Artyping (First Editions)
Julius Nelson’s seminal text on typewriter art, Artyping (1939), is now included in OPEN’s Start Dot Star archive. Our thanks to John at JF Ptak Science Books and James at Aleator Press for working with us to ensure the pair can live on as a set, documenting the transition from a self-published DIY project to being an official, highly influential title with Gregg. Both will be on display this fall at our Fleet Library show at the Rhode Island School of Design.
The 1939 first edition was published by Artyping Bureau—Julius Nelson himself. It’s a 8.5” x 11” staple-bound booklet with cloth binding tape, 44 pp. There’s a Library of Congress stamp with their 10mm perforated "LC" mark on the title page and their surplus stamp at the back. Also a tiny rubber stamp. "Pamphlet Collection,” on the top right front cover.
“…an incredible series of sections that teach anyone from the novice to the expert typist how to create a border, cut-outs, lettering, cross-stitch patterns, and even letterhead.” — Lori Emmerson
You can view this booklet on Archive.org, as well as second and third (1974) editions. Select pages from Archive.org’s scans of the Gregg Publishing edition are below. Apologies the scans above are cropped on the edge; barely fit in our scanner.
LQQK! This is one of the earliest works to make an explicit connection between typewriter art and needlepoint / cross stitch—a link rarely discussed in histories of ASCII art. Typewriters were initially marketed as a tool for women, and Nelson—a typing educator—would no doubt have been aware of the early contributions of stenographers like Flora F.F. Stacey. We also have a postcard in the archive featuring the ‘soldiers’ drawings—didn’t know the origin! Great stuff.
