AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF PRINTING TYPES

books Ú11822,1824,1825,1827,1828 andi829. By 1825 three sizes of Fraktur,
two of Greek, one of Hebrew, and four of Russian, are part of his stock.The
Frakturs & two of the Russian founts were obtained by him from Germany.
In 1828, on the retirement of Dr Edmund Fry, Thorowgood bought up
the Polyglot (formerly Type Street) foundry and thus acquired a great coUec-
tion of oriental and 'learned' founts, book founts, blacks, tidings and flowers.
The foundry continued to expand and Thorowgood took into partnership
(about 1838) one of his traveUers, Robert Besley (bom 1794) and the firm
became Thorowgood & Besley until Thorowgood retired in i849.The firm
was then re-named Robert Besley & Co. [170]

101. From Thorowgood's New Specimen of Printing Types, late R. Thome's, No 2,
Fann Street, Aldersgate Street, London, 1821. This specimen book, as has
been noted, represented the contents of Thome's foundry pretty much as he
left it ; 'although even in this short space of time some additions are apparent,
which formed no part of his predecessor's stock'. Reed refers here to the
short time which elapsed between Thorowgood's purchase of Thome's foun¬
dry in 1820 and the issue of this second specimen book in January i82i.The
six-line Pica Egyptian of our example is, despite the fact that it shouts the
name of the original owner of the Fann Street foundry at us, one of these
additions—that is, a type cut after Thome's death in 1820. [172]

102. Egyptian types were in regular use by 1817 on lottery bifls in the style of our
example. In this ЪШ the mixture of fat face & slab-seriffed face is to be noted.

[173]

258

Notes on the illustrations

of shadowed or three-dimensional types

103. From the Specimen ofPrintingTypes by Vincent Figgins, Letter Founder, West
Street,West Smithfield, London 1815 .These shadowed or three-dimensional
types first appeared circa 1815 .The earhest examples were fat face outline let¬
ters with heavy black shadows. Nicolette Gray writes 'Here... the founders
seem to be providing compensation for the thin stems and hair serifs of the fat
face ; they seem to have been very conscious of its inadequacy'. [I74]

104. From Specimen ofPrinting Types,Vincent Figgins, 1833. Seven sizes of two-
line letters in shade, or as we caU them, shadowed or three-dimensionalletters,
in sizes from Great Primer to Pearl, the latter being an italic.The appearance
of the first shadowed face approximately eighteen years before this specimen
book was issued was a signal the other foundries did not ignore. 'The introduc¬
tion' writes Mrs Gray 'was immediately enormously popular. Every founder
came out in a wide range of sizes, many with italic.The variation in the width
of the shadow is considerable. A significant point is the introduction of quite
smaU sizes, and it is remarkable how the letter changes with its size.The big
letter is very fuU and bulky,very near to its parent fat face.The smaU letter is
almost elegant, far nearer to the succeeding outline types'. [г7б]

Notes on the illustrations of sans serif types

105. Our example shows the first sans serif type, a single line of tiding which ap¬
peared under the name of Two lines Enghsh Egyptian in the specimen issued
byW. Caslon, Juniorin i8i6(the last tobeissuedby the firm) .This forerunner
of a new group of jobbing faces seems to have competed for the name given
to the group of advertising faces, named by Robert Thorne, the Egyptians,
which had appeared the year previously in the specimen of Vincent Figgins
under the name Antique. Mr Johnson writes that 'the type itself seems to have
been an unsuccessful experiment on the part of Caslon, and we hear nothing
more of it until 18 3 2. In that year Vincent Figgins displayed it under the name

259