The Monotype Chronicles
1926 – 1933

1926

1929 Centaur (Series 252) by Bruce Rogers complemented by Arrighi Italic by Frederic Warde: the latter was originally cut for hand composition by Charles Plumet in 1925. Perpetua (Series 239) by Eric Gill. Gill Sans (Series 262) by Eric Gill. Bembo (Series 270). Deepdene (Series 315) by Frederic W. Goudy. Sans Serif Heavy by Frederic W. Goudy. Variants in the same family appeared in subsequent years designed by Sol Hess. Fire destroyed the ground floor and basement of the London offices at 43 Fetter Lane on Good Friday. Re-building was completed the following year. Lanston Monotype Machine Company in the USA bought the Thompson Type Machine Company and obtained rights to a sorts caster made by that enterprise. Both the American and British factories built the machines. Limited Editions Club founded in New York by George Macy with the aim of issuing fine books for discriminating collectors.

Temperature regulators added to the metal pots of Monotype Casters aiding the production of quality type.

Lord Dunraven, Chairman of the Monotype Corporation Ltd. since its inception in 1897, died on 14 June in London. He was succeeded by Lord Askwith.

1927
Pastonchi (Series 206) by Francesco Pastonchi and Eduardo Cotti.

Beatrice Warde appointed editor of the Monotype Recorder and in 1929 Publicity Manager for the Monotype Corporation Ltd. Her writings on matters typographic were lively, topical, informative, and sometimes scholarly, the most notable being original research into the origins of the Garamond types published in The Fleuron (No. 5, 1926). Her essays have been collected and published in book form as The Crystal Goblet (The Sylvan Press, 1955).

Formation of the Society of Typographic Arts in Chicago.

1928
Monotype Goudy Modern (Series 249), a design originally cut for handsetting in 1918 at the Village Letter Foundery of Frederic W. Goudy.

Monotype Super Caster developed in Britain for casting the various materials essential to a hand-composing department, such as fonts of type, quads, quotations, furniture, leads, and rules. In effect, the printer had recourse to a complete internal typefoundry. No keyboard was required to work the Super Caster.

Monotype had a float in the Lord Mayor’s Show in London with the theme of 26 Soldiers of Lead: the soldiers were designed by Eric Gill.

British Typographers Guild established by Vincent Steer, Alfred Vernon, Stanley Hayter, Edward Burrett, and others. In 1953 the name changed to the Society of Typographic Designers.

The book Die neue Typographie by Jan Tschichold published.

1930
Lutetia (Series 255) by Jan Van Krimpen. Originally cut by Enschedé in 1925.

Monotype Bell (Series 341) based on a model by Stephenson Blake.

1931
Name of the Lanston Monotype Corporation Ltd. in Britain changed to the Monotype Corporation Ltd. on public flotation.

1932
Times New Roman (Series 327). First used in The Times of London newspaper on 3 October. Offered to the printing industry at large in 1933 without restriction.

Automatic leading attachment for Monotype Caster whereby leads were mechanically dropped between composed lines of type, so saving on subsequent handwork and avoiding the casting of type on irregular bodies which might introduce complications when manually correcting matter.

Copy repeating attachment for Monotype Caster enabling continuous casting from an endless looped spool containing up to 600 signals. Applications included the production of fonts of type for case, of running headlines in books, and of border combinations.

Beatrice Warde wrote the inscription beginning ‘This is a printing office...’ which was originally intended to show off Perpetua Titling in a broadsheet type specimen. It has been translated into at least 28 languages.

Monotype Newsletter first published.

1933

1932 Times New Roman (Series 327).

Rockwell (Series 371), a durable slab-serif design.

Monotype Walbaum (Series 374).

In New York a luncheon club for typographic enthusiasts formed under the name of The Typophiles. Numerous engaging printed keepsakes have been issued by the group.

Robert Hunter Middleton appointed Director of Type Design for the Ludlow Typograph Company.