Old Style No.1
TYPEFACE DESIGN
—Type & Media—
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Old Style No.1, which first appeared in the middle of the 18th century, belongs to the Transitional period. The typefaces included in this category are in between Old Style and Neo Classical Typefaces. Those designs have vertical or near-vertical stress, more evident contrast between thins and thicks, and head serifs that are more horizontal in most cases. Old Style No.1 was originally designed by Alexander Phemister in 1829 while he was working at Miller and Richards in Edinburgh, Scotland.
ABOUT THIS PROJECT I started my process by scanning a couple of the best-printed pages of my book. I tried online tools as Identifont, WhatTheFont, and similar websites, but the results were unsatisfactory. They pointed me to typefaces such as De Vinne, Scotch, Modern Extended Book, Century, Bookman, and many others that shared some general characteristics with my typeface but not the details. My next step was to check online specimens from different type companies in America and Europe. In a PDF of Swamp Press Letter Foundry, I found some samples of typefaces produced by Monotype with three typefaces that matched some of the most distinctive letters of my original: Bruce Old Style #31, Farmers Old Style #15, and Binney Old Style #21. I researched all three to learn more about the designer, the foundry, and the year of production.
REVIVAL (TYPEFACE DESIGN)
Cristian Vargas ©
BOOK DESIGN
Cristian Vargas ©
ADVISERS & COLLABORATORS
Paul van der Laan, Alexander Tochilovsky (Cooper Union) Erik Kindell (Reading University), Frank Romano (Linotype), Jane Siegel (Columbia University), Mark Sarigianis (M&H Type), Meredith Mann (NY Public Library).