Horace Carr

John Savard
John Savard Posts: 1,126
in History of Typography
On the Internet Archive, I came across Bernard Shaw on Modern Typography, reprinted from The Caxton Magazine, by Horace Carr at "The Printing Press" in 1915. It piqued my interest, because it was in a very nice Jenson typeface, and I hadn't known that there were that many options of that kind available to printers then.

It was only a few pages long, with pairs of facing pages followed by pairs of blank pages. And at the end there were some testimonials to his work, so I assume it was a sample showpiece.

A web search turned up some basic information. As a young boy of 14, he came to Cleveland in 1883 and entered the printing trade as an apprentice. He started his own printing shop, "The Printing Press", in 1889, and he passed away on April 12, 1941.

As well, there definitely were indications that he was considered a master printer. But I haven't been able to find out much information about him.

Comments

  • Scott-Martin Kosofsky
    Scott-Martin Kosofsky Posts: 422
    Though I don't know much about him, the name Horace Carr and The Printing Press appear often in the annals of American printing and publishing in the early 20th century. The typeface you refer to is likely Cloister Old Style, which was designed by Morris Fuller Benton and released by American Type Founders around 1913 or 1914. It was all the rage for a while; Lintotype released a version of it for their machines, and it appears that there is at least one, if not more, digital versions available. It is a fairly heavy version of the Eusebius type, though not nearly so heavy as William Morris's.

    If you wish to learn more, try placing a query on the Contact form on the American Printing History Association's website: www.printinghistory.org. 


  • Nick Shinn
    Nick Shinn Posts: 2,207
    It’s Goudy Lanston.

  • ivan louette
    ivan louette Posts: 327
    That's a superb very mysterious typeface ! Like an hybrid of Cloister Old Style and the first Goudy Village.
  • John Savard
    John Savard Posts: 1,126
    One unique thing about it was the commas. That eliminated Centaur and some other typefaces I knew to have been in existence at the time. The closest thing I could find was Baltotype's Italian Old Style, but it wasn't a match.
  • John Savard
    John Savard Posts: 1,126
    Nick Shinn said:
    It’s Goudy Lanston.
    Indeed it is! Thank you!


    As this seems to be closer to a classic Jenson even than his Kennerley, I'm surprised this typeface isn't still in frequent use.
  • Thomas Phinney
    Thomas Phinney Posts: 2,883
    Huh. No digital version at https://p22.com/ltc
  • Scott-Martin Kosofsky
    Scott-Martin Kosofsky Posts: 422
    Goudy Lanston, indeed! I should have taken a look at the source! Sorry!
  • John Savard
    John Savard Posts: 1,126
    Interestingly enough, when looking for more information on Goudy Lanston, I found a news item about how a 'lost' Goudy typeface was recovered due to the discovery of matrices at Syracuse University. The typeface in question was Sherman.

    In Goudy's "A Half Century of Type Design and Typography", Goudy comments in the section about Goudy Lanston that in that typeface, he applied an improved principle of spacing the letters that made that typeface successful - where Sherman had been disappointing.

    Here's Sherman, as it appeared in that book:


  • Thomas Phinney
    Thomas Phinney Posts: 2,883
    Ouch. Looks like he just did near-zero sidebearings across the board with Sherman. At least it has serifs, else that would look even worse....
  • John Savard
    John Savard Posts: 1,126
    It's possible this is just a design sketch, and while the spacing of Sherman wasn't up to his usual standards, it isn't as bad as this specimen appears to show. Remember, this typeface was 'lost'.

    I learned something else. First I read that Goudy sold the first typeface he designed to a printer for $10, and it was called "Camelot". Then I did a search, and found that...

    a calligraphy web site referred to the style of lettering illustrated by Camelot as "frequently used",

    as Camelot Oldstyle, it ended up at ATF, and

    digital versions are available today.

    So Goudy had "it" right from the start.
  • Thomas Phinney
    Thomas Phinney Posts: 2,883
    Not sold to a printer, but to the Dickinson Type Foundry (soon to be ATF). Specifically, it was Joseph W. Phinney who bought Camelot, and it is believed he added the lowercase to Goudy’s caps.

    I wouldn’t assume that Goudy spaced Camelot himself—I suspect it was drawings he sent to J.W. Phinney. Leastways, I have that impression, from previous reading.

    It is certainly possible that the surviving sample of Sherman was simply before Goudy spaced it at all. Although most type designers do some manner of spacing from the beginning, it being pre-spacing seems much more likely than Goudy not knowing how to space decently on his 21st type design.

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