editoradmin
WE beg your indulgence for a brief statement of ‘policy’, as is customary for new publications. Confusing you immediately, there is no concise statement since there are no inflexible rules; so the following must suffice:
1. Publication of The Web will regularly be irregular.
2. Our cotyledon (caught you running for a dictionary, didn’t we?) is not a typical issue since it is our intention that each one be different.
3. We will consider short stories and articles by other AJers, reserving the right to reject any manuscript.
4. The above rules are subject to change.
We hope the title of our publication will be descriptive since it is our wish that The Web will ensnare many interesting, but divergent topics, retaining them until called upon for nourishment or just plain enjoyment, for all ye AJ arachnids (why didn’t you bring the dictionary back with you?)
J. Ed. Newman, Editor
Shades of King Kong
For 30 years yours truly has paid the rent, fed and clothed the family and squandered the few pennies left from my income on foolish things like printing supplies, etc. – said income being derived solely from applying the modest amount of electronic knowledge I possess. Even from this vantage point I am continually amazed at the diversity of the medium; take for example the following bizarre use to which electronics was put:
Near the snow crested peak of Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya this summer 1965, lived a most unusual band of baboons. These apes were literally ‘wired for sound.’ As they fought, frolicked, and foraged for food, a group of researchers from the University of Washington observed their various bodily functions from a truck hidden in the bush nearby. The truck contained electronic receiving equipment to pick up broadcasts from tiny transducers previously imbedded in the animals while they were anesthetized. Implanted at the same time were tiny capsules of anesthetic to be exploded when the batteries began to run down, putting the baboon to sleep while his equipment was being serviced.
All of this jazz with radar equipped simians however, was no joke. The researchers were attempting to gather vital information in the study of heart reactions and selected baboons because their cardiovascular responses are closer to man’s than other laboratory animals. In the future more refined techniques are expected to be available and additionally, TV cameras will be used to observe the baboons visually along with electronic monitoring of their physiological reactions.
Seems like a long time ago that I sat up all night straining my ears trying to hear KDKA radiophone broadcasting over my crystal set.
P.S. Yes, I know King Kong is a go-rilla but I had to have some excuse to run that perfectly gorgeous old cut of him.
Steve Watts & Farmers’ Old Style Italic
Steve Watts, proprietor of the Privateer Press in Front Royal, Va. was mentioned in the October 1965 Inland Printer-American Lithographer. An article on types that have appeared in the Fifty Books Exhibition, held annually since 1923, recounts how Steve led a group of private printers who prevailed upon ATF to make a special casting of Original Old Style Italic. This type was cut about 1850 for the A. D. Farmer & Son Foundry and has long been admired by the best type men in America. It has been used 26 times in books selected for the exhibition. The special 18 point casting was fully subscribed and is not available from ATF. Steve may possibly have a font if you’d like this collector’s item in your case.
This ever happen to you?
A visitor, unacquainted with a print shop, came by the other day. Mrs. N. declares that the following excerpts from my conversation are verbatim:
Sure! Come on in and look around. Now I’d appreciate it if you just look and don’t touch anything. Ya’ see, everything – Uh, -wait. Better leave that alone please, yes thanks – everything in a print shop is w- DON’T TOUCH THAT! – is where it is for a good reason and while it may seem confusing, it has perfectly – STOP THAT YOU IDIOT! What in tarnation is wrong with – sorry old man. I’m a little touchy I guess – WATCH OUT! OH! NO! Won’t someone get this maniac outa here before I lock him up in a chase and PRINT him!
Goudy works available
Two books by Frederick W. Goudy, long out of print, are now available in a combined reissue. All printers and students of typography can benefit by study of The Alphabet and The Elements of Lettering published in an inexpensive paperback by Dover.
vy 73 & 30
The Web is composed & printed at
THE JEN PRESS
Roanoke, Va. 24019