Type Tuesdays - Alphabet 1964

International annual of letterforms, Alphabet 1964. Ed. R.S. Hutchings, published by James Madison Ltd. for the Kynoch Press.

Jaime Henderson

Archivist

Type Tuesday - Letters and Lettering

A great piece of advice in some fantastic fonts from Paul Carlyle and Guy Oring from their 1938 text Letters and Lettering.

Type Tuesday - Futura by the Bauer Type Foundry

Futura, brought to you by the Bauer Type Foundry Inc.

Type Tuesday - Specimens from A.V. Haight

Today's Type Tuesday features printing specimens from A.V. Haight. Born in Ellenville, New York, Haight entered the printing business early working in the offices of the Ellenville Journal. After serving in the New York Calvary during the Civil War, Haight brought his printing skills to California where he worked in the San Francisco Call offices. Shortly thereafter Haight was appointed the head of the California state printing office from 1865 to 1866. Haight returned to New York state, eventually starting his own job printing establishment in Poughkeepsie. The following specimens, outstanding for their bright, beautiful color, are from 1883 and were printed by Haight for the Campbell Printing Press and Manufacturing Company. 

Jaime Henderson,
Archivist

Type Tuesday - Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Type Tuesdays will return January 7, 2014.

Ornaments from the Donaldson Printing & Publishing Co. 

Jaime Henderson,
Archivist

Type Tues - Holiday Tidings

Happy Holidays!

An Alphabet of Christmas Words, selected by Helen McKelvey Oakley, designed by John Begg, and illustrated by Ursula Suess. Published as Monograph No. 83 for the Typophiles, 1966.  

Here's hoping your holiday is filled with both beautiful ornaments and delicious pie!

Jaime Henderson,

Archivist

Type Tuesday - Lucian Bernhard and the Linotype Magazine

The January 1929 issue of Linotype Magazine, published by the Mergenthaler Linotype Company, was dedicated to new trends in typographic design. The issue featured layouts arranged in linotype by Lucian Bernhard (1883-1972) a German graphic designer, type designer and artist well-known for his particular style in advertising known as Plakatstil. Plakatstil (or "Poster style") highlighted bold, simplified font, flat colors and streamlined shapes. These voguish samples of advertisements, including compelling suggestions for the selection of particular types, embody Bernhard's style and offered Mergenthaler Linotype users a fresh, more modern way to appeal to their customers. 

Jaime Henderson,
Archivist

Gilbert and Rivington's Foreign Types

William E. Loy (1847-1906) was a newspaperman, printer and printing equipment salesman who collected fonts for his extensive typographical library. This copy of Specimens of Gilbert and Rivington's Foreign Types comes from William E. Loy's collection of typographical specimens. 

Tucked inside this specimen is a note addressed to Loy and signed by Gilbert and Rivington, thanking Loy for inquiring about their Oriental type selections and offering him a discount on any futher orders. 

And what a selection of types Gilbert and Rivington offered! The index lists 84 types including Irish, Japanese and Flemish types and more exotic types such as Ojibbeway, Tartar and Tekke-Turkoman. What follows is a selection of types offered by Gilbert and Rivington, Oriental Printers and Typefounders.

William Loy's typographical library forms the core of the California Historical Society's Kemble Collection. Visit the CHS North Baker research library to take a peek of specimen's from Loy's terrific collection. 

Jaime Henderson,

Archivist

Type Tuesday - Francis Hart and Co.

Samples of "black letters" from the printing office of Francis Hart and Co. from 1878.

Initial letters

Tail-pieces

Jaime Henderson, 

Archivist

Type Tuesday - The Linotype Bulletin

The Mergenthaler Linotype Company was an early printing industry giant in the United States primarily due to its development and manufacturing of the first modern, functional linotype machine. Its publication, The Linotype Bulletin, was "devoted to the linotype and its users," offering articles on lay-out and design, samples of linotype work and announcements of newly acquired types by the Mergenthaler Linotype Company. The May-June issue from 1921 offered its customers a peek into the precision and care with which their individual matrices were selected. The "stock operative" seen below made selecitons from Merganthaler's 41,500 types and ensured precision with her micrometer gauges, guaranteeing customers the most accurate of print display. 

From the advertisement above:

FILLING THE SINGLE ORDER

Prompt supply for the 41,500 Linotypes in use in all parts of the world is assured by maintaining a stock of many millions of matrices ready to ship. The system of filling our daily orders from this stock is such that orders for a single matrix or for many thousands are met with equal precision. The stock operative shown in the illustration is comparing each individual matrix with the order, and she has at hand micrometer gauges and other means for final accurate examination. 

From the adverstisement above: 

INDIVIDUAL CARE OF THE INDIVIDUAL MATRIX

The matrix factory has a capacity of over 225,000 matrices a day, but nevertheless the governing principle is not quantity production. The whole system is devised to assure individual attention to the individual matrix. Inspections and tests accompany each matrix through the successive stages of its manufacture, and it is again inspected and examined when it is taken from stock to fill orders. 

The Kemble Collection on Western Printing and Publishing at the California Historical Society holds a wide range of periodicals related to printing, publishing and graphic design, including many issues of The Linotype Bulletin from 1908 to 1930. 

Jaime Henderson

Archivist