Death and the Joyful Woman was written by Edith Pargeter (1913–1995) under her pen name Ellis Peters and earned her the Edgar Award for Best Novel. Shown here is the dust jacket for the first American edition, published in Doubleday’s Crime Club imprint in 1961.

The uncredited design features lettering, not typography. However, the word “Death” is patterned after a typographic style. Characterized by terminals in the shape of bracketed diamonds with elongated vertical spurs, it was first shown as wood type by William H. Page & Co in 1859 [RRK]. Names used by the various manufacturers include Gothic Tuscan Pointed and Antique Tuscan No 10.

A similar design was shown as foundry type by White in c.1858 and later, in 1867, by Farmer as Five Line Pica Ornamented No. 1. In 1964, Headliners presented a phototype adaptation named W 145, made as part of the Morgan Press Collection. Joe Redick’s digital interpretation Ironwood (Adobe, 1990) is caps only. The Fontry’s Iron Horse (2008) offers a lowercase.

Five Line Pica Ornamented No. 1 as shown by Farmer, Little & Co. in their 1867 specimen. The a in this version is pretty close to the jacket lettering; the e has a horizontal middle part. The lettering artist apparently took a shortcut and used an upside-down a.

The full Alphabet of Birds

An Alphabet of Birds is a vintage book published by Lippincott, Grambo, & Co., Philadelphia, in 1854. 163 years later, in 2017, Kent Henderson transformed a worn copy into something new and spectacular: for his Alphabet of Birds, he sliced and diced the pages, and overprinted the engravings with a single red letter. Henderson then pasted the 26 pages plus text clippings and the title onto a wood panel measuring 40×30 inches. The result is a unique artwork that appeals to bird lovers and typophiles alike. It was recently sold in a fundraiser for Chicago Art Department.

The original book from 1854 was set in one of the generic romans often named Modern or Scotch. All other fonts used for this piece come from the wood type collection at Depression Press Mfg. & Ink, Inc., a letterpress studio in Chicago, operated by Henderson together with Dud Lawson. The title is set in Clarendon Extended, with Aldine Expanded used for “of”. Henderson didn’t really intend this to be a type specimen piece at the time it was made. That’s why he didn’t document what typefaces he was pulling. Nevertheless he was able to identify most of the wood type used for the alphabet pages, and kindly shared this info:

A for Albatross — an unidentified bifurcated Tuscan, 12 line [see comments]
B for Bustard — possibly Hamilton No. 258, 24 line. Source: Hamilton’s Wood Type, Catalog No 14 (1899)
C for Condor — Grecian, 15 line (by Cooley), via Printing Museum
D for Dove — Balloon, 12 line (by American Wood Type Mfg. Co.), via Printing Museum
E for Eagle — Ancient Gothic, 6 line, via RRK Collection
F for Fly Catcher — possibly Hamilton No. 234, 15 line. Source: Hamilton’s Wood Type, Catalog No 14 (1899)
G for Grouse — see C
H for Heron — Cooper Black, 15 line, via Printing Museum
I for Ibis — see F
J for Jager — Aldine, 12 line, via RRK Collection
K for Kite — Shadow, 12 line (by American Wood Type Mfg. Co.; currently cut by Virgin Wood Type). Better known under the name used by Ludlow for the metal version, Umbra.
L for Lyryrus — unknown Gothic Condensed, 30 line
M for Magpie — No. 500, 15 line (by Page), via RRK Collection
N for Nightingale — De Vinne, 12 line, via RRK Collection
O for Owl — Antique Tuscan, 24 line (no mark), via RRK Collection
P for Partridge — see E
Q for Qua Bird — see F
R for Rice-Bird — see D
S for Spoonbill — see H
T for Tufted Titmouse — see B
U for Upupa — No. 560, 24 line (Hamilton)
V for Vulture — Goudy Extra Bold, 12 line (Hamilton)
W for Waxen-Wing — Antique Tuscan No. 9, 20 line (Page & Co stamp), via RRK Collection
X for Xanthornus — Cheltenham Outline, 6 line (no mark)
Y for Yellow Legs — French Clarendon, 12 line, via RRK Collection
Z [no Z bird] — see O

To marvel at all pages in detail, head over to the Flickr account of Depression Press.

