Robert Bringhurst was the 2016 recipient of the RIT Frederic W. Goudy Award for Typographic Excellence. While on campus he delivered the Goudy Esteemed Lecture entitled “Putting Big Truth in Little Boxes: The Perils of Taxonomy.” This addressed the notion of what typographers could learn about typographic classification nomenclature from art historians, biologists, and other specialists. We present here a limited-edition pamphlet of Bringhurst’s selected writings on same topic, that was produced at the Cary Collection while Mr. Bringhurst was visiting campus.

Some Reflections… was designed by Robert Bringhurst and typeset and printed by Amelia Fontanel, Cary Associate Curator. It is hand-set in vintage Palatino Roman and Italic, Michelangelo and Sistina metal typefaces. These typographic selections pay homage to the first Goudy laureate, Hermann Zapf—the designer of said typefaces. The interior pages were printed on Hahnemuehle Natur paper on a Vandercook cylinder press. The cover sheets were printed on Papeterie Saint-Armand handmade paper on an Albion handpress, which was once owned by Frederic Goudy himself. Fontanel bound the pamphlets by hand, and they are signed by both the author and printer. Limited to an edition of 100 copies.

Proceeds of the sale of these books go to the future programming of the RIT Goudy Award.