Typedr' Typography
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Typedr' Typography Highlights from Matrix, the review for printers and bibliophiles MARK BATTY PUBLISHER • LLC West New York, New Jersey 2003 Table of Contents JohnD.Berry INTRODUCTION xi JohnRandle THE GENESIS OF MATRIX xvii Brooke Crutchley Logic, Lucidity, and Mr Morison l Stanley Morison was more responsible than anyone else for the revival of both type design and typography in the first half of the 20th century. Brooke Crutchley's essay in Matrix 5 (1985) shows how Morison was a major force in favor of functionality and simplicity in printed work. John Dreyfus The Typographical Importance of Maximilien Vox 15 John Dreyfus, the successor to Stanley Morison as typographic advisor to Monotype, was well positioned to appreciate and convey, in Matrix 17 (1997) the importance of the seminal French designer, organizer, and publisher, Maximilien Vox Sebastian Carter Victor Hammer 29 Victor Hammer followed his own way in type design and cut his own punches, perfecting the little-used uncial style of letter and employing it in brilliantly designed books. The superior quality of his work inspired Sebastian Carter's overview in Matrix 7 (1987). Christopher Skelton Eric Gill's Typography Examined 41 Eric Gill's Essay on Typography, first published in 1931, reflected his attitude toward work and society while attempting to be a practical handbook at the same time. In Matrix 7 (1987) Christopher Skelton looked at both the book itself and its impact. Sebastian Carter The Types of Jan van Krimpen 51 In contrast to Gill, Jan van Krimpen wanted control over every aspect of the typefaces he designed, and he resisted all compromise in their manufacture. Sebastian Carter's survey in Matrix 12 (1992) puts the effort in perspective. Jan van Krimpen On Preparing Designs for Monotype Faces 59 Jan van Krimpen took a very critical look at the process of converting foundry type to machine composition. He helped Monotype create a revival of the classic Dutch types of Van Dijck, but later decided it had been a bad idea. In this essay, originally published in the 1950s and reprinted in Matrix 11 (1991), he explains why. Type & Typography: A Matrix Anthology DanCarr Making a Visible Spirit: Cutting the Regulus Punches by Hand 71 Dan Carr works in the tradition of type designers who cut their own punches, and he is one of the craftsmen learning and preserving this tradition today. In this essay from Matrix 16 (1996), he has a bone to pick with digital type. Alan Dodson A Type for All Seasons 81 The types of William Caslon have been in almost continuous use since the 18th century, and they have practically defined straightforward, workmanlike printing in England. In Matrix 13 (1993) Alan Dodson explains the history of this typeface and its many variants and revivals. Justin Howes The Compleat Caslon 93 By the time of Matrix 17 (1997), Justin Howes was well on his way to delivering a complete revival of Caslon's typefaces as a family of digital fonts. He explains the genesis of this pro- ject which puts the original Caslon typefaces back into the hands of book designers as a digital tool. Sebastian Carter Type for Books, and Books for Type 101 In Matrix 18 (1998), on the centenary of the Monotype Corporation, Sebastian Carter wrote this account of the unique period when Monotype brought out an unprecedented series of new and revived typefaces for machine composition. Brooke Crutchley Types for Books at Cambridge, 1923-45 117 Brooke Crutchley's careful look, in Matrix 8 (1988), at the role of the Cambridge University ' Press in the typographic renaissance that began in the 1920s details the complementary relationship between Cambridge and Monotype, and the books that were the fruit of that union. James Mosley Eric Gill and the Golden Cockerel Type 131 One of the earliest subjects covered in Matrix, in the second issue (1982), was the elegant typeface that the protean Englishman Eric Gill created for the Golden Cockerel Press. James Mosley describes how Gill came to create this uniquely "robust" typeface for the press's proprietor, Robert Gibbings. Christopher Sandford A Note on the Golden Cockerel Type 139 Christopher Sandford took over the Golden Cockerel Press from Robert Gibbings in 1933 and this first-hand account of the press's later years, also from Matrix 2 (1982), serves to set the scene for the digital revival of the press's proprietary type. Roderick Cave Saving Face: the ITC Golden Cockerel Type 143 The creation of ITC Golden Cockerel was an important project in the digital revival of typefaces originally created by hand in metal. In Matrix 17 (1997), Roderick Cave describes how Eric Gill's well-known but rarely available typeface was converted into a new medium. Contents Paul Luna Two Oxford Bible Types 149 Creating a readable type for a Bible is an exacting task, often unappreciated by the book's students and