I’ve been writing a sporadic typographic memoir since 2020, with “sporadic” being increasingly applicable as time goes on. I have, however, just added a new chapter to this personal tale: a chapter about the two years I spent as Editor & Publisher of U&lc (Upper & lowercase), the type and graphic design magazine published by the International Typeface Corporation (ITC). Although my tenure turned out to be much shorter than I had originally expected, it was a wonderful opportunity to have an outsized influence and to enjoy living the editorial and design life in New York City.
Sometimes people get excited when I tell that that I was the editor of U&lc. I have to point out to them that I was only the last editor, and that one of my final melancholy tasks was to shut the whole thing down. (Not through any fault of anyone at ITC; it was corporate indifference that killed by ITC and U&lc.)
It’s still among the most interesting jobs I’ve ever had.
[Image of the title page of the book I later edited about U&lc.]