Blue Pencil no. 48—One Hundred Books Famous in Typography, Part 5 [Looking Back] nos. 36–53
Note: When I began this dissection it was intended as a single post—even as it grew much longer than expected. However, I was forced to break it up into smaller chunks when I ran into an unexplained “failure error” when trying to save the draft one day. Rather than try to break up the dissection into equally sized posts based on word counts, I decided instead to make separate posts based on the divisions used in the Grolier Club exhibition for the one hundred books entries; and on divisions in the catalogue for the material that was not part of the exhibition (e.g. foreword, introduction, Fifty Typefaces Famous in Typography, bibliography, etc.). Note that the divisions used in the exhibition itself (e.g. “The Golden Age” or Looking Back”) were abandoned for the catalogue.
Looking Back
pp. 108–109
36. E.C. Bigmore (1838–1889) [sic], C.W.H. Wyman (1832–1909)
A Bibliography of Printing
London: Bernard Quaritch, 1880–1886. Three volumes. Octavo.
Provenance: The Grolier Club.
A Bibliography of Printing vol. I (A-L inclusive)
A Bibliography of Printing vol. II (M-S inclusive)
A Bibliography of Printing vol. III (T-Z inclusive)
• Set in types very similar, if not identical, to those called “old-style” romans, first issued by Miller & Richard in the 1860s. (See no. 38.)
• Text is c.252 words
• Full title: A Bibliography of Printing with Notes & Illustrations
• Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library loaned their copy of the book, but it was not used.
• There are no links.
• E.C. Bigmore’s dates should be 1838–1899. He was connected with the auction house of Puttick & Simpson, but in what manner I do not know. Wyman was the senior partner in Wyman & Sons, a London printing office.
“…A Bibliography of Printing has become a key resource for the study of the art [of printing].” p. 108
What is its value to the study of typography?
Further Reading p. 318
Bibliotheca Typographica by Horace Hart (Rochester, New York: The Printing House of Leo Hart, 1933).
Fifty Typefaces Famous in Typography
• There is no digital typeface linked to Bigmore and Wyman and no reason for there to be one.
Illustration
Single page (p. 1, volume III). (The exhibition the spread pp. 102–103, volume II with illustrations of the The Sheldonian Theatre and Clarendon building.)
• This is a dull image with uninteresting content. It is a perfect example of mediocre Victorian book design and typography. There are more visually interesting pages/spreads that could have been used: volume I—pp. 36–37 with a portrait of John Baskerville, pp. 92–93 with a portrait of William Bulmer, and pp. 178–179 with a portrait of Ambroise Firmin Didot; volume II—p. 10 showing a 15th century type impressed into a text by accident, or p. 206 with a portrait of Christopher Plantin.
pp. 110–111
37*. Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833)
Typographia
London: Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, 1825. Octavo.
Provenance: The Grolier Club.
• The text is set in a “modern” style typeface I have not been able to identify. It is not one designed by Richard Austin or Isaac Drury.
• Text is c.210 words
• Full title: Typographia: An Historical Sketch of the Origin and Progress of the Art of Printing: with Practical Directions for Conducting every Department in an Office: With a Description of Stereotype and Lithography.
• There are no links. There should be links to nos. 21, 39, and 100.
• “Stower’s Printer’s Grammar” refers to The Printer’s Grammar; Or Introduction to the Art of Printing: Containing a Concise History of the Art, with the Improvements in the Practice of Printing, for the Last Fifty Years by Caleb Stower (London: 1808)
• “Rowe Mores’ work on the English typefounders” refers to Edward Rowe Mores (1730/1731–1778), author of A Dissertation upon English Typographical Founders and Founderies (London: 1778).
• “Stanhope” is Charles Stanhope (1753–1816), more commonly known as Lord Stanhope, inventor of the first iron hand press c.1800.
“Hansard was not hesitant to express his opinions: he condemns modern types with very fine serifs (such as Bodoni and Didot)….” p. 110
Hansard never criticized the types of Giambattista Bodoni. The comment that I think Kelly is alluding to is this: “At one period, in imitation of the celebrated Didot, a practice prevailed of cutting the ceriphs [sic] and fine strokes of types to an excessive degree of sharpness. This, though it gave to fine work and early impressions a neatness and finish resembling copper-plate, was very detrimental, as these sharp edges would not stand for any length of time the action of the press, but either broke off or were blunted, so that the fount soon acquired the appearance of age and long service.” (See Typographia: An Historical Sketch of the Origin and Progress of the Art of Printing: with Practical Directions for Conducting every Department in an Office: With a Description of Stereotype and Lithography by T.C. Hansard (London: Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, 1825), pp. 617–618.)
Hansard’s celebrated rant against the new advertising types of his day, actually invokes Bodoni’s name positively. Here is part of his text: “Fashion and Fancy commonly frolic from one extreme to another. To the razor-edged fine lines and ceriphs [sic] of type just observed upon, a reverse has succeeded, called ‘Antique,’ or ‘Egyptian,’ the property of which is, that the strokes which form the letters are all of one uniform thickness!—After this, who would have thought that further extravagance could have been conceived? it remains, however, to be stated, that the ingenuity of one founder has contrived a type in which the natural shape is reversed, by turning all the ceriphs [sic] and fine strokes into fats, and the fats into leans.—Oh! sacred shades of Moxon and VanDijke [sic], of Baskerville and Bodoni! what would ye have said of the typographic monstrosities here exhibited, which Fashion in our age has produced?” (See Typographia, p. 618 re: Caslon IV’s English Italian which is shown on p. 619.)
Further Reading p. 318
The Printer’s Manual: An Illustrated History by David Pankow (Rochester, New York: RIT Cary Graphic Arts Press, 2005).
Fifty Typefaces Famous in Typography
• There is no digital typeface linked to Hansard and no reason for there to be one, unless a Fat Face or Italian was included for amusement. Caslon Italian by Paul Barnes of Commercial Type is the best interpretation of the latter.
Images
Two pages (p. 378 “Names of Type” partially obscured by p. 379 “Specimens of the Various Sizes of Type”). (The exhibition showed pp. 526–527 with diagrams of imposition.) Cream flats have been added as background to both pages.
• The online exhibition shows both pages properly separated, though not in sequential order and in black-and-white. The entirety of p. 378 is visible, unlike in the the catalogue where the lower third of the page is obscured by p. 379.

“37 Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833)” from One Hundred Books Famous in Typography (2021), p. 111.
pp. 112–113
38*. Alexander Phemister (1829–1894)
Specimen [sic] of Old-Style Types
London: Miller & Richard, c.1868. Octavo.
[There is no provenance given. Although the online exhibition lists the lender as the Columbia Rare Book & Manuscript Library, they own no such book.]
• Set in several sizes of “old-style” types.
• Text is c.238 words
• There are links to nos. 29, 30, 35, and 43. There should also be links to nos. 30 and 30A.
• The online exhibition: “Provenance: The American Type Founders (ATF) library; later Columbia University Rare Books [sic] and Manuscripts [sic] Library”.
This entry is highly problematic, to say the least. At worst, it is intellectually dishonest. Both Jane Siegel and Jennifer B. Lee of the Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Library, home to the former American Type Founders Company library, have told me that no such type specimen book was loaned to the Grolier Club exhibition. The Grolier Club online catalogue lists Specimens of Book and Magazine Founts by Miller and Richard (Edinburgh: Miller and Richard, [between 1850 and 1869?], but there is no note indicating that it was included in the “One Hundred Books Famous in Typography” exhibition. So, what then is the book that Kelly is describing here?*

“Double Pica Old Style” from Specimens of Old-Style Types by Miller & Richard (n.p., c.1868). Reproduced from A Visual History of Type by Paul McNeil (London: Laurence King Publishing, 2017), p. 134.
