Rusher's Patent Types were the characters of an experimental serif typeface invented, patented and promoted by Philip Rusher in Banbury, England, from 1802 onwards. [lower-alpha 1] The typeface removed the descenders from the lower-case letters and shortened the ascenders, which Rusher hoped would make the typeface "more uniform" and save paper. The typeface was used for a few books but did not become popular.
Rusher patented the design on 20 May 1802, stating that by his invention "the letters will occupy less room...each line may be placed immediately under the body of the preceding line, and thus a great part of the paper...may be saved, or spaces may be placed between the lines to extend them to the usual distance asunder. In either case the printing will appear more uniform and beautiful". [2] [1] Rusher's patent showed a design for the roman or upright style, and for an italic apparently never manufactured as metal type. [2]
Rusher gave his occupation as bankers' clerk in the patent; [2] he became manager of the town's Old Bank. [4] [5] However, his brother William Rusher, originally a schoolmaster, had become a bookseller and stationer in the town by 1785, [4] became parish clerk in 1795 and reached a prominent position in the town as a printer of directories and guides to reading and arithmetic. [6] [7] [8] [5] [9] William Rusher's son John Golby Rusher would become a long-lived and successful publisher who continued to sell books in the town for over three decades, particularly known for his books of nursery rhymes which were distributed nationally. [4] [10] [11] [12] [13]
An 1802 review of patents in The Monthly Magazine expressed interest: "although the alterations in several of the letters...do not appear necessary, yet we cannot help thinking that his plan...would add greatly to the beauty of fine printing; and it is obvious that most of the characters already in use might still be employed in the business, consequently the expence in adopting this invention could not be very great." [14] The patent was also reported in Germany [15] [16] and later in the Netherlands. [17]
Rusher commissioned custom metal type characters, or sorts, from the Caslon Type Foundry in London, to adapt a 14-point size type they sold. [lower-alpha 2] According to Frederic Goudy, in 1894 the punches used to create the type were rediscovered by the foundry during a stock check. Rusher's characters were only the lower-case b d f h k l g j p y characters and fi ff ligatures; [3] [lower-alpha 3] as The Monthly Magazine had predicted, the originals were used for the other letters. A small capital was used for the q, although Rusher's patent shows a cursive form (and alternative cursive forms for the ascending characters with forward-facing serifs, not used in the type as made). [2] The reduction in the height of the ascenders increases the apparent x-height relative to the ascending characters.
The type adapted was a modern face or Didone type, a style of typeface which had recently become popular and would remain the standard typeface for general-purpose printing for the whole of the nineteenth century. [18] [lower-alpha 4]
As a first use for his "new mode of printing", in 1804 Rusher published an edition of Rasselas , a novel by Samuel Johnson which was popular at the time. [20] It was printed by Cheney (later Cheney & Sons), a local firm of printers in Banbury, [21] and advertised as sold by three booksellers in London and a relative, J. Rusher, in Reading. [22] A copy at the University of Oxford advertises that "since part of the book was printed, it will be seen that a material improvement has been made in the legibility of the new letters." [23] The form of the 'g' varies, in Goudy's view reflecting a change in editing policy midway through the printing process: in some places the sort used is always the lower-case form with no descender, in others a small cap character was used at the beginning of words. [3] Goudy also thought the patented characters were altered after part of the book was printed by slimming them down. [3] Edwin Pearson, who wrote a history of children's books printed in Banbury in 1890, had information that sales of the book had grossed £5 5s. [10]
Retrospective reviews of the type have not been favourable. In the nineteenth century Charles Henry Timperley felt that the improved types were "any thing but what the preamble of the patent would have us believe" [24] and Bigmore and Wyman considered it "about as ugly a specimen of typography as can be conceived". [25] Goudy thought that the design was hampered by bad execution: "little care had been taken to give to his new forms the same weight of stems as in the face into which they were interpolated". [3] Alastair Johnston felt that the type is "anything but uniform and beautiful" and that the new characters felt particularly uncomfortable in the word Egypt, where a large part of the novel is set: "that word, with its three descending letters in an awkward huddle, pops up frequently." [26]
A few more uses were made of the type. The book advertised a forthcoming edition of The Deserted Village in the type, and the Cheney ledger suggested it was apparently printed, [4] but no copy has been found. [25] [5] [lower-alpha 5] Philip Rusher made another try with a pamphlet, The Farmer's Friend in 1817, [5] and his nephew John Golby Rusher used the type in 1852 for another book, A Complete Guide to the Mystery and Management of Bees by William White. [12] [4] The typeface after this again remained unused. [25]
According to an 1894 circular from the Caslon foundry, from when the punches were rediscovered, "whether this patent type gave rise to the practice or not, we cannot tell, but very many of the best fonts issued at the present day can be supplied on various bodies for which special ascending and descending sorts have been engraved, but to do away with descenders entirely...has never been since attempted". [4] [lower-alpha 6]
The punches were advertised for sale on eBay in February 2021; they had apparently ended up owned by Cheney & Sons, the firm which had printed the book, before it closed. They were acquired by St Bride Library. [30]
In typography and lettering, a sans-serif, sans serif, gothic, or simply sans letterform is one that does not have extending features called "serifs" at the end of strokes. Sans-serif typefaces tend to have less stroke width variation than serif typefaces. They are often used to convey simplicity and modernity or minimalism.
