First, my originals (drawings) are 7.5ʺ high, from which I cut by hand the master pattern in the same size. From these I engrave sunken patterns one-third that size, which means that everything on the original drawing is on the metal but reduced to one-third. Everything I do is a matter of proportion. When I am ready to engrave the [...]

Jan van Krimpen, A letter to Philip Hofer on certain problems connected with the mechanical cutting of punches. A facsimile reproduction with an introduction and commentary by John Dreyfus (Studies in the history of calligraphy and printing No. 4). Cambridge (Mass.), Department of Printing and Graphic Arts, Harvard College Library/Boston, David R. Godine, 1972, 8°, 102 pp., [...]

The printer has many opportunities of learning how a type is cut and cast, and it is important that he should have this knowledge. How the stage of cutting is reached, the work that has gone before and all it involves — this can neither be learnt from technical books nor by the tour of a type [...]