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Iti Amotytoma Muxum
A manual for typography from Utopia

Item date(s): 2020

Romano Hänni


Pages: 53pp
Size: 190mm
Binding: Slipcase
Edition: #28/64


Place publication: Basel, Switzerland

Additional notes:
Including a pamphlet: Photos from the manufacturing process.

The text is in an unknown Utopian language - a 'scientific' spoof dated 1535.

Hand set in lead type with brass lines; letterpress, four-colour, approximately 52 printing forms.

It is all about Utopia and Letterpress! Hänni states that he is reprinting the original text of the Iti Amotytoma Muxum that arrived in England from Utopia in 1535. The book was purportedly soon "lost in the darkness of history" until 2019, when it was revealed to be in the Vatican Secret Archives. The book artist says that he was able to get possession of the book for a few weeks. Although not able to translate the mysterious lost language of Utopia, he was able to recreate the harmonious overall impression of the book with its deliberately used proportions and its classical and elementary typography. Hand set in lead type with brass lines and letterpress printed in black and four-colors. There were approximately 52 printing forms.

http://druckundbuch.ifjs.de/

Exhibition notes:
'Beyond Words'

Jack Ginsberg Centre for Book Arts, Johannesburg

20 June 2023 - 11 August 2023

Ref: GB/30440









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