The Craft, Texture, and Aesthetics of Letter Forms from Antiquity to the Present

Venue: University of Cambridge, Faculty of English 2nd to 4th September 2025

Co-hosted by the Faculty of English, University of Cambridge; Stanford Text Technologies, Stanford University, and The University Library Research Institute

‘The Craft, Texture, and Aesthetics of Letter Forms’ will bring together scholars, practitioners and heritage experts to explore the matter of lettering, its practice and study. By marrying a range of disciplinary and professional approaches, we hope to recover the aesthetic, historical, and material significance of letter formation in all its rich variety. We will do this across all material supports – whether stone, vellum, paper, metal or wood – and across media ranging from letters inked, engraved and incised, to those freshly pixelated for our computer screens. In the process, we aim to treat letter forms holistically, as phenomena that migrate dynamically between different times, different cultures, different media, different professions, and ultimately different disciplines.

This event seeks to broaden that emphasis in the study of letter forms, examining not only the historical but also the aesthetic qualities of letter forms and the evolving knowledge they convey. By engaging experts from various backgrounds, the conference intends to foster conversations that blend academic research with practitioner insights, bridging the gap between scholarly study and hands-on practice in lettering. This event is an opportunity to develop perspectives that speak both to other fields and to other sides of the subject. For instance, a purely descriptive focus can miss the aesthetic character of letter forms and the kinds of tacit knowledge that they elaborate. Equally, the supposed decline of handwriting in the digital age raises questions about what forms of awareness – cognitive, tactile, stylistic – might be being lost to our ‘hands ’even as we type.

Alongside these visible and material contexts, we are equally interested in probing the invisible manifestations of letters’ form and texture. What happens, for instance, when we think about the idea of a letter that exists beyond any single manifestation; and how might we cognise the character of words constructed from radio waves or the data of binary code?

The event will focus on bringing together practitioners and academic participants. All sessions will be plenary. Places are limited to allow us to cover catering and registration costs for speakers.

Practitioners will include:

• Tom Frith-Powell (Master Papermaker, the Paper Foundation)
• The Cardozo Kindersley Workshop (Lida Lopes Cardozo Kindersley MBE and Roxanne Kindersley)
• Riccardo Olocco (typeface designer)
• Humphrey Stone (typographer and book designer)
• Sebastian Carter (fine printer and paper artist)
• Patricia Lovett MBE (scribe and illuminator)
• Susan Hufton (calligrapher and weaver)

Call for Papers (Submit Abstract by 30 March 2025)

For further information please contact one of the organisers at this e-mail address: letterforms@english.cam.ac.uk

Organising committee: Prof. Marcus Waithe (co-chair), Prof. Orietta Da Rold (co-chair), Dr Jessica Berenbeim, Dr Ruth Abbott, Prof. Elaine Treharne, Prof. Marcos Martinón-Torres, Mr Maciej Pawlikowski, Dr Matteo Seita, Professor Jason Scott-Warren, Miss Eleanor Parmenter.

Sponsors: Stanford Text Technologies (Stanford), Faculty of English (Cambridge), University Research Institute (Cambridge)

Images used: 3D render of Baskerville ‘g’ punch © Blazej Mikula/Photogrammetry: Mark Box/Cambridge University Library; Close-up of wood engraving © Cardozo Kindersley Workshop; Thomas Betson's Notebook, St John’s College MS E.6 f.4v, by permission of the Master and Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge.