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).

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!

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

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

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

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

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.