Paul McNeil shows two pages (Great Primer Old Style and Double Pica Old Style) from Specimens of Old-Style Types by Miller & Richard (n.p: c.1868) in his broad survey of typefaces. (See The Visual History of Type by Paul McNeil (London: Laurence King Publishing, 2017), pp. 134–135.) His source was St. Bride Library in London, specifically Specimens of Old-Style Types (Edinburgh and London: Miller & Richard, Letter Founders, c.1870). The Newberry Library has a copy of the same specimen, but they have catalogued it with a date of c.1868. Bob Richardson and Sophie Hawkey-Edwards at St. Bride and Paul Gehl at the Newberry have confirmed that this specimen (whether dated c.1868 or c.1870) consists of samples of “Old Style” types supplemented by two pages each of “Latin” and “Old Style Antique” types, one page of “Miller and Richard Specimens of Gothic Designs”, three pages of “Floral Initial Letters and Ornamented Initial Letters”, and twelve pages of “Old Style Pieces” (head and tail pieces and a few miscellaneous ornaments and vignettes). These descriptions neither match Kelly’s header, his comments in the entry, nor the illustrations ostensibly taken from this Miller & Richard type specimen.
*Specimens of Printing from Old Style Types issued by the Edinburgh printers Muir and Paterson in 1868 might be the book Kelly had in mind. In the old catalogue for the ATF collection at Columbia there is a card for Miller & Richard, Edinburgh, 1868 which says “See SPECIMEN BOOKS, TYPES. Printers’. Gr. Britain. Muir and Paterson”. The old style types in it are all credited to Miller & Richard, but there are no Egyptians, Grotesques or other types.

“38 Alexander Phemister (1829–1894)” from One Hundred Books Famous in Typography (2021), p. 113.
Despite the emphasis in Kelly’s text on Alexander Phemister’s “new hybrid typeface style”, which incorporated some old style characteristics into essentially neoclassical types, the two illustrations (p. 113) that accompany it show Grotesque No. 4 and “Specimens of Figures”. The latter consists of numerals from several typefaces: Ionic No. 2, Ionic No. 3, Expanded Titling, Grotesque No. 2, and Albion. There is no illustration of Phemister’s old-style types. In fact, both illustrations have been taken from Printing Type Specimens: Comprising a Large Variety of Book and Jobbing Faces, Borders and Ornaments (Edinburgh and London: Miller & Richard, [1921?]), pp. 224 and 382.
“In England, the early nineteenth-century vogue for modern neo-classical types in the manner of Didot and Bodoni (see nos. 29 & 35) was followed by a revival of old style types, as represented by the work of William Caslon, c. 1844 (see no. 30). A couple of decades later, Alexander Phemister cut a series that was even more regular than other neo-classical types, if such a thing is possible, while incorporating some old old style characteristics, such as a sloped axis to the shading of some (though not all ) round letters and bracketed serifs. Thus Phemister could be said to have developed a new, hybrid typeface style.” p. 112

“Grotesque, No. 4” from Printing Type Specimens: Comprising a Large Variety of Book and Jobbing Faces, Borders and Ornaments (Edinburgh and London: Miller & Richard, [1921?]), p. 224. Image from the Internet Archive.

“Specimens of Figures” from Printing Type Specimens: Comprising a Large Variety of Book and Jobbing Faces, Borders and Ornaments (Edinburgh and London: Miller & Richard, [1921?]), p. 382. Image from the Internet Archive.
• The “c.1844 date” refers to So Much of the Diary of Lady Willoughby as Relates to Her Domestic History… (London: Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans, 1844) which, at the request of William Pickering, was printed in the original types of William Caslon. In fact, the editing of the text, layout, and typography—with archaic spelling, including the use of the long s; catchwords; and the imitation of 18th century initials, headpieces, and borders—were all considered in unison along with the typeface. The note to the reader said: “The style of Printing and general appearance of this Volume have been adopted, as will be inferred from the Date on the Title-page, merely to be in accordance with the Character of the Work.”
• “A couple of decades later, Alexander Phemister cut a series…”—Stanley Morison, in the introduction (p. xlv) to Catalogue of Specimens of Printing Types by English and Scottish Printers and Founders 1665–1830, dates the first of Phemister’s “Modernized Old Style” types to 1852, a mere eight years after the publication of Lady Willoughby’s Diary. William E. Loy says the types date to 1860 (see the profile of Phemister in Nineteenth-Century American Designers & Engravers of Type listed below.)
• “modern neo-classical types” is redundant. For a long time the types of Didot and Bodoni were referred to as modern types in contrast to the old face types of Griffo, Garamont, Kis, and Caslon. More recently, Robert Bringhurst has convinced many, including myself, to refer to these types as neoclassical. (See The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst [Vancouver, British Columbia and Point Roberts, Washington: Hartley & Marks, Publishers, 1992], pp. 117–119.)
“The weight of Phemister’s modern type is light, bordering on anemic. All told the type is closer to modern than old style (despite the appellation of this specimen book from the Miller & Richard foundry, who cast Phemister’s typefaces), and as innocuous as milquetoast. Calling the type inoffensive would be putting it mildly, but perhaps because of its plain vanilla appearance these types, and the many imitations which followed, became the standard fonts for books and magazines for generations, until the modern fine press movement begun by William Morris (see no. 43) initiated the interest in reviving earlier typefaces that have been prominent ever since. That in turn inspired a slew of fine original designs by Eric Gill, Jan van Krimpen, Frederic W. Goudy, W.A. Dwiggins, Hermann Zapf, Adrian Frutiger and numerous others.
Also included among the types shown are examples in the relatively new sans serif and slab serif style [sic].” p. 112
• Kelly’s critique of the old-style types is standard fare. But it fails to take into account not only changes in taste, but also changes in technology (e.g. cylinder presses, wood pulp paper, electrotyping, and stereotyping). For some insight into the latter, see Plain Printing Types by Theodore Low De Vinne (New York: The Century Co., 1900), pp. 36–41, 50–52, 212–229; and especially pp. 188–193).
• “modern fine press movement” is a term usually applied to post-World War II private presses, not to William Morris and his Kelmscott Press (1891–1896).
• The early 20th century revival of older (pre-1810) types, initiated by American Type Founders but assiduously (and vocally) pursued by Stanley Morison at the Monotype Corporation, included a number of non-old style types (e.g. the types of Baskerville, Bulmer [William Martin], Fournier, Bodoni, Firmin Didot, and Justus Erich Walbaum.
• Kelly does not specify which of the types of Gill et al he considers to be “fine original designs”. Presumably, he is thinking of 20th century types that loosely fit into the old face aesthetic such as Perpetua, Spectrum, Goudy Oldstyle, Caledonia, Palatino, and Méridien; but certainly not Gill Sans, Metro, Optima, or Univers, all of which were designed by those individuals he cites.
Further Reading p. 318
Edinburgh History of the Book in Scotland by Bill Bell (Edinburgh: University Press, 2007), vol. 3.
Historical Types from Gutenberg to Ashendene by Stan Knight (New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press, 2012).
• Suggested reading—Nineteenth-Century American Designers & Engravers of Type by William E. Loy; edited by Alastair M. Johnson and Stephen O. Saxe (New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press, 2009); and “Nineteenth-century reactions against the didone type model—I” by G.W. Ovink in Quaerendo 1 (1971), pp. 26–31 discusses the introduction and evolution of Old Style and Old Style Antique.
