WILLIAM ADDISON DWIGGINS CALEDONIA TYPEFACE Julie A. Farrell Copyright © 2013 Julie A. Farrell Essay copyright © 2013 Julie A. Farrell Library of Congress Catalog Number: x000111000 ISBN: 1-000000-xx-0 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means without written permission of the publisher and author except for brief quotations in reviews or critical articles. Published in 2013 by Art 430: Typography III The Art 430: Typography III class produces books related to the history of type design. Printed in the United States of America Distributed by JAF Publishers, Baltimore, MD Cover Image: William Addision Dwiggins’ personal trademark/logo A puppet of William Addison Dwiggins Contents William Addison Dwiggins 4 Caledonia Typeface 10 The Making of Caledonia 14 Technology and Caledonia 18 Conclusion 22 Bibliography 24 William Addison Dwiggins William Addison Dwiggins was an American type designer, advertising designer, calligrapher, book designer and illustrator. Dwiggins greatly influenced the marked improvement of book design in the 1920’s and 1930’s. He is credited with coining the term ‘graphic designer’ in 1922.1 He was an accomplished individual but also embodied a fun personality. He was well respected and highly regarded. Among the many other typefaces he produced, Caledonia is one that has stood the test of time and remains with us in the digital age. WILLIAM ADDISON DWIGGINS design, producing work for numerous busi- nesses.3 Although he kept at this for twenty years, he is now remembered most as a dis- tinguished book designer, illustrator, and typographer.4 In Boston, Dwiggins met D.B. Updike and Bruce Rogers, two leaders in the de- sign and production of books. Updike em- ployed him with Merrymount Press in 1907. After World War I, when book production in the United States was at an all time high because of the growing economy, he was led to write about higher standards of book production in his pamphlet titled, Extracts from an Investigation into the Physical Properties of Books.5 It is a satirical essay in which he made up the Society of Callig- raphers and their president, Herman Püter- ILLIAM ADDISON DWIGGINS, also schein. This is one example of Dwiggins’ Wknown as WAD, was born June 19, playful attitude and creative imagination, 1880 in Ohio and died December 25, 1956 which many believe helped make him the in Massachusetts, he was 76 years old when success he was. he passed away. As a boy, Dwiggins wanted Alfred Knopf read this pamphlet and Figure 2: Carvan Borders to become an artist. He came of age during in 1923 met Dwiggins and established a the height of the influence on the turn-of- working relationship with him through the the-century Arts and Crafts movement on Plimpton Press. Dwiggins designed 340 fine printing embodied by William Mor- books for Knopf.6 The two men had over ris and his Kelmscott Press. At the age of a thirty-year association. nineteen, he attended the Frank Holme Around the same time Dwiggins also School of Illustration of Chicago. There he coined the term “graphic design” in his ar- studied typography under Fredrick Goudy, ticle “New Kind of Printing Calls for New a prolific and accomplished American type Design,” published in the Boston Evening designer, and illustration with Frank and Transcript on August 29, 1922. This term Joseph Leyendecker. In 1903, he returned used by Dwiggins describes the encom- to his home in Ohio and established the passing work of a type, typography, page Guernsey Shop, which was purposed to and ad designer.7 Philip Hofer wrote in the produce illustrated books but with a lack of Dolphin (1935) that Dwiggins was “Ameri- clientele it failed, and a year later Dwiggins ca’s one truly modern typographer, and by accepted Goudy’s invitation to join him at far her most outstanding book decorator the Village Press in Massachusetts.2 Lack and calligrapher; a mechanical wizard, type of income became a problem in work- designer, and specialist in advertising lay- ing with Goudy at the Village Press, so in out; an illustrator, mural painter, costume Boston, he began his career in advertising designer, and sculptor, a playwright, satirist, 6 WILLIAM ADDISON DWIGGINS and perhaps beyond ever the best of his art 1 Livingston, Alan and Livingston, Isabella. – a thinker and poet in prose.” Dictionary of Graphic Design and Designers (London: Thames and Hudson, 1992), 122. In 1928, Dwiggins published his most famous book, Layout in Advertising, which 2 Shaw, Paul. “Tradition and Innovation: The Design Work of William Addison Dwiggins,” Design is still used as a standard today. It was re- Figure 3: Colorful stenciled Issues, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Autumn, 1984): 26. 