Comprehending a Cube: Eighteen Months of Living with Euclid

In 2012, Russell Maret began work on a book inspired by Euclid’s Elements of Geometry. The book that resulted in 2014, Interstices & Intersections or, An Autodidact Comprehends a Cube, consists of one proposition from each of the 13 books of Euclid. In response to these propositions, Maret wrote 13 companion texts, prior to designing the typefaces in which the texts would be printed. He then illustrated both his and Euclid’s texts, and proceeded to print the book by hand. In this talk, Russell will discuss the process of the books making within the context of historical editions of Euclid’s Elements. 

The speaker 

Russell Maret is a letter designer and letterpress printer working in New York City. He began printing in San Francisco as a teenager before apprenticing with Peter Koch in Berkeley and Firefly Press in Somerville, Massachusetts. He set up his own press at the Center for Book Arts, New York in 1993 and has been printing and publishing ever since. In 1996 Russell began teaching himself to design letterforms, leading to a twelve year study of letterforms before he completed his first typeface in 2008. In 2009 Russell was awarded the Rome Prize in Design from the American Academy in Rome. In 2011, he began working to convert some of his type designs into new metal typefaces for letterpress. Since then he has produced four metal typefaces and four suites of metal ornaments. He is a Master Lecturer in the MFA Book Arts & Printmaking Department of University of the Arts in Philadelphia and the current North American Chair of the Fine Press Book Association. He has been the printer in residence of the Press in Tuscany Alley, San Francisco (1990); Artist in Residence at the Center for Book Arts, NYC (1996); and a trustee of the American Printing History Association. Russell’s books and manuscripts are in public and private collections throughout the world. 

7pm - 8pm 

Free & open to the public 

Linda Hall Library 
5109 Cherry Street

Kansas City, MO