On the back cover of the Society of Industrial Artists (SIA) Journal, no. 47 from October 1955, the Council of Industrial Design advertised the Design Centre for British Industries, to be opened at 28 Haymarket SW1 in the spring of 1956. From the University of Brighton Design Archives (via Jisc):

On 26 April 1956 Prince Philip opened the “Design Centre for British Industries” in London. This represented the end of a long fought campaign by the Council of Industrial Design, which desired a shop window to promote its own activities in support of British industry, and marked a triumph for all those who had advocated the need for a permanent display of British manufactured products in the nation’s capital. The building in Haymarket became the Council’s new home and was managed between 1956 and 1966 by Major General J M (Jack) Benoy, who joined the body in 1949. A vibrant programme of exhibitions took place in the display space downstairs, while in the offices above plans were made for exhibitions around the country and overseas.

The pink manicules are from Chap-Book Directors, which is part of a series of decorative dingbats and woodcut-style illustrations designed by Will H. Bradley for ATF’s The American Chap-Book periodicals, promoted for use with his Bewick Roman.

This specific manicule with the big frilly cuff is arguably the most prominent glyph from this series. Nick – founder of and top contributor to the Flickr Manicule group – pointed out that it has been adopted and used in various contexts, see the comments to a previous Use.

Advertising Direction 3: Photography was edited by Edward M. Gottschall and published by the Art Direction Book Company in 1962 in the “Trends in Visual Advertising” series. Designer Arthur Hawkins used a photo by Gleb Derujinsky and various styles from Stephenson Blake’s Grotesque series: No. 8 for “PHOTOGRAPHY”, No. 9 for “advertising directions 3”, and No. 6 for the reversed line at the bottom.

An odd little commercial street plan of the London County Council's vast housing estate at Becontree in Essex. Given the pace of construction and development at the time, 1930, there would have been a requirement to keep up to date with the extensions to housing areas, new streets and infrastructure and that could account for this being the ‘fourth edition’.

As is the case with these small plans, retailing at 3d., production costs would have been kept down by the sale of advertising on the map and cover. The front cover is for the Castle Sports Depot that dealt with two stalwards of 1930s consumerism – cycling and gramophones! The map itself has been annotated with what looks like church sites and what are possibly some sort of areas or zones of interest to the map’s owner – possibly areas for canvassing or leafleting?

Becontree was the largest of the LCC’s massive housing drive in post-WW1 years that was driven by slum clearances of inner-city slums, the need to lower densities and also to provide for a growing population. From the start of works in 1921 until formal ‘completion’ in 1935 around 26,000 homes were completed to home around 100,000 people. Attached administratively, mostly, to Dagenham, it caused this previously small Essex village to expand massively and this was helped along by construction of more local sources of employment such as Ford Motors massive plants and May & Baker chemicals. The estate, like many others, was seen as rather sterile in that amenities such as shops and pubs were seen as being sparse and late to be developed and the major issue, that of distance from the traditional East End where many had links back to, made travel by public transport slow and expensive. This was despite the development of the District line services, over existing LMSR lines, to serve the area as seen on the map.

“Street Reference Plan” is in Tudor Black. The largest lines appear to be set in caps from a bold condensed style of some Cheltenham, possibly Stevens’s Sandringham, or maybe Winchester. There’s also Condensed Sans Serif No. 7 or similar (“Cycles”, “Gramophones”) and Grotesque No. 8 (year and price), two widths of Windsor, as well as two or more unidentified oldstyle romans. Note the use of swastika ornaments for the border, something that would have been unthinkable to see in British printing just a few years later.

A Blonde in Love (CZ 1965) — The typeface used for the title is similar to a condensed Cheltenham/Gloucester, possibly a woodtype version. For the small sans serif, see Stephenson Blake’s Grotesque No. 6 and 8.

Various woodcut style posters for the Academy Cinema in London made by Peter Strausfeld in the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s. For more information visit: mikedempsey.typepad.com

Breathless (FR 1960) — The title is set in caps from Albertus, with charmingly unbalanced spacing. The bold gothic caps used for “The Academy Cinema” and elsewhere in the series exhibit qualities that have been captured in contemporary anthologies/reinterpretations like Rhode, Knockout or Champion Gothic.

Alphaville (FR 1965) — Among digital fonts, Clarendon Extra Condensed by Wooden Type Fonts is a good approximation for “Alphaville”.

A Generation (PL 1955) and Edward and Caroline (FR 1951) — The red caps appear to be from Playbill, Stephenson Blake’s reinterpretation of 19th-century “French Antique” wood type – a face that also appears on other posters of the series. Among the smaller types, there is Gill Sans Italic.

The Confrontation (HU 1969) — More Playbill, SB Grotesque, Gill Sans, condensed Clarendon and other unidentified faces. “In colour and ’scope” is in Britannic Italic. There are several digitizations, but none of them includes the italics. For the actors’ names, see The Godfather’s Haunted Lineage.

The King of Marvin Gardens (US 1972) — Big actors’ names are set in a style generically called Antique, stemming from Figgins’ Antique. Giza and Ziggurat are related digital versions. Smaller names are in caps from Windsor. The small type at the bottom is Latin Bold or similar.

AKA Wedding in Blood (FR 1973) — The generically named Egyptienne comes somewhat close for “Red Wedding”. The italic for “brilliant…” is very similar to Doric Italic No. 1.

Tonite Let’s All Make Love In London (UK 1967) and Dutchman (UK 1966) — WTC Banger from Borutta’s Wood Type Collection appears to be based on a model very similar to largest type. Unfortunately Mateusz Machalski doesn’t mention the sources of his digital interpretation.

An advertisement shown in Flight, July 10, 1909. The typefaces appear to be Caslon’s Doric Italic No. 1 (later available as Old Gothic Bold Italic) and Gothic No. 2. The smaller sans serifs are not as clear, but could be Grotesque No. 8 and Miller & Richard Sans-Serif No. 4 or No. 5.

From Penrose Annual, Vol. 54, 1960.

Actually lettering based on a Stephenson Blake grotesque of which the extensive Bureau Grot family is a good successor.