Fifty Typefaces Famous in Typography
p. 290—Scotch Roman / Richard Austin c.1760 / Alexander Wilson / See no. 38
p. 291—Miller /Alexander Wilson c.1760 / Interpreted by Matthew Carter / Carter & Cone / See no. 38
• Both of these typefaces are based on Scotch Roman types, not on oldstyle types.
• There is no digital typeface directly based on Phemister’s old style roman. But a digital version of Century Oldstyle by Morris Fuller Benton (1909) would be a good stand-in.
Illustrations
Page (p. 225) with “Specimens of Figures” overlapping page (p. 382) showing Grotesque No. 4. (The book was not displayed in the exhibition.) Neither of these pages can be found in Specimens of Old-Style Types (Edinburgh and London: Miller & Richard, Letter Founders, c.1868 or c.1870).
• p. 225 [the folio is obscured in Kelly’s layout] with Grotesque No. 4 comes from Printing Type Specimens: Comprising a Large Variety of Book and Jobbing Faces, Borders and Ornaments (Edinburgh and London: Miller & Richard, [1921?]). (See p. 157 in the PDF online). The specimen is definitely post-1912.
• p. 382 “Specimens of Figures” shows numerals from several typefaces: Ionic No. 2, Ionic No. 3, Expanded Titling, Grotesque No. 2, and Albion”. The illustration comes from the same specimen as p. 225 above (see p. 258 in the PDF online).
• The greenish-white background tone of the images comes from the Internet Archive digitization of the specimen book.
pp. 114–115
39. John Johnson (1777–1848)
Typographia or the Printer’s Instructor
London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown & Greene, 1824. Two volumes. Issued in octavo, duodecimo and sixteenmo formats.
Provenance: Colin Franklin; David R. Godine.
• Set in an unidentified neoclassical type.
• Text is c.210 words
• There is a link to no. 36. There should also be links to nos. 19 and 21.
• The Grolier Club has four copies of Johnson’s book in different formats. Both volumes are accessible online:
Typographia or the Printer’s Instructor vol. I
Typographia or the Printer’s Instructor vol. II
Beware of Charles L. Adams’ abridged—and probably pirated—American copy of Johnson’s book which is also available online.
Further Reading p. 318
The Printer’s Manual: An Illustrated History by David Pankow (Rochester, New York: RIT Cary Graphic Arts Press, 2005).
Fifty Typefaces Famous in Typography
• There is no digital typeface linked to Johnson and no reason for there to be one.
Illustration
Single page (p. 555, volume I). (The exhibition showed the spread of pp. xii and 1: end of the Preface and the beginning of the main text.). The David R. Godine bookplate is on p. 114.
• The illustration on the page shows a man operating a handpress with another man to his left inking daubers.
pp. 116-117
40*. William Blades (1824–1890)
The Biography and Typography of William Caxton
London: Trübner & Co., 1877. Octavo.
Provenance: The Grolier Club.
• Set in an unidentified typeface.
• Text is c. 280 words
• Full title: The Biography and Typography of William Caxton, England’s First Printer.
• The online exhibition: “Lender: Jerry Kelly”. This contradicts the catalogue’s provenance listed above. The Grolier Club copy is “inscribed by the author”.
• Henry Bradshaw (1831–1886) is considered the father of modern bibliography. He was also a librarian and codicologist.
• “a rather obscure figure named Thomas Tupper” is actually the facsimilist-lithographer George Isaac Frederick Tupper (1820?–1911). His importance to Blades’ study of Caxton’s types was acknowledged twice in the Preface to The Life and Typography of William Caxton, England’s First printer… (London: Joseph Lilly, 1863), vol. II, pp. viii and xxvii (note). “In the Acccount of Caxton’s types I am greatly indebted to the critical acumen of my friend G.I.F. Tupper, who has executed all the fac-simile plates, and who first discovered the two states of Type No. 2, and added many rare sorts to the various alphabets. Upon his notes I have principally founded the Remarks on Caxton’s different founts.” (p. viii) For more on Tupper see “William Blades’s Debt to Henry Bradshaw and G.I.F. Tupper in His Caxton Studies: A Further Look at Unpublished Documents” by Robin Myers in The Library 5th series no. 33 (1978), pp. 265–283 and “George Isaac Frederick Tupper, Facsimilist” by Robin Myers in Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society vol. 7 (1978), pp. 113–134.
• There are no links. There should be ones to nos. 1, 2, 8, 9, and 15.
“A couple of Caxton’s types were not very elegant, but they did posses a crude charm. However, his second type, probably made for him by Johan Veldener, is a fine bastarda.” p. 116
Despite this praise of Caxton’s Type No. 2, the accompanying illustration shows Type No. 4*. Blades describes Type No. 2—the first type that Caxton used in England—as an imitation of the gros bâtarde of Colard Mansion with a few changes in the capitals (p. 113), he makes no mention of Veldener. Kelly’s information on Veldener comes from Caxton: England’s First Publisher by N.F. Blake (London: Osprey, 1976), pp. 78–79.
Further Reading p. 318
Caxton: England’s First Publisher by N.F. Blake (London: Osprey, 1976).
• Suggested reading: William Caxton and Early Printing in England by Lotte Hellinga (London: British Library, 2010); and A Biography of William Caxton: The First English Editor, Printer, Merchant and Translator by Richard Deacon (London, Frederick Muller Ltd., 1976).
Fifty Typefaces Famous in Typography
• There is no digital typeface linked to Caxton. Caxton by Leslie Usherwood (1981) for Letraset has no connection to the English printer, other than its name.
Illustration
Plate XIV (p. 359) showing Caxton’s Type 4* (a bâtarde). (The exhibition showed pp. 290–291.)
• Oddly Plate XIV appears after the chapter on Caxton’s Type No. 6 and not in the chapter on his Type No. 4.
pp. 118–119
41*. Talbot Baines Reed (1852–1893)
A History of the Old English Letter Foundries
London: Elliot Stock, 1887. Octavo.
Provenance: Inscribed by the author to The Grolier Club.
• Set in an old-style type of the kind pioneered by Miller & Richard (see no. 38).
• Text c.238 words
• Full title: A History of the Old English Letter Foundries with Notes, Historical and Bibliographical on the Rise and Progress of English Typography.
• There are links to nos. 19, 21, 23, and 26. There should also be links to nos. 30, 30A, 31, and 32.
“Reed was manager of the Fann Street Foundry in London….” p. 118
Here is a summary of the history of the celebrated and important Fann Street Foundry as cobbled together from entries on Robert Thorne, William Thorowgood, Charles Reed, and Talbot Baines Reed in Wikipedia. “In 1794, Robert Thorne (1754–1820) acquired the type foundry of the late Thomas Cottrell based in Nevil’s Court, and moved it to 11 Barbican, and then in 1802 to a former brewery in Fann Street, and renamed it the Fann Street Foundry. On his death in 1820, the business was bought by William Thorowgood….” Charles Reed “…co-founded the firm of Tyler & Reed, printers and typefounders in 1842. Reed changed business partners several times, becoming a partner in the famous Fann Street Foundry in Fann Street off Aldersgate Street in 1866 (which thereby became ‘Reed & Fox’). The Fann Street business formed the basis for his own type-founding business Sir Charles Reed & Sons….” Upon the death of Charles Reed in 1881, his son Talbot Baines Reed became head of the company, a position he held until his death in 1893.
“Chapters on Caslon, Baskerville, Martin (an important punchcutter; see no. 23) and others…” p. 118
Martin here refers to William Martin, who cut types for William Bulmer (see no. 31), while no. 23 refers to Baskerville whose pressman was his brother Robert Martin who never cut punches.
