Chromatic wood type is as legendary in the letterpress world as the unicorn was in Antiquity. Happily, Virgin Wood Type has tamed the beast and is now manufacturing a chromatic.

William H. Page mastered wood type manufacturing in the mid- to late-1800s, and the pinnacle of his craft was chromatic wood type as published in the seminal volume, Specimens of Chromatic Wood Types, which was published in 1874. Few Page chromatics survive today and are revered for not only their beauty but ingenuity as well.

The inspiration for Chromatic Ornate was Page's Ornate No. 1, which our local community book arts studio has in its collection. Chromatic Ornate was designed for optimal making on the VWT pantograph.

For every letter there are two blocks: one is the solid letter, and the other is the decorative and shadow part. For a visual representation of how the two blocks work together to create a third color (chromatic), click on "Glyphs" above photo on left.

Production Note: we cut all fonts to order. A typical delivery is 2 to 4 months after placing an order.

Note: The 1A font is intended to be an initial cap font and has the 26 letters of the alphabet.