Simon Loxley

Courses taught:

• Graphic Design (Postgraduate)
• Graphic Design (Undergraduate)

Simon Loxley is a freelance graphic designer, a published author and writer on graphic design and typography, and the editor of a journal dedicated to typography, graphics and visual communication.

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Background

Simon Loxley is a freelance graphic designer who has worked extensively in book and magazine publishing, and also in the cultural sector, including the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Museum of London, Britten–Pears Arts and St Bride Library. He founded the St Bride Library journal Ultrabold, which focuses on the Library’s collection and all aspects of visual communication, and has designed and edited it since its inception in 2006.

He has also written, published and lectured frequently on the subject of graphic design and typography: articles and reviews in Baseline, Design Week and Parenthesis, for the Printing Historical Society, The Journal of William Morris Studies and for American club publications: the Grolier Club in New York and the Caxton Club in Chicago. He has given presentations in the UK, the United States and Spain. He has published five books on design, typography and designers, two of which have been translated into Spanish. He posts on Instagram, mostly on typography, lettering and graphics in the environment.

Spoken Languages

Knowledge and speaking ability in French, German, Italian and Spanish.

Research interests

• Typography, graphics and lettering in the environment
• Publishing, graphics and illustration in the United States, particularly from the late nineteenth century through to World War II
• The Bauhaus, and the Weimar Republic period in Germany in general
• Contemporary type designers
• The graphic manifestations of protest, conflict and cultural change, from early twentieth century to the present day
• The Arts and Crafts period, design and graphics, late nineteenth century to World War I

Areas of research supervision

Simon currently teaches on the following modules:

• Graphic Design: Histories and Ideas
• Typographic Enquiry
• BA Graphic Design modules (to be confirmed)

Teaching

Simon currently teaches on the following modules:

• Graphic Design: Histories and Ideas
• Typographic Enquiry
• BA Graphic Design modules (to be confirmed)

Qualifications

• Graphic Design BA (Hons), Kingston University.

Memberships, editorial boards

• Editor and designer of Ultrabold: the journal of St Bride Library for St Bride Library, London, since 2006
• Friend of St Bride Library (lifetime award for work on the Library journal Ultrabold)
• The William Morris Society
• The Wynkyn de Worde Society
• The Baskerville Society

Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange

• Awarded a Library Fellowship by the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin, Texas in 2017. Was there for a month researching their archive of material related to Emery Walker, used for his book Emery Walker: arts, crafts and a world in motion (see below). Grant $3,000.
• Awarded a Library Fellowship by the Grolier Club, New York in 2005. Researched their archive of material related to Frederic Warde, used for his book Printer’s Devil: the life and work of Frederic Warde (see below). Grant $2,500.

Selected recent publications

Published books

Loxley, Simon, 2019. Emery Walker: arts, crafts and a world in motion. New Castle, Delaware, Oak Knoll Press

Loxley, Simon, 2016. Type is Beautiful: the story of fifty remarkable fonts. Oxford, Bodleian Library Publishing

Loxley , Simon, 2021. La Belleza de los Tipos. Valencia, Campgràfic. (Spanish language version of above)

Loxley, Simon, 2013. Printer’s Devil: the life and work of Frederic Warde. Boston MA, David R. Godine

Loxley, Simon, 2004. Type: the secret history of letters. London, I.B. Tauris

Loxley , Simon, 2008. La Historia Secreta de las Letras. Valencia, Campgràfic (Spanish language version of above)

Self-published books

Loxley, Simon, 2021. A Geography of Horror: the ghost stories of M.R. James and the Suffolk landscape

Loxley, Simon (ed.), 2015. Believe Me, I Am: selected letters of Frederic Warde, 1921–1939

Other published writing

Loxley, Simon, 2022. Book reviews for Ultrabold: the journal of St Bride Library, issue 21. London, St Bride Library

Loxley, Simon, 2021. ‘Emery Walker, typographer’, The Journal of William Morris Studies, London, The William Morris Society

Loxley, Simon, 2021. Review of the Grolier Club’s One Hundred Books Famous in Typography, The Journal of the Printing Historical Society, London, The Printing Historical Society

Loxley, Simon, 2021. ‘Slowly, and then round again’ a contribution to the Harry Ransom Center’s What is Research? series, featured in the online version of the Center’s magazine

Loxley, Simon, 2020. ‘In Search of Emery Walker’, Caxtonian: the Journal of the Caxton Club. Chicago, The Caxton Club

Loxley, Simon, 2020. ‘Dreams… and “an absolute mare”’, St Bride Library blog, stbridefoundation.wordpress.com, April 2020

Loxley, Simon, 2020. Review of Jerry Kelly’s Hermann Zapf and the World He Designed: a biography, London: Parenthesis, the journal of the Fine Press Book Association

Loxley, Simon, 2019. Sombras en la Orilla Mágica (Shadows on the Magic Shoreline), Valencia, Campgràfic

Loxley, Simon, 2018. ‘Ultrabold’, London: Parenthesis, the journal of the Fine Press Book Association

Recent presentations and conferences

Simon has given several different presentations on Emery Walker following the publication of Emery Walker: arts, crafts and a world in motion:

The Oxford Fine Press Book Fair, Oxford, March 2022

The William Morris Society, London, June 2021 (via Zoom)

The Oxford Guild of Printers, Oxford, April 2021 (via Zoom)

The Type Directors Club of New York, New York, October 2020 (via Zoom)

The Caxton Club, Chicago, October 2020 (via Zoom)

The William Morris Society, London, September 2020 (via Zoom)

The Society of Printers, Boston, November 2019

The Katherine Small Gallery, Boston, November 2019

The Grolier Club, New York, November 2019

St Bride Library, London, October 2019

In January 2021 Simon contributed a short presentation for ‘Inspired by St Bride’, an online event held by St Bride Library, on the making and life of the library’s journal Ultrabold.

Also:

‘La Orilla Mágica’ (The Magic Shoreline), Gutenberg 2018 Conference, Madrid, October 2018

‘The Brilliant Parade’, St Nicholas’ Church, London, October 2017

‘The Space between the Letters’, Oxford Literary Festival, Oxford, March 2017

In support of the publication of Printer’s Devil: The Life and Work of Frederic Warde Simon gave a number of presentations on Frederic Warde:

The Zamorano Club, Pasadena, January 2015

The Caxton Club, Chicago, March 2014

St Bride Library, London, October 2013

The New York Typophiles, New York, October 2013

The Society of Printers, Boston, October 2013

The Grolier Club, New York, April 2010

Media experience

In relation to Type: the secret history of letters, Simon spoke on BBC Radio Scotland in 2004, and on the BBC World Service in 2007. He appeared on BBC Radio Suffolk and Felixstowe Radio in October and November 2021 to talk about A Geography of Horror: the ghost stories of M.R. James and the Suffolk landscape.