The Contributions of Linn Boyd Benton and Morris Fuller Benton to the Technology of Typesetting and Typeface Design
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Rochester Institute of Technology RIT Scholar Works Theses 5-1-1986 The Contributions of Linn Boyd Benton and Morris Fuller Benton to the technology of typesetting and typeface design Patricia Cost Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.rit.edu/theses Recommended Citation Cost, Patricia, "The Contributions of Linn Boyd Benton and Morris Fuller Benton to the technology of typesetting and typeface design" (1986). Thesis. Rochester Institute of Technology. Accessed from This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by RIT Scholar Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses by an authorized administrator of RIT Scholar Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Sc~l of Printing Rochester Institute of Techno~ Rochester I New York CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL MASTER'S niESIS This is to certify that the Master's Thesis of Patricia Knittel Cost name of student with a major in Printing Technology has been approved by the Thesis Comnittee as satisfactory for the thesis requirement for the Master of Science degree at the convocation of June 24, 1986 date Thesis Comnittee: Herbert Johnson Thesis Advisor Archibald Provan Thesis Advisor Joseph L. Noga Graduate Progran Coordinator Miles Southworth Director THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF LINN BOYD BENTON AND MORRIS FULLER BENTON TO THE TECHNOLOGY OF TYPESETTING AND TYPEFACE DESIGN by Patricia Knittel Cost A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the School of Printing in the College of Graphic Arts and Photography of the Rochester Institute of Technology May 1986 Thesis Advisors: Herbert H. Johnson Archibald D. Provan COPYRIGHT MAY 1986 Patricia A. Cost No part of this manuscript may be reproduced in any way without express written consent of the author. The Contributions of Linn Boyd Benton and Morris Fuller Benton to the Technology of Typesetting and Typeface Design I, Patricia Knittel Cost , prefer to be contacted each time a request for reproduction is made. I can be reached at the following address: 12 Partridgeberry Way west Henrietta, New York 14586 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to give special thanks to two nembers of the Benton family: Mrs. Caroline Benton Gregg, for her gracious hospitality, time and patience; and Mrs. Elizabeth Benton Swain, for her generous contribution. This research would not have been possible without the help of many others, including Dr. James Eckman, George Gasparik, Walter Marder, M.F. McGrew, Alexander Lawson, Hermann Zapf , Matthew Carter, Henry Weiland, Rudolph Ellenbogen, and David Pankow. I am greatly indebted to my advisors, Herb Johnson and Archibald Provan, for their enthusiasm, support, and criticism. Most of all, I want to thank Frank Cost for his boundless patience and encouragement, and Roger Cost for inspiration. 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of v Tables _ List of Figures vi Chapter One: Introduction 1 Statement of the Problem 1 Hypothesis Statement 4 Footnotes to Chapter 1 5 Chapter Two: Family Background 6 Footnotes to Chapter 2 16 Chapter Three: The Early Years: The Inventions 19 Typefounding in the 1870s 19 Self-Spacing Types 25 The Benton Punch-Cutting Machine 31 ' Mergenthaler s Linotype Machine 36 Other Inventions 45 Life in Milwaukee 46 Footnotes to Chapter 3 50 Chapter Four: The Bentons at ATF 54 The Merger 54 The Bentons' Early Years in New York 58 Linn Boyd Benton's ATF Career 64 Morris Benton at ATF 71 The Bentons in Plainfield 84 Footnotes to Chapter 4 96 Chapter Five: Typographic Changes & Climate 102 The Times 102 The Competition 105 Benton and Frederic W. Goudy 106 Footnotes to Chapter 5 Ill Chapter Six: How Type Was Made at ATF 114 An Emphasis on Accuracy 114 Preliminary Research 115 The Drawings 116 The Delineating Apparatus 118 Design Considerations 121 Working Drawings 123 in Chapter Six, continued The Pattern 124 Engraving a Matrix 126 Adjusting the Machine 135 Fitting (or Justification) 137 Casting 140 Footnotes to Chapter 6 141 Chapter Seven: Morris Benton's Type Designs 144 Roycroft, c 1898 146 Century Expanded, 1900 146 The Century Family, before 1920 149 Century Schoolbook, 1920 151 Cheltenham, 1904 156 Cloister Oldstyle, 1913 163 Cloister Black, 1904 170 Wedding Text, about 1901 170 Bodoni, 1909 170 Clearface, 1907 174 Baskerville, 1915 176 Garamond, 1917 178 Bulmer, 1926 183 Goudy Bold, 1918 186 Broadway, 1926 187 Other Benton Commercial Types 191 Gothics 192 Stymie, 1931 and Tower, 1934 202 Scripts 204 Souvenir, 1914 206 Cambridge, Benton, or Whitehall, 1934 209 Miscellany 213 Footnotes to Chapter 7 217 Chapter Eight: The Later Years 222 ATF's Decline 222 Linn Boyd