1948 Accessed February 22, 2013. url: http://www.jstor. issued in . The book is primarily de- ornamentation voted to the technical aspects of advertis- org/stable/1511497. ing layout, including excellent illustrative 3 Hall, Elton W. “Dwiggins, William Addison,” examples.8 In his book, he also criticizes Figure 4: Hand-signed copy American National Biography Online (2000). for LEC Accessed February 22, 2013. url: http://www.anb. American sans-serif faces in comparison org/articles/17/17-00244.html. to European designs. This led C.H. Griffith 4 Thompson, Ellen Mazur. “Early Graphic Design of Mergenthaler Linotype to commission Periodicals in America,” Journal of Design Dwiggins. To design Metroblack, a san-ser- History, Vol. 7, No. 2 (1994): 120. Accessed if used widely in America for many years.9 February 22, 2013. url: http://www.jstor.org/ stable/1316080. He went on to design a total of eighteen typefaces while with Mergenthaler Lino- 5 Hall, Elton W. “Dwiggins, William Addison,” American National Biography Online (2000). type Company. Caledonia, subsequently Accessed February 22, 2013. url: http://www.anb. furnished with a suite of decorations called org/articles/17/17-00244.html. Caravan (Fig 2), has become and American 6 Ibid classic, surviving into the digital age.10 Dwiggins’ great success was based on 7 Heller, Steven and Pettit, Elinor. Graphic Design Time Line: A Century of Design Milestones a simple principle: a book should be easy to (New York: Allworth Press, 2000), 64. read and attractive to look at. For his work, he chose easy to read typefaces, insisted on adequate margins and leading, and did not 7 WILLIAM ADDISON DWIGGINS allow decoration to intrude. His decorative style was simplistic; this is seen especially with his distinctive system of stenciled or- namentation which much of the time in- cluded skillfully used bright colors (Fig 3).11 The Limited Editions Club was founded in 1929 by George Macy to publish finely made and finely illustrated limited editions of the classics of literature. Most of the books were beautifully illustrated with orig- inal artwork by leading book illustrators. In most cases, the illustrators hand-signed each copy of the books that they illustrated for LEC (Fig 4).12 The development of his famed stencil method of illustration can be traced to his work for Direct Advertising and the paper mills.13 Figure 6: Dwiggins’ personal logo 8 Marsh, Charles, Journal of Marketing, Vol. In 1923, Dwiggins learned he had dia- 13, No. 4, Review of “Layout in Advertising” by betes. This knowledge led him to center his WA Dwiggins. (American Marketing Association, April 1949), 159. url: http://www.jstor.org/ life on things that were important to him. stable/1247803 He ended his career in advertising, which 9 Ferguson, Lorraine and Scott, Douglass. “A he called a seduction to exploit weak- Time Line of American Typography,” Design nesses of mankind. He believed in honest Quarterly, No. 148, The Evolution of American broadcast of product information but was Typography (1990): 43. Accessed February 22, appalled by the extensive research behind 2013. url: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4091232 advertising to delude the consumers.14 He 10 Hall, Elton W. “Dwiggins, William Addison,” did however, keep developing his typogra- American National Biography Online (2000). Accessed February 22, 2013. url: http://www.anb. phy and designing for LEC and other pub- org/articles/17/17-00244.html. lishers as well as Knopf. He also amused 11 Ibid himself and his friends with an elaborate marionette theater, which he designed be- 12 Majure, Bill. “A Brief History of the Limited Editions Club,” last modified 2012, http://www. neath his studio (Fig 5, 7). In addition to majure.net/lechistory.htm. winning critical acclaim for his work, he 13 Shaw, Paul. “Tradition and Innovation: The Design also earned a gold medal of the American Work of William Addison Dwiggins,” Design Institute of Graphic Arts in 1929 and an Issues, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Autumn, 1984): 27. honorary degree from Harvard University Accessed February 22, 2013. url: http://www.jstor. in 1947. Dwiggins was an accomplished org/stable/1511497. man, had many distinguished friends, and, 14 Ibid, 27. Figure 5: Dwiggins’ marrionette it seems, a lifetime of enjoyed hard work. Graphic design truly was his field. He even Figure 7: Dwiggins’ marrionette theater designed his own personal logo (Fig 6). 8 CALEDONIA TYPEFACE Caledonia typeface is classified through the ATypI system, of the Association Typographique Internationale, as a Transitional typeface. The Transitional typeface is a bridge between Old Style and Modern serifed typefaces in that it has a more vertical axis and sharper serifs than that of its predecessor. The most widely used font within this category is Times New Roman, which is easily comparable with Caledonia in similarity and disparity. However, the font most recognized in association with Transitional is Baskerville. Transitional typefaces derive their heritage from Scotch Roman Type.15 What may be considered the first of the Transitional style typeface is the King’s Roman.16 CALEDONIA TYPEFACE Figure 8: Roman du Roi HE KING’S ROMAN (Romain du Roi) 15 Ascender Fonts, “Scotch Roman Roman,” Scotch marked a significant departure from Roman Roman Type Information, 15 May T 2003, http://www.ascenderfonts.com/font/ the former Old Style types.