Commissioned by the London
North Eastern Railway (LNER) from lettering artist Frank Gayton* of Leicester and designed in or
before 1923 as a wood typeface. Still in use for things as
letterpress posters into the early 1930s when the LNER made the
decision to standardize on the then new Gill
Sans. [Ashworth]
*) Note that various sources erroneously give the designer’s name
as Frederic Gayton. [Reichardt/Hoefer] [Devroye]
Also produced in metal by the Caslon foundry, in roman and italic styles.
[Reichardt 2011] The roman was cast in
twelve sizes from 6 to 48pt. [Caslon
specimen]
The Gayton shown by Stephenson Blake in wood in six sizes (6–30 lines) is
a different design, albeit with some stylistic similarities, cf.
asymmetrical ‘M’, stemmed ‘U’, flat-top ‘3’. [1937
specimen] This might be the same design mentioned as “another
new series” of wood type that Gayton had “just completed” in 1925.
[Commercial More…
Commissioned by the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) from lettering artist Frank Gayton* of Leicester and designed in or before 1923 as a wood typeface. Still in use for things as letterpress posters into the early 1930s when the LNER made the decision to standardize on the then new Gill Sans. [Ashworth]
*) Note that various sources erroneously give the designer’s name as Frederic Gayton. [Reichardt/Hoefer] [Devroye]
Also produced in metal by the Caslon foundry, in roman and italic styles. [Reichardt 2011] The roman was cast in twelve sizes from 6 to 48pt. [Caslon specimen]
The Gayton shown by Stephenson Blake in wood in six sizes (6–30 lines) is a different design, albeit with some stylistic similarities, cf. asymmetrical ‘M’, stemmed ‘U’, flat-top ‘3’. [1937 specimen] This might be the same design mentioned as “another new series” of wood type that Gayton had “just completed” in 1925. [Commercial Art]
SB Gayton is a digital revival started by Studio Bergini around 2019. They mention that Gayton’s original was made “for Frederick Ullmer and H.W. Caslon, based on his own commercial poster lettering”. Work in progress as of 2025. [Studio Bergini]
