Type specimens were books produced by type foundries, the companies that manufactured the metal and wood type used in printing presses, to showcase the type for potential buyers. After looking at the books myself I see their point. It was organized by The People’s Museums of Philadelphia, a project run by the artists Leah Mackin and Alina Josan, and its conceit was that anyone who looked through type specimens like the one above would want to read aloud from them-to “declaim their contents,” as the organizers put it. Yes, our library is a special place, and the “Reading Type Specimens Aloud” event was unique. It’s such a wonderful library, in fact, that if you were feeling fanciful-or if you had recently looked through a book of type specimens-you might be inclined to call it eminently grand, bold and solid, magnificent. In June I attended an unusual event at Parkway Central, Philadelphia’s wonderful main library.
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