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June 2001
Page, William H. & Company. Specimens of Wood Type, Borders, Rules, Etc. Norwich [CT], 1859.
William H. Page (1829-1906), originally a wood type finisher, founded his eponymous company in 1856 in Connecticut. This book, of which only two other copies are known, was not only the first type specimen published by the firm, but also the largest wood type specimen issued in America to date. Its 168 leaves highlighted the vast size and stylistic variations possible with wood types and ornaments -- variations which both reflected and encouraged an emergent graphic print world that used type as much to catch one's attention as to convey information. This type specimen also functioned as a piece of advertising for the firm itself -- it demonstrated the company's impressive inventory which was realized by fifty highly skilled workers and the seventeen wood type cutting machines they operated.
The variety, sophistication, and beauty of the wood types represented within this book indicate why Page & Company stayed in business for so long, even with stiff competition, until the early 1890s. Many of Page's typefaces were distributed among type founders both nationally and internationally, and the larger examples, uncommon for the time, added visual impact to such ephemeral yet ubiquitous items as Civil War recruiting posters and advertising broadsides. Page himself was characterized as a man having "a rare combination of shrewdness and imagination backed by a great deal of physical energy," qualities captured in this exceptional type specimen.