Golden Type

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The Golden Type used in a printing of The Nature of Gothic by John Ruskin. Kelmscott Press - The Nature of Gothic by John Ruskin (first page).jpg
The Golden Type used in a printing of The Nature of Gothic by John Ruskin.

The Golden Type is a serif typeface designed by artist William Morris for his fine book printing project, the Kelmscott Press, in 1890. It is an "old-style" serif face, based on type designed by engraver and printer Nicolas Jenson in Venice around 1470. [1] [2] [3] It is named for the Golden Legend , which was intended to be the first book printed using it. [1] The original design has neither an italic nor a bold weight, as neither of these existed in Jenson's time.

Contents

Morris's aim in the Kelmscott Press was to revive the style of early printing and medieval manuscripts, and the design accordingly is a profound rejection of the harsh, industrial aesthetic of the contemporary Didone typefaces used at the time in general-purpose printing, and also of the relatively pallid "modernised old style" designs popular in books. Instead, the design has a relatively heavy "colour" on the page. The design is a loose revival, somewhat bolder than Jenson's original engraving, giving it something of the appearance of medieval blackletter writing, and it has been criticised for ponderousness due to this heavy appearance. [2] [4] [5] [6] (A particularly extreme response in the twentieth century was that of Stanley Morison, who while polite about its innovation and legibility described its design privately as "positively foul". [7] [8] ) Morris decided not to use the long s and some ligatures found in early printing but discarded since, feeling that they made texts hard to read. [6]

To prepare the design, Morris commissioned enlarged photographs of Jenson's books from the artist Emery Walker (which survive), from which he prepared drawings; Walker was interested in the history of printing and his interest may have inspired Morris to venture into printing. [6] [9] The design was then cut into metal in a single size by Edward Prince and cast by the company of Morris's friend Talbot Baines Reed. [10] [11] [6] [12] [13]

The Golden Type sparked a trend of other typefaces in a similar style commissioned for fine book printing in Britain, including that of the Doves Press, which was co-founded by Walker. [14] Several of these typefaces were also cut by Prince. [6] [15] Other early copies were made in America. Many similar Jenson revivals, including Cloister Old Style, the Doves Type, Centaur, Adobe Jenson and Hightower Text have been created since, most more faithful to Jenson's original work. [16] [2] It also influenced some of the work of Frederic Goudy. [17]

The Golden Type has been digitised by ITC. [18] The original punches and matrices, along with all of Morris's other typefaces, survive in the collection of Cambridge University Press. [19]

Related Research Articles

In typography, a serif is a small line or stroke regularly attached to the end of a larger stroke in a letter or symbol within a particular font or family of fonts. A typeface or "font family" making use of serifs is called a serif typeface, and a typeface that does not include them is sans-serif. Some typography sources refer to sans-serif typefaces as "grotesque" or "Gothic", and serif typefaces as "roman".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederic Goudy</span> American printer and type designer (1865–1947)

Frederic William Goudy was an American printer, artist and type designer whose typefaces include Copperplate Gothic, Goudy Old Style and Kennerley. He was one of the most prolific of American type designers and his self-named type continues to be one of the most popular in America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kelmscott Press</span> Private press founded by designer William Morris in 1891

The Kelmscott Press, founded by William Morris and Emery Walker, published 53 books in 66 volumes between 1891 and 1898. Each book was designed and ornamented by Morris and printed by hand in limited editions of around 300. Many books were illustrated by Edward Burne-Jones. Kelmscott Press books sought to replicate the style of 15th-century printing and were part of the Gothic revival movement. Kelmscott Press started the contemporary fine press movement, which focuses on the craft and design of bookmaking, often using hand presses. While their most famous books are richly decorated, most Kelmscott Press books did not have elaborate decoration, but were published simply.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman type</span> Style of typeface

In Latin script typography, roman is one of the three main kinds of historical type, alongside blackletter and italic. Sometimes called normal, it is distinct from these two for its upright style and its simplicity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slab serif</span> Type of serif typeface

In typography, a slab serif typeface is a type of serif typeface characterized by thick, block-like serifs. Serif terminals may be either blunt and angular (Rockwell), or rounded (Courier). Slab serifs were introduced in the early nineteenth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Didone (typography)</span> Classification of serif typefaces

