The relation to handicraft is nourishing, beautiful. Related bodily to a solid block of lead letters, to the weight of the composition tray, to the adroitness of spacing, the tempo and temper of the machine – you acquire some of the weight of the lead, the strength and power of the machine, the bodily conquests and triumphs. You live in the hands, in physical deftness, in the development of your faculties pitted against concrete enemies. The victories are complete, concrete, definite and proved. How much greater than abstraction and theories. Eduardo says: “I don’t want to think – I just want to do some typesetting.”
From Mirages: The Unexpurgated Diary of Anais Nin, 1939-1947, entry dated January 28th, 1942.