Steven Heller reviews 5th edition of Meggs’ History of Graphic Design in The Atlantic. The book closes its final chapter with a short section on the letterpress revival.
The new edition address the digital age, but ends on a section called “Revival,” a perplexing choice given he future direction of graphic design. “I realized it would be controversial,” Purvis explains. “Initially I had planned to conclude the book with ‘the digital as a gateway to the future’ which, of course, in many ways it is. But there has been of late a revival, not only of letterpress, but a rediscovery, so to speak, of working with one’s hands. In my opinion, we are not so far away from Gutenberg as one might think. Perhaps this conclusion was a kind of reminder.
