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LUC DEVROYE


ABOUT







Stephenson Blake [John Stephenson]

Founded in 1819 in Sheffield by toolmaker John Stephenson (died in 1864), silversmith William Garnett and financier James Blake, initially largely based on the purchase of the foundry of William Caslon III and IV in 1819. In 1829 Garnett left to become a farmer. The company was renamed Blake&Stephenson in 1830, but Blake died soon after. It became Stephenson, Blake&Co. in 1841. John Stephenson died in 1864, the year after he handed control to his son Henry. The company grew by acquiring most British typefoundries: Fann Street Foundry (1906); Fry's Type Street Letter Foundry; H.W. Caslon&Sons (1937); Miller&Richard (1952). The matrices and other old typographic equipment to Monotype and can be seen in the Type Museum of London. MyFonts provides this update: Members of both the Stephenson and Blake families still sit on the board of the present company. In 2001, according to managing director Tom Blake, the foundry was still producing some type in zinc, but by 2005 the company was wound up. There are plans to turn the former premises into an apartment complex.

In 1996, all remaining materials (punches, matrices, specimen books) were sold to Justin Howes' Type Museum. The information in The Ancestry of British Typefounding and the complete list of the Stephenson-Blake typefaces comes from Roy Millington's Stephenson Blake The Last of the Old English Typefounders, The British Library, London, 2002. Today, Stephenson Blake continues in manufacturing only.

Partial typeface list: Algerian (URW), Brittanic (Linotype), Baskerville Old Face (URW), Blackfriars (1920; a reversed-contrast Victorian typeface; digitally revied as a variable font by Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich at Delve Fonts as Tuppence), Carlton (1910s, digitized by Letraset in 1983; some say the original is F.H. Ehmcke's Ehmcke Antiqua, 1909), Chisel (an engravers typeface done in 1939 by Robert Harling; digital version at URW), Consort [the Stephenson Blake version of Clarendon], Doric Bold (Adobe), Elongated Roman (1937: a revival of the Victorian condensed and elongated fat faces, in the genre of Slimback), Fry's Ornamented No. 2 (many digitizations exist, e.g., Beffle (1991, David Rakowski)), Grotesque No 9 (URW), Impact (Linotype, Adobe), Kingston (with almost square counters and eyes), Klang (by Will Carter), Latin (URW), Latin Wide (1940), Latin Antique (1880s; a woodish typeface revived by Nick Curtis in 2011 as Indubitably NF; Monotype also had a metal version of this), Old Town No 536 (Western face, see Linotype), Playbill (a 1939 western saloon typeface by Robert Harling; digital versions at Bitstream, Linotype, and URW), Sans Serif Shaded (revived by Dieter Steffmann in 2002), Tea Chest (1939, an all-caps stencil typeface revived in 2011 by Nick Curtis as East India Company NF; Sigrid Claessens and Günther Flake revived Tea Chest Stencil in 1999 for Apply Interactive), Thorowgood, Verona (1923), Vivaldi (now at Linotype), Windsor (Bitstream, URW, Linotype, after a 1903 original by Sir William Kirkwood at Stephenson Blake), Wood Indexes (fists), Marina Script (1936, a copperplate script), Parisian Ronde (acquired from the Inland Type Foundry in 1905), Imperial Script (late 1800s formal script not unlike Firmin Didot's Anglaise, 1809), Bologna (script face, 1946), Glenmoy (script face, 1932, digitized and expanded in 2005 by Alejandro Paul as Mousse Script (Sudtipos) and in 2007 by Nick Curtis as Glengary NF, and in 2012 by Vernon Adams as Norican at Google Web Fonts), Francesca Ronde (1948), Granby (1930, a humanist sans family based on Edward Johston's types; revivals include one by Steve Jackaman and Ashley Muir called Granby Elephant (2011), and the main digital revival, from 2011, by Elsner and Flake called Granby EF), Recherché (revived by Nick Curtis as Plus de Vagues NF (2006)), Youthline Script (1952, a copperplate script for the banking and insurance industry, digitized and extended into a 7-weight family in 2005 by Rebecca Alaccari and Patrick Griffin as Sterling Script (2005)).

Some type specimen, and a discussion of some typefaces, by yours truly.

Scans of some old typefaces: Britannic Italic (1906), Flemish (for a digital semi-revival, see Dan Solo's Brussels), Freehand Script, Olympian.

A few scans from Henry Taylor Wyse's book of 1911, showing types owned jointly by Stephenson Blake and Sir Charles Reed of Sheffield: AntiqueRoman, Athenian, Baskerville, Black No. 3, DeVinne, DeVinne Italic, Hallamshire Old Italic, Italian Old Style, Italian Old Style, Italian Old Style Italic, Lining Modern No. 20, Lining Old Style No. 5, Lining Westminster Old Style, Winchester Bold, Winchester Old Style, Winchester Old Style Italic.

View digital typefaces that descend from the Stephenson Blake collection.

