Depiction of Duke Ludwig the Rich of Bavaria-Landshut (at left) on the list of benefactors in the LMU register of 1472
© UB der LMU München
Josef Gruber’s lead type collection. A rare assortment around the object culture of the printed word
The University Library at LMU Munich was given a very special present in the fall of 2019: Retired typesetter Josef Gruber (*1940) from Passau bequeathed his collection of lead type to the university. The collection includes one complete letter case for the Antiqua typeface (roman type) and two complete boxes of letters for a sans serif typeface, featuring uppercase and lowercase letters, digits and punctuation marks.
The collection is rounded off with artefacts such as typographic sketch cards from the Bauersche Giesserei in Frankfurt/Main, a magnifying glass, a composing stick and the collector’s own Gautschbrief (a license to operate in the typesetting trade). Given that many printing shops threw away all their lead type at the end of the last century, thereby losing them forever, the University Library now has at its disposal an assortment around the object culture of the printed word that is rare indeed.
For more information, please visit the University Library website.