TYPE DESIGN INFORMATION PAGE last updated on Mon Apr 15 05:35:59 EDT 2024
FONT RECOGNITION VIA FONT MOOSE
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Alf R. Becker
Alf Becker (b. St. Louis, IL, d. 1959, St. Petersburg, FL) was a sign artist in the 1930's and 40's. Beginning in January 1932, at the request of editor E. Thomas Kelly, Becker supplied the Signs of the Times (The National Journal of Display Advertising) magazine's new Art and Design section with an alphabet a month, a project initially predicted to last only two years. Misjudging the popularity of the series, it instead ran for 27 years, ending finally two months before Becker's death in 1959, for a total of 320 alphabets. In late 1941, just ten years after the first alphabet was published, 100 of those alphabets were compiled and published in book form under the title 100 Alphabets, by Alf R. Becker. The American Sign Museum shows the following death notice, taken from the April 1959 issue of Signs of the Times: A chapter of almost 27 years of extensive influence upon the development of sign and outdoor advertising lettering came to a close March 10 in the passing of Alf R. Becker, whose alphabets had been presented consistently in Signs of the Times since January, 1932. Death came in St. Petersburg, FL, where he had been hospitalized since last November. The funeral services were in St. Louis, March 16. Mr. Becker had operated a commercial sign business in East St. Louis, IL., and was widely known for his lettering ability when requested 27 years ago by the late E. Thomas Kelley, then editor of Signs of the Times, to do a series of alphabets for the magazine. They had estimated that 24 alphabets which would be presented in a period of two years would serve the purpose. The series was so enthusiastically received and so many readers urged continuation that it was projected indefinitely to eventually each a total of 320 before failing health of Mr. Becker forced him to give up that creative work. His last alphabet for ST appeared in the January issue this year. Countless are the signmen and women who broadened the horizons of their lettering ability by thorough study of Mr. Becker's alphabet. In 1941, his book, "100 Alphabets" was published by Signs of the Times, and all 3,000 copies that were printed were sold out long ago. Numerous requests have been received for a reprinting, but in view of the changes of time in lettering styles, it has not been considered advisable. Mr. Becker's failing health in 1957 influenced him and Mrs. Becker moving to St. Petersburg, where they bought a home, and where he went into semi-retirement. His love of the sign business was such that he continued his alphabets in spite of the problems of his illness. Many of his typefaces have art deco influences. LHF Monogram at Letterhead is a digital version of one of his fonts. Other digitizations include Whomp (2006) and Buffet Script (2006) by Alejandro Paul (Sudtipos) and Daffadowndilly (2007) and Stony Island NF (after Becker's art deco typeface Chicago Modern), Quaint Notions (2003), and Shaq Attack NF (2011, a wood plank font) by Nick Curtis. The Fontry (James Stirling and/or Adkins) is undertaking a grand digitization project, and releases free and pay fonts with names that start with ARB, followed by the font number, the font name, and the month and year of issue. In The Fontry's ARB series, we find ARB-187 Moderne Caps AUG-47 (2013, didone), ARB-85 Poster Script (2011, after a 1939 typeface by Becker), ARB 70 Modern Poster, ARB 93 Steel Moderne, ARB 44 Chicago Modern, ARB 66 Neon (2010, after a 1937 font, +Block, +Line), ARB 85 Modern Poster JAN-39 (2011, after Modern Poster Script, 1939), and ARB 67 Modern Roman, and ARB08ExtremeRomanAUG-32CASNormal (2009; the original is from 1932). Jeff Levine created a number of typefaces based on Becker's work as well: Show Card Casual JNL (2018: based on a single stroke brush alphabet by Alf Becker), Casual Signage JNL (2018), Modern English JNL (2018), Kanona JNL (2010), Karaoke JNL (2010), Mocombo JNL (2010). John Davis created LHF Pipeline (2012) based on Becker's designs. Kaitlin Sims designed LHF Becker No. 45 (2015). Catalog of some of his digitized typefaces. View the digital typefaces that are based on Becker's work. Showcase of Alf R. Becker's fonts. |
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file name: Jeff Levine Casual Signage J N L 2018
file name: Jeff Levine Modern English J N L 2018
file name: Jeff Levine Show Card Casual J N L 2018
file name: Nick Curtis Shaq Attack N F 2011
file name: Nick Curtis Stony Island N F 2011 after Alf R Becker Chicago Modern Thick And Thin 1935
file name: Nick Curtis Stony Island N F
file name: Michael Adkins A R B66 Neonline Block 2011 after Alf Becker 1937
file name: The Fontry A R B66 Neon 2010 after Alf R Becker 1937
file name: The Fontry A R B187 Moderne Caps A U G47
file name: Michael Gene Adkins A R B 187 Moderne Caps A U G 47 2013
file name: Michael Gene Adkins A R B 187 Moderne Caps A U G 47 2013b
file name: The Fontry A R B85 Poster Script C A S 2011 after Alf R Becker 1939
file name: Gene Adkins A R B85 Poster Script 2011
file name: Alf R Becker Pic
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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 |