The Definitive Dwiggins no. 800—A typeface named Mrs. Hoyle

Mário Feliciano of Feliciano Type has announced a new typeface called Mrs. Hoyle, inspired by the Caslon-ish lettering that W.A. Dwiggins did in the 1920s and early 1930s and named after his wife.  While it is nice to see Mabel Dwiggins (1881–1968) get some public recognition, naming a typeface Mrs. Hoyle is not the proper way to do it. She was born Mabel Hoyle and grew up as Miss Hoyle. Once she married Will Dwiggins (the name he went by when they met and for many years afterward) she became Mrs. Dwiggins. She was never Mrs. Hoyle. That title belonged to her mother Hannah Hoyle (1848–1928). A more accurate name for the typeface would be either Mabel Hoyle or Mabel if one wants to honor her. But naming a typeface after her makes little sense. Although she played an important role in Dwiggins’ marionette theater, she had no influence on his lettering or typefaces. An aesthetically more appropriate name for Feliciano’s typeface would be Dwiggins Oldstyle.

I would also suggest a more flattering photograph of Mabel to accompany the publicity for Mrs. Hoyle [sic]. Here she is in the mid-1910s at home with her husband and his cousin Laurence B. Siegfried.

W.A. Dwiggins, Laurence B. Siegfried, and Mabel Dwiggins c.1918. Photograph courtesy of the Boston Public Library.

Note: This is strictly a critique of the name of Feliciano’s typeface and not of the design of the typeface itself.