Disaster strikes again!

In the past few days the typography studio has run into some trouble. The t's were the firs o go, and the e's wr clos bhind. The fw h's and o's won' las for long. W ar running ou of lowrcas lrs. Yiks.

So far we have dealt with the problem by substituting letters. A lowercase r, for example, is about the same width as a lowercase t. We've been setting the r's upside down, with the bottom facing up, so we can find them later. It would have been easier to deal with the problem if one person were setting the entire story, start to finish, or if everyone were done (or nearly done) with their section. At this point, however, there are huge sections of the story for which the line breaks haven't been determined. We don't even know how many pages long the story will be. If we knew any of this information, we'd be able to figure out which pages will be printed from the same sheet, print those pages, and then redistribute the type.

As Barry said, we gambled and lost. Or rahr, gambld and ls.

At first Barry didn't notice that the letters were running out. He was sitting at his desk when I told him, and he clutched at his chest suddenly. That's never a good sign. Then this morning he came into the studio with a brand new, half empty box of Tums.

Fortunately for our project (and Barry's health), the typecaster is overnighting us enough letters to finish the story. I think Barry was reluctant to ask for favors, but there really was no other way we could deal with the problem.

We'll still be working against the clock: the semester ends December 14th, and nobody wants to spend finals period in the studio. In the next few days I'll try to take a few pictures of setting type, but I can't make any promises.