The highlight of my graduate studies were the hours I spent at the Bibliography and Print Room at Massey College (University of Toronto) as a Printing Apprentice and Teaching Fellow. In this creative space and intentional community, I continue, on a volunteer-basis, to actively develop hands-on letterpress printing skills from typesetting to operating and maintaining antique 19th-century printing machines and equipment. As a Teaching Fellow, I also had the opportunity to lead tours of the space and support in the training of the next cohort of apprentices. My passion project at the Bibliography Room has been to revive their Balinson Hebrew Type Collection for active use.
My very first printing project; postcards featuring an excerpt from William Blake's Auguries of Innocence (February 2019).
“Recipe for a serving of type” contribution for recipe-themed exchange portfolio at the Bibliography Room (June 2022). Inspired by Sarah Werner’s Studying Early Printed Books 1450–1800: A Practical Guide (2019).
Recipe, locked into the press.
Typographic heart (<3) card for Valentine’s Day (February 2022).
[Visual guide/finding aid for the Balinson Hebrew Type Collection, Massey College, University of Toronto. Also available here.](https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/ca45aee4-eb4e-4300-84a9-fd75df439680/Balinson_Hebrew_Type_Collection_Massey_College_Visual_Guide.pdf)
Visual guide/finding aid for the Balinson Hebrew Type Collection, Massey College, University of Toronto. Also available here.
First print of the sign. It reads, "cheder bibliografia ve'defoos" which translates as "Bibliography and Print Room."
Hebrew sign for the Bibliography and Print Room (April 2019), locked in on the bed of the press before printing.
Playing with the wood type to spell out my Hebrew name (Leora).
Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) greeting cards (September 2019). Final print, featuring the beautiful early autumn vines on the exterior wall of Massey College.
Iterations on the layout/design.
Markup copy featuring measurements and adjustments in layout and line spacing.
Final typeset of the Rosh Hashanah greeting cards.
Full view of the cards, front and back. The back of the card includes the greeting in Hebrew, transliteration "l'shana tova tikatevu" and translation; "A Happy New Year." A later iteration of the card includes the year of printing according to the Hebrew calendar, 5780.
Chanukah cards (December 2022). My first ornamental type design, using the Hebrew letter “yud” as flames on the menorah (chanukiah).
“Designed by Leora Bromberg & Kit MacNeil.”