Arabic Movable Metal Letters
December 21, 2007
Movable Metal Letters are just amazing. [Especially for type lovers like me ;)]
I have recently bought Arabic and Latin movable metal type. They were for an old Arabic printing press in the Shouf area in Mount Lebanon. The owner of the movable letters wanted to sale them as trash, and I was lucky to find out about them and save the valuable metal letters from being melted done or simply trashed.
9 Arabic fonts and 6 Latin fonts was what I got. Along with one Composing Stick.
What is amazing is that the Arabic mattress is twice as big as the Latin one.
For the Arabic, I got one Arabic Naskh typeface in 8pt, 12pt, 24pt Regular and Bold.
For the Latin I have Helvetica Italic in 48 pts, one Serif type named Romine and one Sans Serif type named Europe. Each of Romine and Europe are in 12 pt and 18pt.
I made a wooden closet for the Latin mattresses based on the traditional closet shape for the drawers… As for the Arabic mattresses, I am still thinking what is the best way to store or display them. I am thinking of a metallic shelves system to put the Arabic huge mattresses in since the wood will not be strong enough the hold them.
I am now in the process of cleaning them from dust, so this is taking me hell of a time. Whenever I have some time off or need to take a brake from work, I clean some letters.
My next step is to find and buy the traditional printing press, but this will take more time for me to put aside the price amount of it…
Then maybe open a small press for educational use where students can come and typeset type. And for sure I can use I to make some prints with it…
I would also like to know the names of the Arabic fonts and know their origins. When and where they were casted? Where were they before they got to the Shouf press?…
Entry Filed under: Arabic Calligraphy, Arabic Fonts, Arabic Type, Arabic Type Designer, Arabic Typography, Lebanese Type, Lebanon, My Arabic Type, Pascal Zoghbi, Type, Type Pics. .
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1.
kjapelian | December 21, 2007 at 11:45 am
[Especially for type lovers like me ;)]….. and me too :)
Paco you should be generous as always and give us some samples right? :)
2.
Moey | December 22, 2007 at 10:39 pm
that is great and amazing. i love vintage stuff
3.
H.M | December 25, 2007 at 5:37 am
Wow… just wow.
I can’t tell you how much even looking at those pictures excites me - I can’t believe that guy was gonna throw it away — if I had it my way I’d frame all of them and put them up on my wall.
4.
Sam | December 29, 2007 at 4:54 pm
u were LUCKY ur two GOOD students found the print place…:P
and u bought them withought even tellin them … !! youuuuuu …. TYPO FREAK :P !!!
have fun cleanin …….:D
5.
Pascal Zoghbi | December 31, 2007 at 5:05 pm
hey sam
well thanks once again for helping find the old arabic printing press in the shouf area.
cheers mate
6.
K_Co | February 13, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Fantastic! I can’t wait to see the work coming off the press (when you get it, of course)
7.
K & Co. » Cross&hellip | February 13, 2008 at 5:06 pm
[...] While looking for some Arabic calligraphy samples for my SCA-related hobbies, I stumbled on Pascal Zoghbi, an Arabic type designer and typographer. He’s got a blog, which is brilliant and geeky, as well as a website. Check out this post on vintage metal movable Arabic type! [...]
8.
Middle-eastern typography&hellip | February 26, 2008 at 8:20 pm
[...] Arabic movable type letters, check out more pictures on Pascal Zoghbi’s blog [...]
9.
Thomas Milo | May 11, 2008 at 9:01 am
Hi Pascal, this is great. You may have rescued important historical evidence. I m looking forward to see details. I would also love to join you in analyzing the structure of these fonts.
Regards,
t