Further Reading p. 318
A History of the Old English Letter Foundries by Talbot Baines Reed; edited by A.F. Johnson (London: Faber and Faber, 1952).
Fifty Typefaces Famous in Typography
• There is no digital typeface linked to Reed’s history and no reason for there to be a specific one.
Illustration
Opening of Chapter XV—Joseph and Edmund Fry, 1764 (p. 298). (The exhibition showed pp. 256–257; p. 256 contains a list of specimens of the Caslon typefoundry 1734–1830 and p. 257 is the opening of Chapter XI—Alexander Wilson, 1742.). A detail of the inscription from Talbot Baines Reed to the Grolier Club is on p. 118.
• p. 337 shows a handsome Two-Line English Roman type cut by Vincent Figgins (1792).
pp. 120–123
42. Wm. H. Page & Co.
Specimens of Chromatic Wood Type, Borders, Etc.
Greeneville, Connecticut: Wm. H. Page & Co., 1874.
Provenance: American Type Founders Library & Museum at Columbia University.
• Text is c.336 words
• The online exhibition: “Provenance: The American Type Founders (ATF) library; later Columbia University Rare Books [sic] and Manuscripts [sic] Library”. This is a more accurate indication of provenance.
• There are no links. There could be ones to nos. 37, 55, and 84.
• Samuel Mowry (1796 0r 1806–1879) was Page’s partner from 1859 to 1876.
“…only in the nineteenth were fonts of individual letters meant to be assembled to produce words, as with metal type, produced in wood.” p. 120
Kelly omits the basic history of wood type prior to Page’s entry into the business in 1856 and long before the publication of his astonishing Specimens of Chromatic Wood Type, Borders, Etc. in 1874. The beginning of wood type is usually traced to 1828, the year that Darius Wells (1800–1875) issued his first specimen book. It was Wells who used a lateral router to cut letters out of wood following a cardboard pattern. William Leavenworth (1799–1860) added the pantograph to the router in 1834, a combination that enabled wood type manufacturers to create multiple sizes (and styles) of type from a single pattern. Edwin Allen (1811–1891) created the first chromatic wood type which was sold by George F. Nesbitt in 1838. For the roles of Wells, Leavenworth, Allen, and others see the comprehensive American Wood Type, 1828–1900: Notes on the Evolution of Decorated and Large Types and Comments on Related Trades of the Period by Rob Roy Kelly (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1969), a book that should have been included in this exhibition. (A biography of Page [1829–1906] is on pp. 43–44.)
“With wood type each letter is cut individually using a pantograph router following a master. The process was slow and laborious.” p. 120
Producing wood type was no more laborious than making metal type which involved cutting punches, striking matrices, and casting types. Rob Roy Kelly remarks, “…because of the ease of making patterns, the wood type manufacturers marketed variations in a design much more quickly than typefounders.” (p. 87) For a step-by-step summary of the process of making end-cut wood type see Rob Roy Kelly (pp. 50–54). He also explains the problems involved in casting large type in metal (p. 33).
“…due to the nature of advertising always trying to appear novel and to shout above the rest, the letterforms used in wood type developed in a very different way from the text types of Garamond and Baskerville. Add to that the restrictions of the production process and you get a whole new category of letter styles.” p. 120
The first wood types closely copied the new advertising styles of type pioneered by English foundries in the first three decades of the 19th century: Fat Faces, Egyptians, Grotesques (sans serifs), Tuscans, and even Caslon IV’s Italian which Hansard had railed against (see no. 37). American wood type manufacturers eventually moved away from these basic styles and created a plethora of original designs. (See Rob Roy Kelly pp. 72–90; and Nineteenth Century Ornamented Typefaces by Nicolete Gray (Berkeley and London: University of California Press, 1976) with a chapter on “Ornamented Types in America” by Ray Nash.)
Further Reading p. 318
Specimens of Chromatic Wood Type, Borders, &c. by Esther K. Smith (New York: Rizzoli, 2017).
• Suggested reading: American Wood Type, 1828–1900: Notes on the Evolution of Decorated and Large Types and Comments on Related Trades of the Period by Rob Roy Kelly (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1969).
Fifty Typefaces Famous in Typography
p. 292 Rosewood (Adobe Wood Type) c. 1860 / Adobe / See no. 42
Illustrations
Sixty Line Chromatic Belgian Ornamented [p. 9], Tints Nos. 1-3 [p. 36], and Sixty Line Chromatic Ornate No. 2 [p. 8]. (The exhibition showed p. 44 with Twenty Line Chromatic Mexican and Twenty-Eight Line Chromatic Gothic Ornamented No. 1.)
• I believe that the illustrations could have been better chosen since nearly every page in Page’s specimen book is visually astonishing. My top choices are: pp. 13, 26 (with Wade’s Inks as part of the title), 29, 32, 41 (showcasing Tints Nos. 16–20 and a Chromatic Double Star), 49 (Forty Line Clarendon Ornamented), 63, 68 (includes Twelve Line Doric Ornamented, the source for Adobe’s Zebrawood), 75 (Chromatic Clarendon Ornamented in four sizes), or 83 (three larger sizes of Chromatic Clarendon Ornamented). Chromatic Clarendon Ornamented is the source for Adobe’s Rosewood.

Six Line Doric, Twelve Line Doric Ornamented, and Twenty Line Doric from Specimens of Chromatic Wood Type, Borders, &c (Greeneville, Connecticut: Wm. H. Page & Co., 1874). Image courtesy of Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University. Doric Ornamented is the model for Zebrawood from Adobe.

Six Line, Eight Line, Ten Line, and Twelve Line Chromatic Clarendon Ornamented from Specimens of Chromatic Wood Type, Borders, &c (Greeneville, Connecticut: Wm. H. Page & Co., 1874). Image courtesy of Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University. Clarendon Ornamented is the model for Rosewood from Adobe.
pp. 124–125
43. William Morris (1834–1896)
Jacobus de Voragine / The Golden Legend
Hammersmith [London]: The Kelmscott Press, 1892. Three volumes. Quarto.
[There is no provenance given. The online exhibition says, “Lender: Jerry Kelly.”]
• Set in the Golden Type designed by William Morris and cut by Edward Prince.
• Text is c.476 words
• There are links to nos. 3, 44, 51, and 53. There should be additional links to nos. 29, 30, 30A, 35, and 38.
“Morris declined offers to release his type designs commercially to other printers, but imitations appeared almost immediately.” p. 124
The most important knockoffs of Morris’ types were Jenson Oldstyle and Satanick issued by American Type Founders. Jenson Oldstyle, copied from the Golden Type, was designed by J.W. Phinney of the Dickinson Foundry (the Boston branch of ATF) and cut by John F. Cumming in 1893. Satanick, based on the Troy and Chaucer types, was probably designed by Phinney and cut by Cumming in 1896. (For both types see American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century by Mac McGrew (New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Books, 1993; 2nd revised edition), pp. 189 and 281). McGrew also provides references to other American copies of Morris’ types, though not to European ones. Of Jenson Oldstyle, he says, “…though a comparatively crude face in itself, [it] did much to start the late nineteenth-century move [in the United States] toward better types and typography.” I agree with McGrew and believe that ATF’s copies did more to spread the Morrisian gospel among ordinary printers than did the original types.
“…his [Morris’] use of several novel (for his time) typographic procedures—such as reviving earlier type designs; even, tight word and line spacing resulting in stronger typography; and an overall concern with detail and craftsmanship—has had a lasting influence.” p. 124
Kelly’s points are well-taken, but they do not go far enough. Morris also re-established the double-page spread as the basic book unit; the use of generous (or relatively so) margins; the practice of using sidenotes (see its influence on Layout in Advertising by W.A. Dwiggins [no. 63 in the catalogue]); and, within the private press movement, the use of pilcrows to signal paragraphs. This latter practice was even copied for awhile by job printers and advertising designers in the United States.
