Upcoming workshop! Paper Grocery Signs with John Downer @downervolt will be held at The Cooper Union campus on Monday, June 22 & Tuesday, June 23, 10:00 AM–5:00 PM!
Discounts are a available for in-person conference attendees!
To register, go to Workshops on our website, 2026.typographics.com linked in our bio!
Upcoming workshop! Paper Grocery Signs with John Downer @downervolt will take place on The Cooper Union campus on Monday, June 22 & Tuesday, June 23, 10:00 AM–5:00 PM!
To register, go to workshops linked in our bio!
In the spring of 1986, I visited the St Bride Printing Library in London, and met then-librarian, James Mosley.
He explained that he had commissioned this lettering from one of the last practitioners of the style. It is characterized by heavy, seriffed capitals combined with round-top italic minuscules. Ascenders and descenders are short, the x-ht is large, the dot on the i is small, the t has a hook at the top and an enclosed counter, and some letters are allowed to connect (e.g. “nti”).
The specimen in the photo is by no means the BEST if its kind, but it was among the LAST of its kind.
Nowadays, the style is almost extinct, and those who do practice it in the U.K. tend not to have learned it from a person who got it via a direct line of handed-down knowledge and practice. Instead, what little of the style that can be found today in England, comes from the hands of mainly “untutored emulators” of this particular 19th-century look.
UPCOMING WORKSHOP! Speedball and Marker Script Styles with John Downer @downervolt will take place online on Thursdays, March 5–March 26, 2026, 6:00–9:00 PM! To register, go to Workshops linked in our bio.
UPCOMING WORKSHOP! Sign Painting: Brush Lettering and Pro Layout with John Downer @downervolt will take place online on Mondays, February 16–April 6, 2026, 6:00–9:00 PM! To register, go to Workshops linked in our bio.