EXTERNAL LINKS
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INTERNAL LINKS
Foundries of the 19th century ⦿ Extinct 20th century foundries ⦿ Western fonts ⦿ Nick Curtis ⦿ Type design in the United Kingdom ⦿ Modern style [Bodoni, Didot, Walbaum, Thorowgood, Computer Modern, etc.] ⦿ Copperplate ⦿ Ronde (Rondo, Rundschrift): Upright scripts ⦿ Fists, pointing hands ⦿ Caslon ⦿ Clarendon ⦿ Baskerville ⦿ Dieter Steffmann ⦿








file name: Latin Wide 1940


file name: Latin Wide 1940b


file name: Stephenson Blake Wide Latin


file name: Stephenson Blake Elongated Roman 1937


file name: Stephenson Blake Vogue 1929


file name: Stephenson Blake Kingston


file name: Stephenson Blake Britannic Italic


file name: Stephenson Blake Freehand Script


file name: Stephenson Blake Olympian


file name: Nick Curtis East India Company N F 2011


file name: Nick Curtis East India Company N F 2011c


file name: Nick Curtis Indubitably N F 2011 after Stephenson Blake Latin Antique 1880s


file name: Stephenson Blake Windsor 1903 U R W version


file name: Steve Jackaman Ashley Muir Granby Elephant 2011


file name: Steve Jackaman Ashley Muir Granby Elephant 2011b


file name: Elsner Flake Granby E F Bold 2001 after Stephenson Blake Granby 1930


file name: Elsner Flake Granby E F Hippo 2001 after Stephenson Blake Granby 1930


file name: Elsner Flake Granby E F Light 2001 after Stephenson Blake Granby 1930


file name: Stephenson Blake Flemish


file name: Dan Solo Brussels after Stephenson Blake Flemish


file name: Stephenson Blake Granby 1930


file name: Stephenson Blake Mazarin 1926


file name: Stephenson Blake Mazarin 1926


file name: Roberto De Vicq De Cumptich Tuppence 2021 after Stephenson Blake Blackfriars 1910


file name: Roberto De Vicq De Cumptich Tuppence 2021 after Stephenson Blake Blackfriars 1910


file name: Roberto De Vicq De Cumptich Tuppence 2021 after Stephenson Blake Blackfriars 1910


file name: Roberto De Vicq De Cumptich Tuppence 2021 after Stephenson Blake Blackfriars 1910


file name: Roberto De Vicq De Cumptich Tuppence 2021 after Stephenson Blake Blackfriars 1910


file name: Roberto De Vicq De Cumptich Tuppence 2021 after Stephenson Blake Blackfriars 1910


file name: Roberto De Vicq De Cumptich Tuppence 2021 after Stephenson Blake Blackfriars 1910


file name: Roberto De Vicq De Cumptich Tuppence 2021 after Stephenson Blake Blackfriars 1910


file name: Roberto De Vicq De Cumptich Tuppence 2021 after Stephenson Blake Blackfriars 1910


file name: Roberto De Vicq De Cumptich Tuppence 2021 after Stephenson Blake Blackfriars 1910


file name: Robert Harling 1939 Stephenson Blake The Caslon Letter Foundry Playbill


file name: Robert Harling 1939 Stephenson Blake The Caslon Letter Foundry Playbill


file name: Robert Harling 1939 Stephenson Blake The Caslon Letter Foundry Playbill


file name: Nick Curtis Glengary N F 2007 after Stephenson Blake Glenmoy 1932


file name: Stephenson Blake Glenmoy 1932 Mousse Script Sudtipos2005


file name: Stephenson Blake Consort 1953 1954


file name: Letraset Carlton 1983 after Stephenson Blake Carlton 1900s


file name: Letraset Carlton 1983 after Stephenson Blake Carlton 1900s


file name: Letraset Carlton 1983 after Stephenson Blake Carlton 1900s


file name: Letraset Carlton 1983 after Stephenson Blake Carlton 1900s


file name: Letraset Carlton 1983 after Stephenson Blake


file name: Stephenson Blake Letraset Carlton 1983


file name: U R W Playbill 1992


file name: Nick Curtis Plus De Vagues N F 2006 after Stephenson Blake Recherche


file name: Stephenson Blake Charles Reed Antique Roman 36pt


file name: Stephenson Blake Charles Reed Athenian 30pt


file name: Stephenson Blake Charles Reed Baskerville


file name: Stephenson Blake Baskerville


file name: Stephenson Blake Baskerville Old Face 1992


file name: Stephenson Blake Charles Reed Black No3 36pt


file name: Stephenson Blake Charles Reed De Vinne 36pt


file name: Stephenson Blake Charles Reed De Vinne Italic 36pt


file name: Stephenson Blake Charles Reed Hallamshire Old Style


file name: Stephenson Blake Charles Reed Italian Old Style 14 24pt


file name: Stephenson Blake Charles Reed Italian Old Style


file name: Stephenson Blake Charles Reed Lining Italian Old Style Italic


file name: Stephenson Blake Charles Reed Lining Modern No20 36pt


file name: Stephenson Blake Charles Reed Lining Old Style No5


file name: Stephenson Blake Charles Reed Lining Westminster Old Style


file name: Stephenson Blake Charles Reed Winchester Bold 36pt


file name: Stephenson Blake Charles Reed Winchester Old Style


file name: Stephenson Blake Charles Reed Winchester Old Style Italic


file name: Dieter Steffmann Sans Serif Shaded 2002 after Stephenson Blake


file name: Stephenson Blake Verona 1923


file name: Stephenson Blake Wood Indices 1964







Luc Devroye ⦿ School of Computer Science ⦿ McGill University Montreal, Canada H3A 2K6 ⦿ lucdevroye@gmail.com ⦿ http://luc.devroye.org ⦿ http://luc.devroye.org/fonts.html