A Melbourne printer has turned the history of Australian typography dating back to 1841 into a book to ensure print’s colonial history is never forgotten.

Dennis Bryans, an academic, printer and publisher, says he researched the untold story of Australian typography for 25 years and after writing several journal articles he wanted to write a book to ensure that history was not forgotten.

He says A survey of Australian typefounders’ specimens provides insights and samples of type and printing in Australia before the 1900s.

Bryans started researching Australian typography in the 1990s when, as a graphic design teacher, he began questioning the emphasis on European and American typographic history in Australia and lack of reference to Australian typographic design.

His research took him on a journey across the country where he discovered that type had been cast in Sydney as early as 1841.

“I visited Sydney and walked the streets where type foundries had at one time existed and began to research type exports from New South Wales to other Australasian colonies,” he says.

“In Broken Hill, NSW, I found metal and wood type fonts. In Redfern, Sydney, I discovered that the Davies Brothers had been contracted by the Queensland Government to supply designs for sheep, cattle and horse brands for the colony.”

But it was in the South Australia State Records Office that he made his ‘greatest discovery’. He found printed type specimens which had been preserved from as far back as 1857.

These specimens make up a significant portion of the book’s illustrations.

A survey of Australian typefounders’ specimens, is published by Golden Point Press, which is owned by Bryans, who has been both printer and publisher since 1996.

The book is printed by Mark Shergill’s BPA Print Group subsidiary in Melbourne and costs $33 for PIAA members, and $40 for non-members.

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