Didone is a genre of serif typeface that emerged in the late 18th century and was the standard style of general-purpose printing during the 19th century. It is characterized by:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bookman (typeface)</span> 1869 serif typeface

Bookman, or Bookman Old Style, is a serif typeface. A wide, legible design that is slightly bolder than most body text faces, Bookman has been used for both display typography, for trade printing such as advertising, and less commonly for body text. In advertising use it is particularly associated with the graphic design of the 1960s and 1970s, when revivals of it were very popular. It is also used as the official font of Indonesian laws since 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baskerville</span> Transitional serif typeface designed in the 1750s

Baskerville is a serif typeface designed in the 1750s by John Baskerville (1706–1775) in Birmingham, England, and cut into metal by punchcutter John Handy. Baskerville is classified as a transitional typeface, intended as a refinement of what are now called old-style typefaces of the period, especially those of his most eminent contemporary, William Caslon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perpetua (typeface)</span> Serif typeface

Perpetua is a serif typeface that was designed by the English sculptor and stonemason Eric Gill for the British Monotype Corporation. Perpetua was commissioned at the request of Stanley Morison, an influential historian of printing and adviser to Monotype around 1925, when Gill's reputation as a leading artist-craftsman was high. Perpetua was intended as a crisp, contemporary design that did not follow any specific historic model, with a structure influenced by Gill's experience of carving lettering for monuments and memorials. Perpetua is commonly used for covers and headings and also sometimes for body text and has been particularly popular in fine book printing. Perpetua was released with characters for the Greek alphabet and a matching set of titling capitals for headings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doves Press</span> Printer and publisher 1900–1916

The Doves Press was a private press based in Hammersmith, London. During nearly seventeen years of operation, the Doves Press produced notable examples of twentieth-century typography. A distinguishing feature of its books was a specially-devised typeface, known variously as the Doves Roman, the Doves Press Fount of Type, or simply the Doves Type.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adobe Jenson</span>

Adobe Jenson is an old-style serif typeface drawn for Adobe Systems by its chief type designer Robert Slimbach. Its Roman styles are based on a text face cut by Nicolas Jenson in Venice around 1470, and its italics are based on those created by Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi fifty years later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swash (typography)</span> Typographical flourish found on some letterforms, particularly in italics

A swash is a typographical flourish, such as an exaggerated serif, terminal, tail, entry stroke, etc., on a glyph. The use of swash characters dates back to at least the 16th century, as they can be seen in Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi's La Operina, which is dated 1522. As with italic type in general, they were inspired by the conventions of period handwriting. Arrighi's designs influenced designers in Italy and particularly in France.

The International Typeface Corporation (ITC) was a type manufacturer founded in New York in 1970 by Aaron Burns, Herb Lubalin and Edward Rondthaler. The company was one of the world's first type foundries to have no history in the production of metal type. It is now a wholly owned brand or subsidiary of Monotype Imaging.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Centaur (typeface)</span>

Centaur is a serif typeface by book and typeface designer Bruce Rogers, based on the Renaissance-period printing of Nicolas Jenson around 1470. He used it for his design of the Oxford Lectern Bible. It was given widespread release by the British branch of Monotype, paired with an italic designed by calligrapher Frederic Warde and based on the slightly later work of calligrapher and printer Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi. The italic has sometimes been named separately as the "Arrighi" italic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of California Old Style</span> 1938 serif typeface by Frederic Goudy

University of California Old Style is a serif typeface designed by Frederic Goudy and created for the University of California Press from 1936–8. It is one of Goudy's most popular serif typefaces. It is also known as Berkeley Old Style and Californian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kennerley Old Style</span>

Kennerley Old Style is a serif typeface designed by Frederic Goudy. Kennerley is an "old-style" serif design, loosely influenced by Italian and Dutch printing traditions of the Renaissance and early modern period. It was named for New York publisher Mitchell Kennerley, who advanced Goudy money to complete the design. While Goudy had already designed 18 other typefaces, it was one of Goudy's most successful early designs in his own style. The regular or roman style was designed in 1911, the italic in 1918; bold styles followed in 1924.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cary Graphic Arts Collection</span>

