Noodling with color variation of J.G. Cooley’s Tuscan Outline Shade from 1859.
…………
Cooley’s Tuscan Outline Shade was closely related (though not identical) to Edwin Allen’s Tuscan Shaded, which was shown at least as early as 1838 in George F. Nesbitt’s _First Premium Wood Types, Cut by Machinery_, and Wells & Webb’s Tuscan Shaded shown at least as early as the 1840. Though WIlliam H Page acquired Cooley’s wood type manufactory in 1869, this design does not apear in any subsequent Page catalogs.
This images is found in _J.G. Cooley & Co’s Specimens of Wood Type_ held in the Wing collection at the Newberry Library @newberrylibrary in Chicago.
…………
#WoodType #TypeSpecimen #TypeDesign #letterforms #typography
A little noodling on the RISO with all variants of Wm H Page & Co’s Gothic Paneled from 1874.
…………
Chromatic Gothic Paneled No 1 was first shown as a two-color chromatic in Willliam H Page & Co’s 1874 _Specimen of Chromatic Wood Type, Borders, &c._ The schematic design was patented on March 3, 1874, as US Design Patent #7,230 by William H Page.
The patent revealed the underlying organizational structure of the design, which provided the flexibility to produce a robust series of variations, including empty and filled panels. Page & Co showed two other chromatic variations — Chromatic Gothic Paneled and Chromatic Gothic Paneled No 2 in the same catalog.
In subsequent catalogs, alternate configurations of the patented design were shown as one-color versions and assigned new names. In all, 7 single-color designs, 3 two-color chromatic designs, 1 single-color streamer, and 1 two-color chromatic streamer were offered. All twelve design variations were derived from the original patent schematic and released over a period of thirteen years.
The Hamilton Mfg Co acquired the Wm H Page Wood Type Co in 1891 and renamed the faces to �fit into its numbering system — Paneled Condensed became No 481 and No 133 became No 205, then renamed No 4205 in 1906.
…………
#WoodType #TypeSpecimen #TypeDesign #letterforms #typography #letterpress #type #design #GraphicDesign #NineteenthCentury #archives #ArchivesOfInstagram #libraries #collections #excelsior
Happy Birthday, William Thomas Morgans, born July 2, 1844, in Bethel, New York.
Morgans was one of the dominant producers and innovators of wood type in the US in the late 1870s, serving as the founding partner of the wood type companies Young & Morgans (1876) and later Morgans & Wilcox Mfg Co (1880).
No specimen catalogs from Young & Morgans are known to exist. The two earliest known surviving catalogs of Morgans & Wilcox Mfg Co are from 1881 (held by @columbia_rbml at Columbia University) and 1882 (held by @ritcarycollection at RIT)
Image of c.1890 catalog back cover (Columbia University), interior spread from c.1890 catalog (@newberrylibrary ), front cover of 1881 catalog (Columbia University), and title page of 1882 catalog (Cary Collection, RIT).
More information about Morgans posted at “Billy Morgans—the boss typo of the County…” /william-morgans/
——— #WoodType #letterforms #typography #archives #libraries #collections #bibliography #TypeSpecimen #TypeDesign #TypeHistory #letterpress #type #design #history #NineteethCentury #19thCentury #patents #uspatents #ThisDayInHistory
I’ve updated the running hand-list of Rob Roy Kelly’s 1964 folio with newly located copies (visit link in bio). Of the 45 folios Kelly produced, 33 have now been located. The most recent addition to the running list is No 5, now located in a private collection in Kansas City, Missouri. This was Kelly’s personal copy, recently consigned by his daughter. In addition, a spring trip to Special Collections in The Hugh M. Morris Library at the University of Delaware in Newark, provided the opportunity to examine the library’s full copy (No 16) as well as a truncated set made up of the twelve-page introductory text and numbered plates 30, 33, and 38.
It is my hope that with the publication of this list, locations of the remaining complete folios may come to light.
——————————————
#WoodType #TypeSpecimen #type #typography #LetterForms #Lettering #history #archive #design #GraphicDesign #LetterPress #LetterpressPrinting #LetterpressLove #GoodType #TypeMatters #TypeTopia #TypeCollect #NineteenthCentury #AmericanWoodType #Archives #Bibliography
Happy Birthday Darius Wells—born in Kingsboro, Fulton County, New York, on this day April 26, 1800.
…………
Wells was the inventor of the routing machine — a lateral revolving cutting tool — which he used to produce the first machine cut wood types in the United States. His first workshop was at 161 Broadway (behind George Long’s book store). He published the first wood type specimen catalog in 1828. The company became D. Wells & Co in 1835, then Wells & Webb when he partnered with E.R. Webb in 1839. Wells retired from wood type manufacturing in 1856.
Wells was also an active abolitionist, and helped run a “station” on the underground railroad in Patterson, NJ helping enslaved humans make their way north to Canada to live as free human beings. Mr. Wells served as Postmaster of Paterson 1861–1874 appointed by Abraham Lincoln.
…………
Image is from _Specimen of Plain and Ornamental Wood Type, cut by machinery_ held in the ATF Library Collection at @columbia_rbml .