Further Reading p. 318
The Kelmscott Press: A History of William Morris’s Typographical Adventure by William S. Peterson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991).
Fifty Typefaces Famous in Typography
p. 293—Golden / William Morris 1891 / Kelmscott Press / ITC / See no. 43
Illustration
Single page (“Of the Lyf of Saynt Laurence” p. 709, [volume 2?]). (The exhibition displayed a leaf from the book: “Of the Lyf of Saynt Marcelyn the Pope” p. 465, [volume 2?].)
• The leaf on display may have come from The Kelmscott Press Golden Legend: A documentary history of its production together with a leaf from the Kelmscott edition edited with an introduction by William S. Peterson (College Park, Maryland: University of Maryland at College Park Libraries; Council Bluffs, Iowa: Yellow Barn Press, 1990).
pp. 126–127
44. Thomas James Cobden Sanderson (1840–1922), Emery Walker (1851–1933)
J.W. Mackail / William Morris
London: Doves Press, 1901. Octavo (one of fifteen printed on vellum).
Provenance: Emery Walker; the curator [Jerry Kelly].
• Set in the Doves type designed by Emery Walker, drawn by Percy Tiffin, and cut by Edward Prince (1846–1923).
• Text is c. 434 words
• Full title: William Morris: An Address Delivered the XIth November MDCCCC at Kelmscott House, Hammersmith before the Hammersmith Socialist Society by J.W. Mackail. The full title indicates that this was a talk and not a full-fledged biography. There was also a 1902 trade edition “Printed at the Chiswick Press for the Hammersmith Publishing Society” [i.e. Annie and Thomas Cobden-Sanderson].
• There are no links. There should be ones to nos. 3, 43, 51, 55, and 69.
This is far from the most famous book printed by the Doves Press. That honor would go to its five-volume edition of the The English Bible (1903–1905), followed by The Ideal Book or Book Beautiful: A Tract on Calligraphy, Printing, and Illustration & on the Book Beautiful as a Whole by Thomas James Cobden-Sanderson (1900).
Further Reading p. 318
The Doves Press by Marianne Tidcombe (London: The British Library; New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press, 2000).
Fifty Typefaces Famous in Typography
• There is no digital typeface linked to the Doves Press. A good choice would have been Doves Type by Robert Green (2013).
Illustration
Single page (p. 1). (The exhibition displayed the title page.)
• p. 1 is good since it shows the lowercase as well as the effect of the type in mass.
• Is the slight blurriness of the type due to its being printed on vellum?
pp. 128–129
45. Horace Hart (1840–1916)
Notes on a Century of Typography at the University Press Oxford
Oxford: Printed at the University Press, 1900. Folio.
Provenance: Inscribed by the author to The Grolier Club.
• Set in Caslon.
• Text is c.280 words
• There are links to nos. 78 and 79. There also could be links to nos. 15, 16, 17, 30, and 30A.
• “Cristoffel van Dijck” should be “Christoffel van Dijck”
• “Peter de Walpergen” was Peter de Walpergen (1646–1703), a German-born punchcutter who practiced in Oxford. He has been described as Bishop Fell’s “personal” punchcutter.
Further Reading p. 318
A History of the Oxford University Press. Volume I: To the Year 1780 by Harry Carter (Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1975).
Fifty Typefaces Famous in Typography
• There is no digital typeface linked to Hart’s history of the Oxford University Press and no reason for there to be one.
Illustration
Single page (p. 113). (The exhibition displayed the spread pp. 114–115.)
pp. 130–131
46. Beatrice Warde (1900–1969), editor, and others
The Monotype Recorder 1902–1970
London: The Monotype Corporation, 1902–1970 (original series). Quarto.
[There is no provenance given. The online exhibition says, “Lender: Jerry Kelly.”]
• Set in various types.
• Text is c.532 words
• There are links to nos. 54, 56, 57, 69, and 97; but there should also be ones to nos. 16, 24, 55, 67, and 83.
“After 1922 the journal [The Monotype Recorder]took on greater gravitas and a more historical bent, under the editorial direction of Stanley Morison, who was succeeded by Beatrice Warde in 1927. Warde, one of the few women in the twentieth-century type world, made significant contributions to type scholarship and promotion (see no. 97). A special issue of The Monotype Recorder was devoted to her work, after her death in 1967.” p. 130
A special issue of The Monotype Recorder (vol. 43, no. 30) was devoted to Stanley Morison (1889–1967) in 1968. It says that “Old Face” was the first article of his to appear in The Monotype Recorder (January/February 1922), but does not indicate the years of his tenure as editor of the journal. Did he become editor prior to being appointed typographical advisor to the Monotype Corporation in 1923? As for Warde, did her editorship cease upon her death or earlier? She died in 1969 (not 1967). The special issue The Monotype Recorder (vol. 44, no. 1) dedicated to her was issued in 1970.
Most of Kelly’s text is about the history of the linotype and monotype machines with only the sentences quoted above devoted to Beatrice Warde. He does not specifically identify any of her significant contributions to type scholarship and promotion. The reference to no. 97 is to The Palaeotypography of the French Renaissance by Hendrik D.L. Vervliet (Leiden [Netherlands]: Brill, 2008) which is a round-about way of indicating her famous article “The ‘Garamond’ Types, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Sources Considered” published under the pseudonym Paul Beaujon in The Fleuron No. 5 (see no. 56) in 1926. It was that article that apparently led to her being invited to take over the editorship of The Monotype Recorder in 1927.
Further Reading p. 319
History of the Monotype Corporation by Judy Slinn, Sebastian Carter and Richard Southall; edited by Andrew Boag with a prologue by Christopher Burke (London: Printing Historical Society; Woodstock, United Kingdom: Vanbrugh Press, 2014).
• Suggested reading: Tolbert Lanston and the Monotype: The Origin of Digital Typesetting by Richard L. Hopkins (Tampa Bay: University of Tampa Press, 2012).
Fifty Typefaces Famous in Typography
• There is no digital typeface linked to the Monotype Recorder. Kelly could have chosen one of several designs that were cut as part of Stanley Morison’s “programme of type design” that have been digitized. The most obvious one would have been Monotype Garamond since it was the impetus for Beatrice Warde’s famous article on “The ‘Garamond’ Types” cited above.
Illustrations
Two covers (July/August 1924 overlapping a second one with its date obscured). (The exhibition showed an unpaginated spread from The Monotype Recorder [1970] devoted to the memory of Beatrice Warde.)
• The online exhibition shows both covers clearly. The obscured one in the catalogue is January/February 1923. Both issues predate Beatrice Warde’s tenure as editor of The Monotype Recorder.

Title page of The Monotype Recorder New Series No. 1, Vol XXXII (Spring 1933). The issue is devoted to “Twenty Years of Typographic Progress 1913–1933” with a focus on Stanley Morison’s “program” of typographic revivals. Set in Perpetua by Eric Gill.
pp. 132–133
47. Will Bradley (1868–1962)
The American Chap-Book
Elizabeth, New Jersey: American Type Founders, September 1904–August 105. Duodecimo.
Provenance: Paul Bacon; the curator.
• Set in various types from American Type founders such as Caslon No. 471, Pabst, Della Robbia, Cheltenham, Tabard, Lining Gothic No. 545, Modern Gothic No. 4, and Bradley’s own Bewick Roman Series (1904).
• Text is c.252 words
• There are no links, but there should be ones to nos. 30, 30A, and 55.
