Obsession's Destruction of Shared Artistic Legacy and Typeface

Key Quotes

"My follies are of a light kind it's true that what he's doing isn't as bad as trench warfare but that is the lowest of low bars here he is now limping through the fog and the darkness along the north bank of the river thames struggling with the weight of the wooden box he's carrying look at him he's nervous looking around terrified that he might be stopped by a policeman but they might ask him about his heavy burden there are plenty of police around after all there's a war on"

Tim Harford, the host, uses this vivid description to introduce the central character's clandestine activity. The author highlights the perceived triviality of the man's actions compared to the ongoing war, while simultaneously emphasizing the immense personal risk and anxiety involved in his secret project.

"Thomas Cobden Sanderson may have joyfully imagined emery walker at his elbow as they sat together on high stools printing the book beautiful emery walker had other things to do walker was a professional printer he thought it unnecessary to check every single sheet explains robert green a type designer cobden sanderson was not a professional printer but he was a perfectionist this was the problem between the two men"

This quote, as explained by type designer Robert Green, pinpoints the core conflict between Cobden Sanderson and Emery Walker. The author illustrates how differing professional backgrounds and expectations--Cobden Sanderson's perfectionism versus Walker's professional pragmatism--created an irreconcilable rift.

"In a burst of rage I took the knife and cut the slips and tore the covers and boards off and tossed them to one side then in a very ecstasy of rage seized one side again tore the leather off the boards and cut it and cut it and slashed it with a knife then I was quite calm again that was a fit of white hot rage but now cobden sanderson would act in cold blood"

Tim Harford presents this direct quote from Cobden Sanderson's own account to demonstrate the character's volatile nature. The author contrasts the man's previous "white hot rage" with his later calculated, cold-blooded actions, signaling a shift in his destructive intent.

"Cobden sanderson had been planning this for years the week before easter 1913 he'd made several trips to the bridge carrying some of the punches and matrices that would let emery walker make his own fount of the dove's type at the end of each trip the same scene cobden sanderson looked west towards the dove's press building itself and the setting sun then he hurled the matrices into the river"

Tim Harford details Cobden Sanderson's methodical destruction of the Dove's type, emphasizing the long-term planning involved. The author uses this specific example of throwing matrices into the river to illustrate the deliberate and systematic nature of Cobden Sanderson's actions.

"Cobden sanderson had become obsessed with destroying the dove's type robert green had become obsessed with resurrecting it at first he did what emery walker had done all those years before photographing and enlarging the printed pages and trying to discern the shape of the metal that had produced those inked characters in digital form green drew and redrew dove's over 120 times"

Tim Harford introduces Robert Green's parallel obsession with reviving the Dove's type. The author highlights Green's meticulous process of digital reconstruction, drawing a direct parallel to Emery Walker's earlier efforts and underscoring the enduring fascination with this particular typeface.