"Fixed in time [and] verified in proof..."

The "Cross-roads of Civilization"

Beatrice L. Warde (1900-1969) lived life on her own terms. She followed her passion for lettering and typography, carving (pun intended) a name for herself in an area which was, at the time, predominately male.

Born to a journalist and a composer/teacher, educated at Barnard College, she learned calligraphy at the age of thirteen: this led to her life-long interest in lettering and typography. She met Bruce Rogers who helped her gain a position at the American Type Founders Company, where she worked with Henry Bullen, and met "eminent typographers including Daniel Berkeley Updike and Stanley Morison, who later played a highly influential part in her professional life." *

There isn’t time in this short blog post to list all that Warde accomplished (most notably scholarship in the origins of Garamond type); the purpose today is to focus on a broadside she penned to advertise the then-new Perpetua type, designed by Eric Gill in 1932. Her words have done more than spread the popularity of Perpetua, they have been re-printed, in various forms, countless times and have stood as a beacon for those desiring truth in the written word.

THIS IS A PRINTING OFFICE
*
CROSS-ROADS OF CIVILIZATION
REFUGE OF ALL THE ARTS AGAINST THE RAVAGES OF TIME
ARMORY OF FEARLESS TRUTH AGAINST WHISPERING RUMOR
INCESSANT TRUMPET OF TRADE
*
FROM THIS PLACE WORDS MAY FLY ABROAD
NOT TO PERISH ON WAVES OF SOUND
NOT TO VARY WITH THE WRITER’S HAND
BUT FIXED IN TIME, HAVING BEEN VERIFIED BY PROOF
FRIEND, YOU STAND ON SACRED GROUND
THIS IS A PRINTING-OFFICE

Warde’s statement seems even more relevant today than in 1932. Due to the introduction of e-readers (which became popular about fifteen years ago) and, more recently, the wide-spread acceptance and usage of AI, what was once “fixed in time [and] verified in proof” is now fluid and made malleable by both humans and machines.

An article written by Olivia Rondeau, posted on the web site of The Post Millennial on March 1, 2023, noted that Kindle was presenting readers with censored versions of some works (the article specifically cited books by Roald Dahl) which "were revised to be more politically correct." (Note that we are not taking any political stance here: censorship, whether emanating from the left or the right, ought to be equally abhorrent, in our humble opinion.)

With the recent rise of AI, the dangers of which are all around us, we need not say more other than: we ought to heed the warnings. Any tool can be mis-used, and the penchant for most of us to believe whatever we read online, without questioning its origin or veracity, can lead to wide-spread disinformation or even outright lies. History can be re-written and lives impacted.

In close, please ponder the importance of the written word – words which have been "fixed in time [and] verified in proof".

* Information and quote from Wiki's article on Warde.