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".
A typeface is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight, slope, width, and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font.
William Caslon I, also known as William Caslon the Elder, was an English typefounder. The distinction and legibility of his type secured him the patronage of the leading printers of the day in England and on the continent. His typefaces transformed English type design and first established an English national typographic style.
In typography and handwriting, a descender is the portion of a letter that extends below the baseline of a font.
A type foundry is a company that designs or distributes typefaces. Before digital typography, type foundries manufactured and sold metal and wood typefaces for hand typesetting, and matrices for line-casting machines like the Linotype and Monotype, for letterpress printers. Today's digital type foundries accumulate and distribute typefaces created by type designers, who may either be freelancers operating their own independent foundry, or employed by a foundry. Type foundries may also provide custom type design services.
Caslon is the name given to serif typefaces designed by William Caslon I (c. 1692–1766) in London, or inspired by his work.
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 nineteenth. It is characterized by:
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.
Goudy Old Style is an old-style serif typeface originally created by Frederic W. Goudy for American Type Founders (ATF) in 1915.
Modern typographers view typography as a craft with a very long history tracing its origins back to the first punches and dies used to make seals and coinage currency in ancient times. The basic elements of typography are at least as old as civilization and the earliest writing systems—a series of key developments that were eventually drawn together into one systematic craft. While woodblock printing and movable type had precedents in East Asia, typography in the Western world developed after the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-15th century. The initial spread of printing throughout Germany and Italy led to the enduring legacy and continued use of blackletter, roman, and italic types.
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.
Cochin is a serif typeface. It was originally produced in 1912 by Georges Peignot for the Paris foundry G. Peignot et Fils and was based on the copperplate engravings of 18th century French artist Charles-Nicolas Cochin, from which the typeface also takes its name. The font has a small x-height with long ascenders. Georges Peignot also created the design 'Nicolas-Cochin' as a looser variation in the same style.
A reverse-contrast or reverse-stress letterform is a design in which the stress is reversed from the norm: a typeface or custom lettering where the horizontal lines are the thickest. This is the reverse of the vertical lines being the same width or thicker than horizontals, which is normal in Latin-alphabet writing and especially printing. The result is a dramatic effect, in which the letters seem to have been printed the wrong way round. The style invented in the early nineteenth century as attention-grabbing novelty display designs. Modern font designer Peter Biľak, who has created a design in the genre, has described them as "a dirty trick to create freakish letterforms that stood out."
Egyptian is a typeface created by the Caslon foundry of Salisbury Square, London around or probably slightly before 1816, that is the first general-purpose sans-serif typeface in the Latin alphabet known to have been created.
In typography, a fat face letterform is a serif typeface or piece of lettering in the Didone or modern style with an extremely bold design. Fat face typefaces appeared in London around 1805–1810 and became widely popular; John Lewis describes the fat face as "the first real display typeface."
The Caslon type foundry was a type foundry in London which cast and sold metal type. It was founded by the punchcutter and typefounder William Caslon I, probably in 1720. For most of its history it was based at Chiswell Street, Islington, was the oldest type foundry in London, and the most prestigious.
