Goudy Fonts

Happy Birthday Fred Goudy!

2011-03-08T11:00:00.002-06:00

146 years ago today, Frederic W. Goudy, America’s most prolific type designer and champion of the art of typography and printing, was born in Bloomington, Illinois USA.

Last Fall Steve Matteson, Monotype Imaging’s Creative Type Director, had hopes of announcing completion of Goudy’s 1903 typeface “Village” for today. The attachment shows some of the progress. It's highly influenced by William Morris' private press type which had helped reinstate printing as an art form during the height of the Industrial Revolution.

Hopefully this typeface will see the light before Steve’s 146th birthday... here is a sample of the work in progress:

2010-11-16T13:50:00.000-06:00

This just in from a non-digital source for Goudy type :-)

Caxton initials
Mediaeval
Friar
Franciscan

Thanks,
Daniel Morris
The Dale Guild Type Foundry
Howell, NJ

www.thedaleguild.com

2010-11-16T13:49:00.001-06:00

FANTASTIC conference about early American Typographers... Thanks to Juliet Shen for organizing at the School of Visual Concepts in Seattle WA last week.

University of California Old Style Price

2010-10-31T11:12:00.003-05:00

I visited the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley and they showed me a letter from Goudy to the manager of the UC Press (a Mr. Farquhar). In the letter Goudy gave them a price of $1250 for 104 roman characters (U&lc, small caps etc); $750 for 80 italic characters* for a private typeface for the press. This would include the matrices with which they could cast all the type they wanted.

The project took about 14 months from the looks of it. The italics were shipped from Deepdene (in Marlborough NY) just days before the workshop burned to the ground destroying all but a couple of drawings and patterns.

McKenzie and Harris still have the matrices and are casting the University of California Old Style to this day.

*Inflation calculator puts that at just over $30,000 in today's terms.

an art director for the monotype

2010-09-24T11:24:00.000-05:00

some interesting bits in this announcement produced by Monotype in 1920. He retained his association with Monotype for 27 years. Goudy was hired to elevate and retain the high standards of Monotype.

Early Goudy Lettering

2010-04-16T15:12:00.001-05:00

A page from Mother Goose lettered by Goudy in 1900. The Inland Type Foundry in St. Louis created a type from this lettering and named it Hearst. Photo from the Melbert B. Cary Collection

Jim Rimmer, "Canada's Goudy" passes away

2010-01-12T18:39:00.002-06:00

Jim Rimmer, a well-respected type designer and all-around craftsman, died on January 8, 2010 in Vancouver, BC. Rimmer, much like Fred Goudy, was a prolific designer, printer and publisher. Jim Rimmer left an indelible mark on all those he came in contact with. On behalf of the team at Ascender, our condolences to the Rimmer family.

One of our favorite articles on Jim is this one titled "Minding the Ps, Qs & As with Jim Rimmer".

2009-11-04T10:46:00.002-06:00

Just returned from the Cary Library at Rochester Institute of Technology. Great collection of Goudy items including a new acquisition of items from Charles Pont's collection (Pont did a wonderful woodcut of Goudy's Studio shown above).

2009-10-25T20:54:00.003-05:00

The state of the art of graphic communications during the turn of the 19th century is illustrated in this photo from the Bruce Typefoundry specimen book. Little wonder that Goudy was determined to bring tradition back to the printed page!

2009-09-18T16:09:00.004-05:00

Dwiggins and Goudy - part 2

In my last post I wondered aloud about their relationship. I recently studied the book in the attached photo. It is Rabbi Ben Ezra printed at the Village Press in 1904. The illustration and decoration is cut in wood by Dwiggins - the lettering and typography by Goudy. They produced some beautiful work together!

W.A. Dwiggins & F.W. Goudy

2009-08-27T15:05:00.002-05:00

A young W.A. Dwiggins worked on book designs and lettering from the Goudy's dining room table when they lived in Hingham MA (circa 1904-5). Bertha Goudy and Mabel Dwiggins were very close friends who shared many adventures together. Later in life WAD seems to have made some derogatory remarks about Goudy and his work.... I wonder if it was a true falling out or if they remained friends. Mabel certainly wrote fondly of Bertha after her death in "Hingham Interlude", an essay in a collection titled "Bertha S. Goudy – First Lady of Printing".

Goudy's 'Companion' sneak preview

2009-08-19T15:45:00.003-05:00

Ascender's Jim Ford is starting work on a version of Goudy's 'Companion' typeface. Originally designed for the magazine 'Women's Home Companion' in 1927 and first used in the June 1931 issue. The 2nd page of the magazine has an article about the design entitled 'Our New Dress'... it notes Companion as a design 'with a degree of strength, yet with a touch of femininity; a type easily legible and also decorative. It must as well harmonize with the body type of the magazine' (which was Goudy's 'Garamont' typeface).

Letterpress proofs of the roman typeface were provided by Richard Matthews at University of Tampa Press. The italic proofs were made by Rich Hopkins at Hill & Dale Press. Shown above are a few letters currently being digitized:

Slides from Goudy presentation

2009-08-19T09:56:00.002-05:00

I gave a short talk about the Goudys and some of my recent work at a conference called TypeCon in Atlanta, GA in July. I've uploaded the presentation and hope you find it useful and/or enjoyable. Steve

http://www.goudyfonts.com/pdf/GoudyLecture7-2009.pdf

Bertham - Goudy's 100th font

2009-08-06T13:46:00.003-05:00

Steve Matteson recently completed work on his latest Goudy revival: Bertham Pro.

Bertham Pro is unmistakably American in appearance recalling a day of quality craftsmanship and hard work.

The Bertham Pro fonts include a variety of OpenType features including swash capitals, small capitals and old style figures.

View Bertham Pro at www.Ascenderfonts.com.

Calling All Fonts

2009-07-24T09:59:00.002-05:00

Ascender is hoping to make this site the place to find the 'best' versions of Goudy fonts. Subjective? Yes! But criteria would include character set completeness, design quality (curve shape, spacing, kerning, detailing). It may be possible or even necessary for us to include more than one version. We are happily taking your suggestions and submissions which will bring the best of the Goudy legacy to the web.

Goudy Fleurons font released

2009-07-13T17:05:00.003-05:00

Today we completed work on our newest Goudy font - a picture font called Goudy Fleurons. You can check it out at www.AscenderFonts.com

Goudy's Friar font now available for download

2009-07-08T16:18:00.000-05:00

Goudy's 105th font, Friar, has recently been introduced by Ascender as part of their new collection of digital revivals. Friar Pro is a tribute to Frederic W. Goudy and his joy of typographic exploration. Friar Pro was developed by Steve Matteson, and features a range of OpenType typographic features. An interactive font sample and a PDF Type Specimen is available for viewing on the AscenderFonts.com website.

Goudy Forum™ Pro revival from Tom Rickner

2009-07-06T22:01:00.000-05:00

Forum Title was originally designed by Frederic W. Goudy in 1911. Recently Ascender's Tom Rickner finished off a lengthy project to revive this classic typeface. Goudy Forum™ Pro is an extensive reworking and enhancement of the original design in the OpenType format. Goudy Forum Pro at AscenderFonts.com

Goudy Borders

2009-07-06T13:16:00.000-05:00

Creating elegant borders using symbol fonts can be fun, but also challenging in many design and layout programs. With the Goudy Borders font there is a nice PDF that explains how the border characters are arranged on the keyboard, and examples of how these wonderful art elements can be used.

Welcome

2009-07-01T19:19:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the GoudyFonts.com blog. We hope you enjoy this site and we look forward to any comments you have!