final research push for my book in progress, How Comics Were Made, to grab some final data, a number of images, and check some facts. Entirely worthwhile, and I managed to take in Merrily We Roll Along on Broadway along the way. You can see some photos and read a full account in an update for the book project at Kickstarter.
Pre-orders went live a few weeks ago for the book, which funded on Kickstarter in March. You can pre-order an ebook or print edition, or still buy in at a higher tier for unique and limited awards. The book remains on track to ship starting in October 2024.
In New York, I stopped through the Alamo Drafthouse in Lower Manhattan to visit The Press Room, their printing-themed bar. Alamo’s art director contacted me a couple of years ago for some advice on the captions for the exhibition drawn from 50,000 movie ad printing plates, as the details covered flong, typesetting, printing, and more. I was happy to oblige and this was my first chance to visit since it opened during the pandemic! (You can read about the history of these plates and watch a short film about them, even.)
The Last of the Six Centuries Books
Back in 2019, I launched the Tiny Type Museum & Time Capsule project with my friend Anna, who built the cases. It was a rousing success in the crowdfunding phase, and working on it in 2020 helped keep me sane during the pandemic’s first year.
While the last of the museums sold out in early 2022, I had an edition of just over 400 copies of Six Centuries of Type & Printing made alongside the museum; each museum got a copy and I’ve been slowly selling the rest of this hot-metal typeset, letterpress-printed book about the scope of technological change across centuries.
I made the book an add-on item in the pre-order store for How Comics Were Made, and had a surprisingly large uptake. I’m now down to about 45 copies left, and selling a few every day.
If you backed How Comics Were Made or plan to pre-order a copy, you can get the print edition as a discounted $150 add-on (free U.S. shipping; $25 to the rest of the world). Just go to the pre-order site and add the book.
You can purchase the book directly from my website for $175 as a bundle that includes the ebook edition and U.S. shipping. The ebook is available separately for $10.
Thank you as always for your ongoing interest in my eclectic work. I love what I’m able to do, and it’s only possible through your support.
—Glenn