clearness of ink

A page of the 1825 book “Typographia, an historical sketch of the origin and progress of the art of printing,” by Thomas Curson Hansard redacted into a poetic fragment.

space too broad

Words borrowed from Theodore Low DeVinne’s 1901 “The practice of typography” and glued onto Japanese paper.

Swash

A page of a typography article redacted. The article is Everett R. Currier’s 1920 “The Origin and Use of Swash Letters” from “The Printing Art,” Volume XXXIV. The inset image of a “spiral nebula” is from J. Norman Lockyer’s 1871 “The Elements of Astronomy.”

Vanishing Lines

This Voyager 1 image of Jupiter’s red spot was taken March 5, 1979. Image credit: NASA/JPL

I am trying to read
this fluid story
left-to-right
as I have been taught

to read for meaning

but the serifed
letters flatten
and bend
in the conflict

until they signify
nothing

consumed
by negative space
and storms

unyielding editors
relaxing
the kerning
and the intent
until the text
disappears.