The Cottrell & Babcock Manufacturing Company was founded in 1855 in Stonington, Connecticut. In 1880, Nathan Babcock purchased the shares of co-founder Calvert Cottrell and set up a new printing press manufactory together with his nephew George Fenner. Renamed the Babcock Printing Press Manufacturing Company, it was moved to New London. Around 1886, Babcock introduced the two-revolution “Optimus” press. From Steve Fithian’s 2024 article for Otis Library:

The Optimus became the new industry standard for the production of high quality printing. Harper & Bros. of New York used the Optimus exclusively to print their popular and influential periodicals, Harpers Weekly and Harper’s Monthly magazine. By 1899, the company’s strong commercial success allowed for the expansion of the employee base to 250 men occupying 180,000 square feet of factory floor. During the period between 1883 and 1919, the company sold over 7,000 printing presses to businesses in every state of the Union with a global market that included Canada, Mexico, Europe and parts of Asia.

In their Handy Book of Artistic Printing from 2009, Doug Clouse and Angela Voulangas date the advertising card shown above to 1886. All the linework—including curves—were done up in brass rules, along with the metal type fleurons and dingbats. The main typefaces are Mother Hubbard (1885) for “‘Optimus’ Press” and “New York Office” and Latin Condensed (1873) with initials from Ideal (1884) for “The Babcock Printing Press Mfg. Company”. The then freshly introduced Art Gothic (1886) is used with caps from Mother Hubbard for “Drum Cylinder”, “Stop Cylinder” and “Two Revolution”. “Lithographic” and the New York address are set in Old Style Extended (by 1884). There are a couple of unidentified typefaces, including a generic gothic. The inclined sans probably is Gothic Italic (see Halbfette Cursiv-Grotesque).

The colored card shown below followed in 1887. Its design also features Mother Hubbard. The wide typeface used for “Babcock” and, in mixed case, for “Drum Cylinder / Stop Cylinder / Two-Revolution / Lithographic” is Bowl, shown by Farmer the same year.

For both cards A. J. Smith was the compositor, with the printing firm of John P. Smith in Rochester, NY.

I began collaborating with Sean Mason on the design of his sophomore album in October 2024. He reached out to explain his plan for a complete rebrand of his visual identity. Sean is a visionary Grammy-nominated jazz pianist, composer and bandleader, and a recipient of a Bessie Award and Bistro Award.

The challenge was to translate the pianist’s spiritual and creative rebirth into a singular visual identity; to visually represent the joy, but also the difficulties, of that process.

The primary inspiration was the Ivy aesthetic, championed by Miles Davis in the 1950s and 60s. Sean attended Juilliard and moved to NYC in 2018. He then came back to his roots, his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina. His music is deeply rooted in the cultural heritage of the South. Thus, it felt fitting that the album packaging hinted at the colors of the American flag. Sean’s musical style is very reverential, often paying homage to old school jazz, hard bop and gospel music. I wanted the visual aesthetic to mirror his respect for the jazz tradition. Therefore, in all the promotional materials and the album packaging, I incorporated typographic references ranging from the early 20th century to the 1970s.

[More info on Discogs]

Front and back cover

Inner gatefold

Inner sleeve

These sheets include logos of publications that reviewed A Breath of Fresh Air, some of which use additional fonts like Gill Sans, Clarendon, and Frutiger that are not part of the album design.

This is a sample acquaintance card dating to the late nineteenth or early twentieth century.
See May I C U Home This Eve? for another card with the same illustration and a different distinctive typeface.
For another sample acquaintance card with this illustration, see Love Speaks—Without Me Thou Would'st Die.
For additional cards, see my Acquaintance Cards album.

May I C-U-Home This Eve.
Yours Truly. Please Answer.
Acquaintance Card. Name on 25 for 10 cts. Ast’d.

The shaded caps are from Souvenir, a typeface patented in December 1884 and credited to Andrew Little of Farmer, Little & Company in New York. “This Eve” is set in Bowl, shown by the same foundry in 1887. It’s a wide Latin with curved strokes, angled serifs, and some decorative dots, but otherwise similar to Washington (Central, 1886). The italic is unidentified – it appears to be a precursor to designs like Bell or Austin. “Yours truly” and “Please answer” is lettering.