A Calendar of Letterforms & Type Designs

10.875 x 10.875 inches. Designed by Stephen Harvard (1948-1988), who is also the calligrapher and author of the descriptive texts. Printed in two colors letterpress at The Stinehour Press on Curtis Tweedweave, a beautifully textured warm white paper. Published by Cahill & Company, 1985

Calendar for the year of 1986. Each month is represented by a different typeface or letterform, identified by the text which is printed in red, and set in nine point Monotype Bembo. An exquisite thing and most uncommon calendar, for bibliophiles, typophiles and all lovers of beauty. Each month’s type specimen is suitable for framing. Left as a calendar, it can be reused in 2025, 2031, 2042, 2053, 2059, 2070, and 2081, should anyone wish to have one solely on hand for this purpose.

From the Colophon: Alphabets of Grace has been set in type and printed by letterpress at the Meriden-Stinehour Press in Lunenburg, Vermont. The paper is a unique letterpress version of Curtis Tweedweave, produced in a custom mill run for this project. Each month is represented by a different typeface or letterform, and these are identified within the specimens themselves in nine point Monotype Bembo. René Arsenault and John Stinehour were compositors, and Paul Hoffmann the production supervisor. The pressmen were John McCormack and Ken Brisson.

Stephen Harvard is the designer, calligrapher, and author of the descriptive texts. Mr. Harvard, a Director of Meriden-Stinehour Press, is an award-winning book designer and lettering artist. He is author of Ornamental Initials, a catalogue raisonné of the woodcut decorative alphabets of the renaissance printer Christopher Plantin (Godine, 1974) and An Italic Copybook:  The Cataneo Manuscript (Harvard University, 1981). He lives with his wife and two daughters in an old farmhouse in New Hampshire's North Country.

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