About this project

The WNY Book Arts Center has grown from a rough idea into one of the most active letterpress printing and book arts centers in the country in a very short time. It has all been done through massive volunteer efforts and without ANY public funding. All income has been self-generated, but as we all know these are tough times. WNYBAC has an opportunity to acquire a collection of antique woodtype and needs your help. Woodtype has become a scarce commodity for printers due to years of neglect (with tales of firewood kindling and collage sculpture) and now with eBay sellers cashing in one letter at a time, full sets of woodtype have become very scarce.

A collection of woodtype from a local printer has come to the attention of WNYBAC and we are torn up that we cannot muster the funds to buy it up. If we do not, the seller has decided to sell on eBay. We are looking to secure the funds to purchase this collection for use in the WNYBAC printshop.  It has been dormant for more than 50 years, and we'd like not only to make it available to the local printing community, but also to woodtype aficionados by distributing specimen sheets of the fonts that haven't been printed in decades.

It is very simple, we need $4,000. With this money we can buy the collection, clean and preserve it, and integrate it into our community printshop. The rewards are specimens of the type that we would acquire. We have already printed several specimens of our existing woodtype fonts which can be seen in the preview video. Additional specimens will be printed with the newly acquired fonts. Any funds raised beyond the project goal will be put into supplies and equipment for the WNYBAC printshop.

It's a reciprocal proposition.  Help us get wood (type) and we'll give you wood (prints).

We would continue this series as 11 x 17 broadsheets. Each specimen will be arranged and printed in a signed and numbered edition of 100 copies.

Even if you're from out of town, we think this is a worthy endeavor, because we love visitors.  Imagine helping us rescue this wood type, then being able to come visit it and possibly use it!  WNYBAC is a member based organization but we bring groups of students (from grade school to college level) who use our facilities to learn in a hands-on setting and take home the work they produce.

We welcome everyone to our printshop in downtown Buffalo, NY. We are open Wed-Sat 12-6.  Share this with anyone who you think might be interested, from graphic designers to printers, and collectors to aesthetes.