University of California Old Style Price

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

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

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

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".

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!