The Cary Graphic Arts Collection is a library and archive of books, type specimens, manuscripts, documents, and artifacts related to the history of graphical communication. Located in Wallace Library at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), in Henrietta, New York, the Cary Collection contains literate artifacts as old as cuneiform tablets and as recent as computer tablets and e-books, in all comprising some 40,000 volumes in addition to manuscripts, correspondence, printing types and traditional letterpress printing equipment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Prince</span>

Edward Philip Prince (1846–1923) was a British engraver and punchcutter, a cutter of the punches used to stamp the matrices used to cast metal type.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Style (Miller & Richard)</span>

Old Style or Modernised Old Style was the name given to a series of serif typefaces cut from the mid-nineteenth century and sold by the type foundry Miller & Richard, of Edinburgh in Scotland. It was a standard typeface in Britain for literary and prestigious printing in the second half of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, with many derivatives and copies released.

References

  1. 1 2 Charles Harvey; Jon Press (1991). William Morris: Design and Enterprise in Victorian Britain. Manchester University Press. pp. 201–2. ISBN   978-0-7190-2419-1.
  2. 1 2 3 Alexander S. Lawson (January 1990). Anatomy of a Typeface. David R. Godine Publisher. pp. 47–51. ISBN   978-0-87923-333-4.
  3. ↑ Elisabeth Luther Cary (1902). William Morris: poet, craftsman, socialist. G. P. Pvtnam's Sons. pp.  219–230.
  4. ↑ Katherine Bergeron (10 August 1998). Decadent Enchantments: The Revival of Gregorian Chant at Solesmes. University of California Press. pp. 27–35. ISBN   978-0-520-91961-7.
  5. ↑ Irene Tichenor (2005). No Art Without Craft: The Life of Theodore Low De Vinne, Printer. David R. Godine Publisher. pp. 116–140. ISBN   978-1-56792-286-8.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 William S. Peterson (1991). The Kelmscott Press: A History of William Morris's Typographical Adventure . University of California Press. pp. 39, 81–95, 194–305. ISBN   978-0-520-06138-5.
  7. ↑ Amert, Kay (April 2008). "Stanley Morison's Aldine Hypothesis Revisited". Design Issues. 24 (2): 53–71. doi:10.1162/desi.2008.24.2.53. S2CID   57566512.
  8. ↑ Peterson, William S. "The Type-designs of William Morris". Journal of the Printing Historical Society.
  9. ↑ Dreyfus, John (1991). "A Reconstruction of the Lecture given by Emery Walker on 15 November 1888". Matrix. 11: 27–52.
  10. ↑ Mosley, James. "Talbot Baines Reed, typefounder and sailor". Typefoundry. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
  11. ↑ Neil Macmillan (2006). An A-Z of Type Designers. Yale University Press. p. 138. ISBN   0-300-11151-7.
  12. ↑ Dreyfus, John (1974). "New Light on the Design of Types for the Kelmscott and Doves Presses". The Library. s5-XXIX (1): 36–41. doi:10.1093/library/s5-XXIX.1.36.
  13. ↑ Tuohy, Stephen (1990). "A New Photograph of Edward Prince, Typefounders' Punchcutter". Matrix. 10: 135–142.
  14. ↑ "Doves Type Revival". Type Spec. 30 April 2013. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  15. ↑ "Private Press Types". Elston Press. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  16. ↑ Leslie J. Workman; Kathleen Verduin (1996). Medievalism in England II. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. pp. 169–180. ISBN   978-0-85991-487-1.
  17. ↑ Frederic William Goudy (1940). Typologia: Studies in Type Design & Type Making, with Comments on the Invention of Typography, the First Types, Legibility, and Fine Printing. University of California Press. pp. 148–155. ISBN   978-0-520-03308-5.
  18. ↑ "ITC Golden Type". MyFonts. International Typeface Corporation . Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  19. ↑ William S. Peterson (1991). The Kelmscott Press: A History of William Morris's Typographical Adventure . University of California Press. pp.  272–4. ISBN   978-0-520-06138-5.
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