…………
#WoodType #router #TypeSpecimen #TypeDesign #letterforms #typography #letterpress #type #design #GraphicDesign #NineteenthCentury #OnThisDay #birthday #bibliography #archives #ArchivesOfInstagram #libraries #collections #excelsior
HBD Henry Pierpont Hamilton born 21 April 1862, the youngest of the three Hamilton brothers. He worked with older brother George D Hamilton at _The Detroit Record_ (Detroit, Minnesota) as a printer. He entered the wood type business with the technical knowledge of a jobbing printer when his oldest brother James E Hamilton hired him in November, 1885 to work at the wood type manufacturing company then known as Hamilton & Baker. HP Hamilton is credited with at least seven US Patents, two of which were Design Patents for typeface designs. USD 37,308 (sold by The Hamilton Mfg Co as No 672) and USD 37,309 (sold by The Hamilton Mfg Co as No 673) both received pantents on 31 January 1905.
/hamilton-mfg-672-673/
——— #WoodType #letterforms #typography #archives #libraries #collections #bibliography #TypeSpecimen #TypeDesign #TypeHistory #letterpress #type #design #history #NineteethCentury #19thCentury #patents #uspatents #ThisDayInHistory
Happy Birthday Horatio Nelson Bill—born in Lebanon, Connecticut, on this day March 25, 1824.
——————
Horatio worked as a sign painter before he (and brother Jeremiah) cut wood type for Edwin Allen in Windham, Connecticut. The brothers formed their own wood type company, H & J Bill, in 1850 based in Lebanon. They moved the company six miles north to Willimantic in 1851. The company was known as Bill, Stark & Co 1853–1854. In late 1854 the company was shuttered and subsequently sold to William H. Page in 1856. Horatio was listed as Type Maker on his 1863 draft registration and listed variously as a sign painter, house painter, and fine arts painter in the 1870s and 1880s.
———
Image is of Tuscan Ornate as shown in the 1853 _Specimens of Machinery Cut Wood Type, Manufactured by Bill, Stark & Company, Willimantic, Connecticut._ (held in the ATF Library Collection at @columbia_rbml ).
——
—
#WoodType #TypeSpecimen #TypeDesign #letterforms #typography #letterpress #type #design #GraphicDesign #NineteenthCentury #OnThisDay #birthday #bibliography #archives #ArchivesOfInstagram #libraries #collections #excelsior
Happy Birthday William Hamilton Page—born in Tilton, New Hampshire, March 14, 1829. Page lived nearly 40 years of his adult life in Norwich, Conn as a wood type manufacturer. Images shown here from 1878 specimen catalog, slightly repurposed from specimen catalog from 1867. Engraving likely created by Charles Tubbs. More text & images about Page’s life and work at woodtyperesearch.com
—————————————
Image of the engraved title page from _Specimens of Wood Type, Manufactured by Wm. H. Page Wood Type Co., Norwich, Conn._ (1878); held in the ATF Library Collection at Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, Columbia University.
Image of the engraved title page from _Specimens of Wood Type, Borders, Rules, &c., Manufactured by Wm. H. Page & Co., Greenville, Conn._ (1867); held in the Kemble Collection, California Historical Society (currently being transferred to Stanford Special Collections)
——————————————
#WoodType #TypeSpecimen #TypeDesign #letterforms #typography #letterpress #type #design #GraphicDesign #NineteenthCentury #OnThisDay #birthday #bibliography #archives #ArchivesOfInstagram #libraries #collections #excelsior
Happy Birthday George Case Setchell born December 17, 1838 in Norwich, Connecticut.
Setchell was a skilled type cutter who perfected the die-cut method of wood border manufacture in the late 1870s, and, in collaboration with William H. Page, the die-cut method of wood type manufacture in the late 1880s.
He was first listed as an employee of William H. Page & Co. in the 1868 Norwich City Directory. By 1872 Setchell had worked his way up to foreman of the typeshop, and became President of the William H. Page Wood Type Co in 1881.
Image of Setchell during his time in the Union Army, and patents US 237,054 (1878), US 375,008 (1887), US 402,850 (1889).
/setchell/
——— #WoodType #letterforms #typography #archives #libraries #collections #bibliography #TypeSpecimen #TypeDesign #TypeHistory #letterpress #type #design #history #NineteethCentury #19thCentury #patents #uspatents #ThisDayInHistory #OnThisDayInHistory
Amazing crowdsourcing project by Richard Ardagh @richardardagh documenting the phenominal Type Archive @thetypearchive in London. Stunning, handsome, pretty, luxe, erudite…pick your adjectives! Typographers, historians, siblings-in-ink check it out, and definitely consider supporting the project so it can make it’s way out into the world.
______
#typography #letterpress #letterforms #archives #libraries #collections #bibliography #WoodType #TypeHistory #TypeDesign #TypeSpecimen #history #design #NineteenthCentury #19thCentury #CrowdSource
Had the great good fortune to be invited to speak at West Virginia University as part of the School of Art & Design’s Visiting Lecture Series. Which afforded me time to hang out with Joe Galbreath and his students and spend some quality time in the Gramlee Collection Thanks Joe! it’s a phenomenal collection! Thanks for the invite, thanks for the conversation, and thanks for the hospitality! Can’t wait to see what you do next with the collection.
@gramleecollection@wvuartdesign
I’m super excited to have been invited to speak at the Newberry as part of the Wing Foundation Lecture Series on the History of the Book. If you are in Chicago on Thursday April 11, would love to see you (zoom simulcast also available for non-corporeal participation). Its free!!
Shhh…This is a sneak peak of one of the images in the presentation (photo credit: @romysuskinphotography type credit: Obviously by @ohnotypeco )
/calendar/wing-lecture-spring-2024 (live link at @newberrylibrary )
