Frederic goudy,

THE DOYEN OF AMERICAN

TYPE DESIGNERS’ (1865-1947) WAS DURING HIS

lifetime the most publicized type designer in the world - as well as the
most prolific, producing over a hundred types. However, fashion
turned against him in the 1960s after his great popularity in the
1940s. His types show a contrast in character to the spirit of Art
Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts movement. Goudy reflects the
finest elements of Roman design: restraint and majestic grace are its
characteristics. It has a ‘hand-wrought’ rather than a mechanically
ruled appearance, especially in the asymmetrical serifs. It is an
exquisite face for chapter heads, programmes, proclamations and
other formal work. Goudy himself enjoyed the ‘craft’ aspect of
typography, cutting metal patterns himself as well as engraving
matrices and casting type. The basic Goudy design was used by other
designers to produce Goudy Bible (Bruce Rogers in collaboration with
Sol Hess), and Goudy Catalogue (Morris F. Benton). Goudy Old
Style has capitals modelled on Renaissance lettering but Goudy
himself admits that the lower case descenders are too short. Goudy
Village is a revision of his first bookface, cut around 1905. Goudy
Modern appeared in 1918 and Goudy Antique, which was intended as
a bold face, in 1919.

GOUDY

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72 POINT GOUDY OLD STYLE