“Each issue had interesting articles on design by Bradley himself, highlighted by exceptional typography in numerous fonts and multiple colors, sometimes even changing papers within a single volume.” p. 132
“The American Chapbook [sic] only lasted through twelve monthly issues, but the styles shown by Bradley had a considerable influence on designers and printers across the United States and beyond.” p. 132
Kelly is absolutely right about the influence of Bradley’s styles—as exemplified by the Chap-Book Cuts, Chap-Book Borders, Chap-Book Directors, and Chap-Book Guidons he designed for ATF in 1904—on American printers, but he does not emphasize enough how influential Bradley’s designs and design writing in the issues of The American Chap-Book were. Bradley and American Type Founders used each issue to educate printers on matters of design and layout of a variety of ephemeral items. For instance, February 1905 was devoted to “The Value of Little Things”; March 1905 to cover designs with an emphasis on decorative patterns; April 1905 to business card designs; and June 1905 to advertising designs. In an era when printers still determined the appearance of most books and ephemera, advice from trade journals and other sources such as The American Chap-Book was essential.
Here are links to those issues of The American Chap-Book that have been fully digitized: volume 1, number 6 (February 1905), volume 2, number 2 (April 1905), and volume 2, number 4 (June 1905).
Further Reading p. 319
Will H. Bradley: An American Artist in Print by Robert Koch (New York and Manchester, Vermont: Hudson Hills Press, 2002).
Fifty Typefaces Famous in Typography
• There is no digital typeface linked to Will Bradley and The American Chap-Book. Kelly could have chosen digitized versions of Bradley Text (designed by American Type Founders following Bradley’s lettering on the cover of the December 1894 issue of The Inland Printer) or Caslon 471. Bradley had a fondness for Caslon’s types and helped jumpstart the renewed interest in them among American printers at the turn of the 20th century. (See “Eighteenth Century Chap-Books and Broadsides” in The American Chap-Book, vol. 1, no. 1 [September 1904].)
Illustrations
Covers of four issues: October 1904, November 1904, March 1905, and July 1905. (The exhibition showed the cover of October 1904 and spreads from November 1904 and March 1905.)
• Note that Bradley ornaments and designs (e.g. drummer, dog, etc.) were introduced in The American Chap-Book. Several are visible on the four covers.
• At least one interior spread showing Bradley’s sample designs should have been among the illustrations.
pp. 134–135
48*. Charles Enschedé (1855–1919)
Fonderies de Caractères et Leur Matériel dans les Pays-Bas du XVe au XIXe Siècle
Haarlem: Joh. Enschedé en Zonen, 1908. Folio.
Provenance: The Grolier Club.
• The main text is set in Augustyn Romyn No. 2, cut by Fleischman in 1732 for the Wetstein foundry. (See Fonderies de Caractères et Leur Matériel dans les Pays-Bas du XVe au XIXe Siècle… by Charles Enschedé [Haarlem: De Erven F. Bohn, 1908], p. 178.)
• Text is c.308 words
• The full title is: Fonderies de Caractères et Leur Materiel dans les Pays-Bas du XVe au XIXe Siecle. Notice Historique Principalement d’Apres les Données de la Collection Typographique de Joh. Enschede en Zonen à Haarlem
• The publisher should be “De Erven F. Bohn” not “Joh. Enschedé en Zonen”
• There is a link to no. 41, but there should be additional links to nos. 27, 48A, and 73.
• “J.F. Rosart” is Jacques François Rosart (1714–1777), punchcutter who began his career working for Enschéde in Haarlem before establishing his own foundry in Brussels in 1759.
Kelly mentions the oldest roman types owned by Enschedé, but ignores the textura (Saint augustin flamande) cut by Henric Lettersnijder (fl. 1480–1510) that probably dates to 1493. Of him Charles Enschedé writes, “Le plus ancien fondeur de types qui se fît de ce travail une espèce de spécialité, fut l’imprimeur Henric de Delft, qui se nommait dans les colophons de ses ouvrages lettersnider ou littersnijder (graveur de caractères).… L’oeuvre de ce Henric le graveur a pour nous une certaine importance, parce que les matrices des caractères nommés ci-dessus aux nos. 1 et 2, et dont nous donnons dans ces pages quelques réimpressions, sont certainment de sa main.” (Enschedé, p. 7) (See Enschedé, pp. 7–29 for what is known of Henric Lettersnijder and the fate of textura over subsequent centuries.)
Further Reading p. 319
The House of Enschedé: 1703–1953 (Haarlem: Joh. Enschedé en Zonen, 1953).
• Suggested reading: Dutch Typography in the Sixteenth Century: The Collected Works of Paul Valkema Blouw edited by Paul Dijstelberge and A.R.A. Croiset van Uchelen (Leiden [Netherlands]: Brill, 2013).
Fifty Typefaces Famous in Typography
• There is no digital typeface linked to this history of typefounding in the Netherlands. One choice is DTL Flamande by Matthew Carter (1992), based on textura types by the Flemish punchcutter Hendrik van den Keere, specifically the Gros Canon Flamande and the Parangonne Flamande, which both date from 1571. Van den Keere’s design is part of the “Old English” lineage that can be traced back to textura types by Simon Vostre and Henric Lettersnijder.
Illustration
Single page (p. 208 with figure “No. 241 Gros canon flamand no. 565… 1748”). (The exhibition showed pp. 204–205 with figures “Nos. 227 Le Nouveau testament 1782 and 228 Le Livre des Psaumes 1777”.)
• More illustrations would have been welcome for such a rich book: e.g. p. 13 with La Chronique de Brabant (Antwerp: Rolant van den Dorp, 1497) in Henric Lettersnijder’s textura; p. 117 with Capitales fur [sic?] double canon no. 27 by Jan Barentz (late 17th c.); p. 124 Grand canon romain no. 33 from the foundry of Hendrik and Antonie Bruyn (18th c.) or p. 125 with its matching italique no. 34; or p. 183 showing Keuren der Stad Haerlem Ordonnantien Raakende de Justitie (1755) [though the image says 1751].
pp. 136–137
48A*. Charles Enschedé (1855-1919)
Typefoundries in the Netherlands from the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Century
Haarlem: Stichting Museum Enschedé, 1978. Folio.
Provenance: The Grolier Club.
• Set in Romanée types (roman in 1928 and italic in 1949) designed by Jan van Krimpen and cut by Paul H. Rädisch. The roman referenced Kleine Text Romein No. 2, a typeface attributed to Christoffel van Dijck.
• Text is c.238 words
• There are no links. There should be ones to nos. 27, 48, and 73.
• “Netty Hoeflake” is Netty Hoeflake (c.1913–1973) who, despite being a major contributor to half a dozen books that are key texts for type historians, is a ghost online. She worked at the Enschedé Museum for an unidentified period of time.
• “Lotte Hellinga” is Lotte Hellinga (b.1932), a leading book and print historian.
• “Bram de Does” is Bram de Does (1934–2015), Dutch book designer, type designer, musician, and farmer.
Further Reading p. 319
Bram de Does: letterontwerper en typograaf edited by Mathieu Lommen (Amsterdam: Uitgeverij de Buitenkant, 2003).
• Suggested reading: Dutch Typefounders’ Specimens from the Library of the KVB and Other Collections in the Amsterdam University Library with Histories of the Firms Represented by John Lane, Mathieu Lommen, and Johan de Zoete (Amsterdam: Bijzondere Collecties van de Universiteit van Amsterdam, 1998).
Fifty Typefaces Famous in Typography
• There is no digital typeface linked to this English translation of Enschedé’s history of typefoundries in the Netherlands. However, either Trinité (1981) or Lexicon (1992) by Bram de Does would qualify as celebrated (if not “famous”) typefaces.