Benton's Later Years 225 Morris Fuller Benton's Later Years 230 Footnotes to Chapter 8 236 Chapter Nine: Conclusion 238 Footnotes to Chapter 9 241 Appendix A 242 Appendix B 247A Bibliography 248 iv LIST OF TABLES 1. Variations in the sizes of type-bodies in 1885, before the adoption of the point system ; 22 2. The nine widths of the type-bodies of Linn Boyd Benton's 29 self-spacing types LIST OF FIGURES 1. Jessica Elizabeth Donaldson, May 20, 1866. ._ 14 2. Morris Fuller Benton, 1872 14 3. Linn Boyd Benton's Self-Spacing Roman and Italic Type 29 4. The Leavenworth pantograph machine for wood type 34 5. Building of Benton, Waldo & Company at 89 Huron Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 34 6. Printed material from Morris Benton's boyhood press 47 7. Morris Benton's marriage certificate 62 Bentons' 8. The house on Staten Island, 19 Central Ave. in Thompkinsville, circa 1900 63 9. type Century in Century Magazine, November 1895, page 795. ... 66 10. The original drawings for Roycroft, and the font as it was cut at ATF. (Inland Printer, June 1937, page 36. ) 74 Bentons' 11. The house in Plainfield, New Jersey, 104 Crescent Ave., circa 1915. (Photo taken by Morris Benton.) 83 12. Mary Ethel Bottum Benton, and her two daughters, Elizabeth (left), and Caroline, circa 1910 85 13. Linn Boyd Benton's letter to his granddaughter Caroline 92 14. Mary Ethel Bottum Benton, 1915 93 15. Mary Ethel Bottum Benton, 1915 93 16. Jessie Elizabeth Benton and her elder granddaughter, Elizabeth Boyd Benton, 1899 94 17. Linn Boyd Benton at ATF, circa 1922 94 18. Morris Fuller Benton, circa 1915 95 vi 19. Morris Fuller Benton at ATF, 1922 95 20. Caslon Oldstyle No. 471, from ATF's 1941 Specimen Book 120 21. Franklin Gothic Extra Condensed: 6-point H, 36-point H, and 120-point H. (Inland Printer, April 1947, p. 50. ) 122 22. Transposing the drawing. (The Dolphin, No. 2, 1935, p. 66. ) . 122 23. An ATF pattern. (Photo taken at ATF Co., November 1984.) .... 125 24. The Benton punch-cutting machine. (Photo taken at Co., November 1984.) 127 25. Original Benton punch-cutting machine from patent specification, 1885. (Typographical Printing Surfaces, page 196. ) 128 26. Top of punch-cutting machine 130 27. Guiding the follower. (The Dolphin, No. 2, 1935, page 65. ) . 130 28. Operations of punch-cutting. (Typographical Printing Surfaces, page 200.) 132 29. ATF cutting slip. (Photo taken at ATF Co., November 1984.) . 134 30. Morris Benton's Century Expanded 147 31. Morris Benton's Century Oldstyle 150 32. Morris Benton's Century Catalogue 150 33. Morris Benton's Century Schoolbook 154 34. The importance to legibility of the upper half of lower-case letters. (Type Lore, page 93. ) 157 35. ATF's Cheltenham 157 36. Laertius: Lives of the Philosophers, printed by Nicolas Jenson in Italy, 1475 163 37. Morris Benton's Cloister Oldstyle 165 38. Morris Benton's Cloister Black 168 39. Morris Benton's Wedding Text 169 40. Morris Benton's Bodoni 171 41. Clearface: enlarged openings or white spaces at junctions of perpendicular or curved lines 175 VI 1 42. Morris Benton's Clearface 175 43. Morris Benton's Baskerville 177 44. Morris Benton's Garamond 179 45. Frederic W. Goudy's Garamont 181 46. Morris Benton's Bulmer 184 47. Morris Benton's Goudy Bold 185 48. Morris Benton's Broadway 187 49. Morris Benton's Hobo 189 50. Morris Benton's Louvaine 190 51. Morris Benton's Globe Gothic 192 52. Morris Benton's Franklin Gothic 194 53. Morris Benton's Alternate Gothic and News Gothic 195 54. Morris Benton's Lightline Gothic 197 55. Morris Benton's Novel Gothic 199 56. Morris Benton's Bank Gothic 200 57. Morris Benton's Stymie 201 58. Morris Benton's Tower 201 59. Morris Benton's Typo Script 203 60. Morris Benton's Civilite 205 61. Morris Benton's Souvenir 207 62. Morris Benton's Benton (or Whitehall) 208 63. From page nine of ATF's 1934 Book of American Types, paragraph set in ten-point Benton type 210 64. Linn Boyd Benton, circa 1922 224 65. Morris Benton and his second wife, Katrina, at Beaver Lake, circa 1930 229 66. Katrina Ten Eck Wheeler, 1923 231 Vlll 67. Morris and Katrina in the garden at Millington, New Jersey, admiring their first home-grown potato, 1941 233 ix ABSTRACT The relative obscurity of Linn Boyd Benton and Morris Fuller Benton, is investigated. The two men, father and son, made significant contribu tions to the technology of typesetting and to typeface design, yet they are not now well known in the industry. Linn Boyd Benton invented a pantographic punch-cutting machine, which he later modified to engrave matrices. This machine made the Linotype machine practical, since it took the tedium and great expense 'mats.' out of the making of Linotype Benton's machine was and still is used at the American Type Founders Company, and was copied for use at type founding companies and composing machine manufacturers around the world.