The title is set in Clarendon Extended, 5 line (no mark), via RRK Collection. “Of” is in Aldine Expanded.

Computer-Aided Design? Condor, Albatross, Dove!

The source material: a battered copy of An Alphabet of Birds, 1854, 5×6 inches

“Heron: a gloomy and solitary bird.”

“Kite: they have been observed in great numbers, in Florida.”

The engravings are signed with two names, Croome (William Croome), and “J. Green…” (?).

From Ohio History Connection:

Dated 1885, this broadside advertises dry goods and other items, such as hats, caps, boots and shoes, overalls, ladies’ and children’s hose, notions of all kinds, glass and queensware, crockery, wooden-ware, iron-ware, etc., sold at discounted prices from February 1, 1885–March 4, 1885, in honor of President-elect Grover Cleveland, at Calvin & Frazier in Lena, Ohio.

The typographic design opens with a big “LOOK HERE!”, printed from a wood type version of French Clarendon. The other larger lines are set in Antique Tuscan Extended (“Cash or Trade“, “DRY GOODS”), Gothic Round (“COME AND SEE”), and Bailey Shaded (“OUR WELL SELECTED STOCK!”). Most text is set in a sans of narrow proportions, possibly Gothic Condensed No. 5. There’s also a Clarendon/Ionic and a few more unidentified typefaces.

Source: www.flickr.com Uploaded to Flickr by Alan Mays. License: All Rights Reserved.

From Alan Mays’ collection of broadsides, handbills, signs and other ephemera. This cardboard sign advertising home-made bean soup for a quarter dollar is undated. Judging from the featured typefaces – Nesbitt’s Gothic, caps from an Antique Condensed, and numerals from a French Antique – it might have been made in the last quarter of the 19th century. No size is given, but chances are that it was printed from wood type.

Gothic (Nesbitt) in use for the cover of an easy listening album with cover versions of Beatles songs, produced by Irving Townsend, arranged and conducted by Percy Faith, and released by CBS Records in 1970. The album was designed by CBS’s art director Virginia Team, using a photo by Brian D. Hennessey.

[More info on Discogs]

See also the covers for Themes for the “In” Crowd (1965) and Bim! Bam!! Boom!!! (1966) for previous uses of Gothic for Percy Faith records.

25 lbs. 50 lbs. 75 lbs. 100 lbs.
Coal Ice Wood
John Finnegan
Moving and Expressing
3328 So. Oakley Ave. Lafayette 8456

The internet seems to hold no relevant information about John Finnegan or his moving and expressing service. [editor’s note: see the comments for more info.] The sign measures 7″×11″ and may have been used as an indicator sign.

Judging by the type, it was printed after 1904, the year Franklin Gothic by Morris F. Benton was released at ATF. Franklin Gothic is used for the address line. Another ATF release, Copperplate Gothic (Frederic W. Goudy and Clarence Marder, 1901) is used for “LBS.” “JOHN FINNEGAN / COAL / WOOD” is set with Alternate Gothic No. 1, the narrowest width of Alternate Gothic’s three styles..

“ICE” is set with wood type: Gothic (Nesbitt 1837). The numbers match the Gothic 4 Line size. The serif used for “MOVING and EXPRESSING” could be Bold Antique (ATF).

Elaine Lustig Cohen, exhibition catalog for Picasso: Five Master Works, Kootz Gallery, New York, 1958.

In addition to designing for book covers, Elaine Lustig Cohen was involved in the art world. This catalog for a Picasso exhibition at the Kootz Gallery in 1958 uses Clarendon, decorated with stencil-like lettering.

Stamp

This stamp, to be issued next month, commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.

While most of the typefaces used are available in digital versions (like Playbill and DeVinne), the stamp was produced by Hatch Show Print in Memphis, and so the type and ornaments are all wood. Rob Roy Kelly’s book on wood type calls the face in line 2 “Gothic Tuscan”, and the one on line 3 “French Clarendon”.

The art director was Antonio Alcalá.

A 16″×23″ letterpress poster of this design is also available on the USPS website. (Gail Anderson will sign the first 1,000 of the run of 5,000 posters.)

Poster