Illustration
Title page (designed by Bram de Does).
pp. 138–139
49. Theodore Low De Vinne (1828–1914)
Historic Printing Types
New York: The Grolier Club, 1886. Quarto.
Provenance: Given to The Grolier Club by the author.
• I do not know what the typeface for the text is. It does not appear in Types of the De Vinne Press; Specimens for the Use of Compositors, Proofreaders and Publishers (New York: De Vinne Press, 1907). It is some version of a “modern” face.
• Text is c.266 words
• The online exhibition: “Provenance: Given to the library of the Grolier Club by the author; one of two copies printed on vellum.”
• There is a link to no. 1, but there should be links to many other items since this is a history of printing.
Further Reading p. 319
No Art Without Craft: The Life of Theodore Low De Vinne by Irene Tichenor (Boston: David R. Godine, Publisher, 2005).
• Suggested reading—Theodore Low De Vinne. Together with a List of De Vinne’s Writings, His Reflections on the Century Typeface, and an Interview with Mr. De Vinne at 75 by Carl Purington Rollins (New York: The Typophiles, 1968), 2 volumes.
Fifty Typefaces Famous in Typography
• There is no digital typeface linked to De Vinne’s history nor any reason for there to be one.
Illustration
Single page (p. 2—opening of the first chapter). (The exhibition showed the spread pp. 32–33 “The Cursive François of Granjon of Lyons” [i.e. civilité] and “Geofroy Tory’s method of forming the letters I and K.”)
• There are better pages than the one Kelly chose: pp. 20–21 with early roman types; p. 44 part of a Van Dijck specimen; p. 70 “Bold-face style” of Robert Thorne; p. 89 “Double Small Pica No. 20, from the foundry of George Bruce’s Son & Co. An attempt to combine old style features with modern graces.”; or p. 107 with “The last novelty. From the foundry of George Bruce’s Son and Co.”—showing an “artistic” or fancy type!

“Thorne’s Bold-Face” from Historic Printing Types by Theodore Low De Vinne (New York: The Grolier Club, 1886.), p. 70. Note that De Vinne has not reproduced an actual Fat Face by Robert Thorne, but instead has shown Great Primer No. 1 from George Bruce’s Son & Co., a typeface designed over fifty years later. De Vinne’s text in the sample is also worth reading (e.g. “To the general reader these are sealed books: to the student, who seeks exact knowledge of the methods of the first printers, they are tiresome books.”). Image from the Internet Archive.
pp. 140-141
50. Lucien Alphonse Legros (1866–1933), John Cameron Grant (b. 1857)
Typographical Printing Surfaces
London & New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1916. Octavo.
Provenance: David R. Godine.
• Set in an Old Style type from Miller & Richard.
• Text is c.126 words
• Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library loaned their copy of the book, but it was not used.
• There are no links. Two could be made to nos. 83 and 89.
“Typographical Printing Surfaces is one of the first, and still one of the best, scientific analyses of printing types, including valuable information on myriad technologies involved in the manufacture of type and other printing materials. Coming at the end of the Industrial Revoluti0n, and a few short decades after key inventions such as the pantographic punchcutting machine, the Linotype slug casting composition machine, and the Monotype composition machine, the book surveys major developments in the production of printing types (all in metal).” p. 140
This is virtually the entirety of Kelly’s entry. It is maddeningly short—especially since it is the only technical book on his list other than Digital Formats for Typefaces by Peter Karow (no. 89). There is no further identification or explication of the three machines that are mentioned which collectively contributed to a technological revolution in both the manufacture of type and the composition of type.
• “the pantographic punchcutting machine” refers to the vertical pantograph for patrices and punches patented by Linn Boyd Benton (1844–1932) in 1885. It changed the making of metal type from an act of sculpting letters from a piece of hardened steel to one of drawing them on paper.
• “the Linotype slug casting composition machine” was first commercially demonstrated by Ottmar Mergenthaler (1854–1899) in 1886.
• “the Monotype composition machine” was invented by Tolbert Lanston (1844–1913) in 1887. It cast single pieces of type. Together the Linotype and the Monotype machines sped up typesetting. They also posed a major economic challenge to the type foundries once the two machines were perfected in the 1890s.
Further Reading p. 319
A Grammar of Typography by Mark Argetsinger (Boston: David R. Godine, Publisher, 2020).
• Suggested reading: Das Schriftgießen: Von Stempelschnitt, Matrizenfertigung und Letterguss: eine Dokumentation by Walter Wilkes (Darmstadt, Germany: Technische Hochschule Darmstadt, 1990); Tolbert Lanston and the Monotype: The Origin of Digital Typesetting by Richard L. Hopkins (Tampa Bay: University of Tampa Press, 2012); History of the Linotype Company by Frank J. Romano (Rochester, New York: RIT Press, 2014); and The Bentons: How an American Father and Son Changed the Printing Industry by Patricia Cost (Rochester, New York: RIT Cary Graphic Arts Press, 2011).
Fifty Typefaces Famous in Typography
• There is no digital typeface linked to Legros and Grant’s monumental book and no reason for there to be any specific one.
Illustration
Single page (p. 377 with Fig. 354 “Felt composing, line-justifying, and distributing machine.”).
• A caption is needed to explain that this machine was a failed rival to Linotype and Monotype patented by American C.W. Felt in 1860.
• Given Kelly’s failure to explain the workings of the Linotype and the Monotype he could have chosen a page related to one of them: e.g. p. 400 with Monotype die-case, or p. 222 Linotype matrix. Or he could have shown the infamous Paige Compositor that cost mark Twain an investment of $300,000. It is illustrated in Plates XLII–XLIII (between pp. 386 and 387), or the schematic diagram of a pivotal typecaster (p. 303).

“Fig. 289— Pivotal typecasting machine.” from Typographical Printing Surfaces by Lucien Alphonse Legros and John Cameron Grant (London & New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1916), 303. Image from Google Books.
pp. 142–143
51. Bruce Rogers (1870–1957)
Maurice de Guérin / The Centaur
Montague: Privately printed, 1915. Quarto.
Provenance: Inscribed by Rogers to Carl Purington Rollins; the curator.
• Set in foundry Centaur designed by Bruce Rogers and pantographically cut and cast by Robert Wiebking (1870–1927).
• Text is c.418 words
• The online exhibition: “Provenance: Inscribed by Rogers to the printer of the volume, Carl Purington Rollins; later Jerry Kelly”. The added information here about Rollins is of interest since he is not identified as the printer in the header.
• There are links to nos. 3 and 11. Links to nos. 43 and 44 are also relevant.
• “Morison” is Stanley Morison (1889–1967), typographic advisor to the Monotype Corporation in England from 1923 to 1967. (See no. 69.)
• “Benton” is Morris Fuller Benton (1872–1948), son of Linn Boyd Benton and the chief type designer for American Type Founders from 1900 until 1937. (See nos. 55 and 58.)
• “Robert Grabhorn” is Robert Grabhorn (1900–1973), a co-founder with his brother Edwin (1889–1968) of the Grabhorn Press (1919–1965), a celebrated printing plant in San Francisco.
• “Frederic Warde” is Frederic Warde (1894–1939), book designer and type designer. His wife was Beatrice Warde (see no. 46).
• “Carl Purington Rollins” is Carl Purington Rollins (1880–1960), proprietor of the Montague Press and later Printer to Yale University.
Further Reading p. 319
The Noblest Roman: The Centaur Type of Bruce Rogers by Jerry Kelly and Misha Beletsky (Boston: David R. Godine, Publisher, 2015); originally The Noblest Roman: The Centaur Type of Bruce Rogers by Jerry Kelly and Misha Beletsky (San Francisco: Book Club of California, 2016) [Book Club of California Publication No. 236].
• Suggested reading—Bruce Rogers: A Life in Letters, 1870–1957 by Joseph Blumenthal (Austin, Texas: W. Thomas Taylor, 1989); and The Centaur Types by bruce Rogers (West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press, 1996).
Fifty Typefaces Famous in Typography
p. 266—Centaur / Nicolas Jenson 1470 /Interpreted by Bruce Rogers / Monotype / See nos. 3 and 51
Illustration
Opening page. The tiny bookplate for Carl and Margaret Rollins is shown on p. 142.
pp. 144–147
52. Gebrüder Klingspor
Kalenders
Offenbach-am-Main: Schriftgiesserei Gebrüder Klingspor, 1910–1941. Duodecimo.
Provenance: Melbert B. Cary, Jr; Will Ransom; Jerry Kelly; The Grolier Club.
• Set in various types. In the illustrations accompanying the entry, the typefaces include Koch Antiqua, Peter-Jessenschrift, Wilhelm-Klingsporschrift, Wallau, and Kabel by Rudolf Koch; and Kleist-Fraktur by Walter Tiemann.
• Text is c. 294 words
• Title should more accurately be Klingspor-Kalender für das Jahre — or Kalender —.
• The online exhibition: “Provenance: Presented by Melbert Cary, importer of Klingspor types into America, to Will Ransom, bibliographer of private presses, some of whom used fonts from Gebr. Klingspor; later Jerry Kelly.” A lengthy text, but a very informative one for those not familiar with the names of Melbert Cary, Jr. and Will Ransom.
• There are no links, but Kelly’s text suggests links to nos. 27, 28, 30, 30A, and 82. To that list should be added nos. 25, 32, 42, 55, and 84.
• “…category of a typefoundery’s work.”—should be “typefoundry” unless Kelly is deliberately being archaic.
• “Willi Harwerth” is Willi Harwerth (1894–1982), graphic designer and illustrator.
• “Heinrich Holz” is Heinrich Holz (fl. 1921–1966), artist.
• “Otto Hupp” is Otto Hupp (1859–1949), heraldic artist, graphic designer and type designer.
• “Fritz Kredel” is Fritz Kredel (1900–1973), woodcut artist and illustrator.
“‘Kalender’ may be a bit misleading in this instance: these bound volumes, exhibiting a wide variety of typographic styles, are more books than what is commonly thought of as a calendar… In fact their functionality as a calendar pages is made subservient to their use as type specimens. Many of the issues have pages of running text with no days or months shown whatsoever.” p. 144
This entry raises two questions: If these kalenders are really books (as opposed to ephemera), why has Kelly chosen the complete run of them rather than only one for inclusion in his list? What is the running text about?
“…Tiemann Gotisch (Walter Tiemann, 1925) and Wallau (Rudolf Koch, 1931) made their first appearance in a book in one of the Klingspor Kalenders.” p. 144
Tiemann Gotisch is not in the calendars that are illustrated. Wallau appears in the illustration on the right on p. 146. Multiple online sources list Tiemann-Gotisch as 1924; and Wallau as 1925–1934, but the original weight of the latter was completed in 1930.
Three of the Klingspor Kalenders have been partially digitized: 1924 Klingspor Kalender, Klingspor-Kalender für das Jahr 1936, and Klingspor-Kalender für das Jahre 1938.
Further Reading p. 319
Karl Klingspor: Leben und Werk by Hans Adolf Halbey (Offenbach am Main: Vereinigung Freunde des Klingspor-Museums, 1991).
• Suggested reading—In der Schmiede der Schrift: Karl Klingspor und sein Werk. by Julius Rodenberg (Berlin: Büchergilde Gutenberg, 1940).
Fifty Typefaces Famous in Typography
• There is no digital typeface linked to the Klingspor calendars. Of the digitized versions of Wallau, Jessenschrift, or Wilhelm-Klingsporschrift (all by Koch), the best is ALOT Wilhelm Klingspor Schrift (2013).
Illustrations
Three pages of illustrations: p. 145 shows covers of calendars for 1921, 1928 and 1930, and an unidentified image; and pp. 146–147 show interior calendar pages for unidentified years. The latter include the typefaces Wilhelm Klingsporschrift, Koch Antiqua, Kleist Fraktur, and Wallau. (The exhibition showed the title page of the 1931 calendar and May from an unidentified calendar.) Will Ransom’s bookplate is shown on p. 144.
• The online exhibition shows an extra two images (for September and February of unidentified years) that are not present in the catalogue.
pp. 148–149
53. Daniel Berkeley Updike (1860–1941)
Printing Types: Their History, Forms, and Use
Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1922. Two volumes. Octavo.
Provenance: Martin Hutner.
• Set in Oxford roman italic, types originally cut and cast by Binny & Ronaldson. (See no. 91 Anatomy of a Typeface by Alexander Lawson [Boston: David R. Godine, Publisher, 1990], p. 236.)
• Text is c.418 words
• The full title of Updike’s book is both amusing and instructive: Printing Types: Their History, Forms, and Use; A Study in Survivals.
• The online exhibition: “Provenance: Martin Hutner, author of several books and articles on Daniel Berkeley Updike and the Merrymount Press”.
• There are links to nos. 56, 57, and 69. Many others could be added especially nos. 40, 41, 48, 65, 78, 79, 83, and 97.
“Updike’s historical chapters are sandwiched between an introduction and conclusion relating the study to contemporary printshop practice. Almost all of the advice provided in those sections are as applicable today as they were a century ago, when Printing Types first appeared in print.” p. 148
Kelly’s conclusion is debatable, not only because typography and printing today are digital, but because printers are no longer the ones determining the use of types in printed matter. Designers have taken over that role and the variety of uses to which they employ typefaces is far broader than what Updike had in mind in 1922. Updike’s conclusion is a peroration on good and bad types and printing as an art versus printing as a trade. What he has to say on the former still largely holds true, but not on the latter. Here is part of his concluding text, “In every period there have been better or worse types employed in better or worse ways. The better types employed in better ways have been used by the educated printer acquainted with standards and history, directed by taste and a sense of fitness of things, and facing the industrial conditions and the needs of his time. Such men have have made of printing an art. The poorer types and methods have been employed by printers ignorant of standards and caring alone for commercial success. To these, printing has simply been a trade.” (Printing Types vol. II, pp. 274–275; his peroration continues in the same vein through p. 276 and the end of the book.)
Both volumes of the original 1922 edition have been digitized: Printing Types: Their History, Forms, and Use vol. I and Printing Types: Their History, Forms, and Use vol. II.
Further Reading p. 319
Daniel Berkeley Updike and The Merrymount Press of Boston by George Parker Winship (Rochester, New York: The Printing House of Leo Hart, 1947).
• Suggested reading—The Well-Made Book: Essays & Lectures by Daniel Berkeley Updike edited by William S. Peterson (West New York, New Jersey: Mark batty, Publisher, 2002).
Fifty Typefaces Famous in Typography
• There is no digital typeface linked to Updike’s magisterial history of printing types. There are innumerable possibilities, but the best choice would be the digitized version of Monticello by Matthew Carter (2003). Monticello, originally designed by Chauncey Griffith in 1946, is based on Binny & Ronaldson’s Roman Pica no. 1.
Illustration
“1. Diagram of Type” and “2. Plan of its Face,” both from Chapter II, volume I. (The exhibition showed the title page of volume I.)
• The uncredited illustrations were drawn by Rudolph Ruzicka.