r/bookbinding • u/ThePhantomOnTheGable • 15h ago

Help? Tooling Font Size

Howdy!

I’m considering blowing a sizeable chunk of my bonus later this year on a set of Talas Edinburgh brass type and a handle for gold tooling

Because of the cost, I want to get one font size that will last me a while: theirs goes from 6pt to 36pt.

For those of you who have used them before, font size would you recommend?

It will mostly be used for titles on spines.

13 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

3

u/Ben_jefferies 13h ago

I would say 12 or at most 16 if you want to title horizontally across the spine

3

u/Annied22 12h ago

Assuming you plan on making horizontal titles, I'd go for a smaller size, probably the 10 or even the 8pt as they're the equivalent of the 10 and 12pt 18th Century which is my "go to" font. (I have a hot foil printer which I use for titles.) If you're using a type holder, buy some thin spacers as well. That way if a spine is broad you can put a spacer between each letter to achieve a more balanced effect. If the spine is narrow, you've nowhere to go if your font is too wide for it. These two books are good examples of what I mean. I've used 12pt 18th Century on both of them. The letters are 2.5mm high and the two spines are 10½" tall.

1

u/telstra_3_way_chat 3h ago

🚨 Culpeper mentioned 🚨

4

u/heldfu 14h ago

I’d go with a anything between a 16 and 22 maybe 24. That’s the most versatile range for titling in my experience. In my studio I have 2 fonts each at 12, 16, 20 and 24. Type holders are not my thing, so I have handle letters, but I do have some setting type that sometimes use in the kwik print. I also have the talas single letter type holder and tbh I love it even though most of my colleagues hate it.