readers. Paul Luna, in Matrix 17 (1997), contrasts Jan van Krimpen's demand- ing but idiosyncratic Bible type and Harry Carter's bolder attempt. Fiona Ross and Graham Shaw An Unexpected Legacy, and its Contribution to Early Indian Typography 169 The discovery of the pattern drawings and castings of the Bengali and Modi types of Sir Charles Wilkins, of the East India Company, throws new light on the challenges of turning Indian scripts into movable type in the early 19th century. (Matrix 7,1987) Dermot McGuinne The Colum Cille Irish Type 183 The problem of making a useful and readable modern Irish type involves creating Latin letters that preserve the historical letterforms used in the medieval Irish monasteries and yet still work in the modern world. In the 1930s Colm i Lochlainn sought the advice of Stanley Morison on his plan for a new typeface suitable for setting modern Irish prose. (Matrix 12,1992) J. F. Coakley The Oxford University Press and Robert Proctor's Greek Types 195 Major university presses are precisely the patrons that have both the need and the funds to buy or commission new typefaces for classical Greek, for use in publishing the classics. J. F. Coakley's essay in Matrix 13 (1993) gives an insight into the ins and outs of getting a typeface project through the maze of an academic institution. Peter Foden John Johnson and the Treyford Type 207 Graily Hewitt's calligraphic Treyford type, commissioned in the late 1920s by John Johnson, the Printer to the University of Oxford, flew in the face of the typographic orthodoxy of the time. In Matrix 13 (1993) Peter Foden traces how a new typeface can gain and lose credibility. Sebastian Carter Letters are Things: The Wood-engraved Initials of Eric Gill 219 Eric Gill not only carved letters in stone and turned his designs into type; he also produced a large number of engraved titles, initials, and alphabets for book publishers. In Matrix 15 (1995), Sebastian Carter describes how some of these engravings, as well as the original Golden Cockerel type, were rescued from the scrap heap. Peter Foden Bishop Fell's Overlooked Bequest in the OUP Museum 227 Alongside the well-known and highly influential Fell types, bequeathed to Oxford by Bishop Fell in the late 17th century, are more than fifty copper engravings of decorated initial letters. In Matrix 17 (1997), Peter Foden sorts them out and traces their origins. Type & Typography: A Matrix Anthology Michael Johnson Borders and Swelled Rules Designed by Edward Bawden for the Oxford University Press 237 The decorative elements of letterpress printing begin with borders and rules. Those created after the Second World War by Edward Bawden gave a bold new look to books and printed ephemera. Michael Johnson's essay in Matrix 16 (199G) celebrates Bawden's work. MarkArman A Collection of Printers' Flowers 249 The history of printers' flowers ranges from 15th-century arabesques based on Islamic rugs and architecture to the floral exuberance of Victorian ornament. Mark Arman, in Matrix 9 (1989), surveys their revival in the 20th century. David Bethel Creating Printer's Flowers 257 In Matrix 13 (1993), David Bethel gives his first-hand account of creating stylish, complex printers' flowers and ornaments. Stan Nelson Cutting a New Music Type 269 Typesetting music is a special and highly technical aspect of typography, especially in metal. Stan Nelson, in Matrix 8 (1988), describes the enormously complex process of cutting the punches for a font of plainchant. Sister Valerie Cryer The Setting of Plainchant 279 In Matrix 4 (1984) Sister Valerie Cryer, then of St Mary's Press, ties her own contemporary experience in hand-setting the notes used to represent Gregorian chant on paper to a tradition that stretches far back before the advent of printing. David Wishart The Printing of Mathematics 285 Setting mathematics is a challenge that has bedeviled printers since the earliest days of printing books. David Wishart, in Matrix 8 (1988), shows the changing standards since the 15th century for representing mathematics on the page, and the intricacies of reproducing it in metal type. Sebastian Carter Some Notes on the Design of Poetry 297 Poetry requires no special characters, like mathematics or music, but arranging lines of verse on the page of a book requires careful thought and sensitivity to the text. In Matrix 4 (1984), Sebastian Carter invents an imaginary client to describe the real problems of printing poetry. Glenn Storhaug On Printing Poetry Aloud 305 In the second issue of Matrix (1982), Glenn Storhaug, arguing from his own experience as a letterpress printer, insists that it is possible, with sufficient care and attention, to make a poem spring alive from the printed page. Contents Philip Gallo How Far the Abracadabra 311 The setting of concrete poetry, where the physical form of the poem is a part of the poem itself, is always a collaboration between the poet and the printer.