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De Vinne types

Below is a verbatim reproduction of what Mac McGrew writes about the De Vinne types.

De Vinne types were designed and named for Theodore L. De Vinne, one of the most prominent American printers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His De Vinne Press pioneered in various methods of producing high-quality books and magazines, and De Vinne himself had considerable influence on typeface design as well as printing methods and other aspects of the business, and was the author of several books on the subject; however, he was not the actual designer of these typefaces.

DeVinne, as produced by Linotype in 1902, is a legible but plain version of modern roman, with long, thin serifs and considerable contrast. It does not appear in the 1907 book, Types of the DeVinnePress, although there are other very similar types. Other typefaces bearing the De Vinne name, described below, are more distinctive and much better known. They might be considered the first large type family, although they developed helter-skelter from several sources rather than being created as a unified family. DeVinne, the display face, is credited with bringing an end to the period of overly ornate and fanciful display typefaces of the nineteenth century, and with restoring the dignity of plain roman types. It is derived from typefaces generally known as Elzevir or French Oldstyle (q.v.). DeVinne says of it, This typeface is the outcome of correspondence (1888-90) between the senior of the De Vinne Press (meaning himself) and Mr. J. A. St. John of the Central Type Foundry of St. Louis, concerning the need of plainer types of display, to replace the profusely ornamented types in fashion, of which the printers of that time had a surfeit. The DeVinne Press suggested a return to the simplicity of the true old-style character, but with the added features of thicker lines and adjusted proportion in shapes of letters. Mr. St. John approved, but insisted on grotesques to some capital letters in the belief that they would meet a general desire for more quaintness. Mr. Werner of the Central Type Foundry was instructed to draw and cut the proposed typeface in all sizes from 6- to 72-point, which task he executed with great ability. The name given to this typeface by Mr. St. John is purely complimentary, for no member of the DeVinne Press has any claim on the style as inventor or designer. Its merits are largely due to Mr. Werner; its few faults of uncouth capitals show a desire to please eccentric tastes and to conform to old usage. The new typeface found welcome here and abroad; no advertising typeface of recent production had a greater sale.

Thus De Vinne himself credits the typeface to Central Type Foundry and its design to Nicholas J. Werner, but Werner says, To correct the general impression that Theodore L. De Vinne was the designer of the typeface named after him, I would state that it was the creation of my partner, Mr. (Gustav) Schroeder. The design was patented under Schroeder's name in 1893. Central was part of the merger that formed American Type Founders Company in 1892, but continued to operate somewhat independently for a few more years. Meanwhile, DeVinne was copied by Dickinson, BB&S, Hansen, and Keystone foundries, and perhaps others-in fact, Keystone advertised that it patented the design in 1893, Connecticut Type Foundry copied it as Saunders, and Linotype as Title No.2. Dickinson called it "a companion series to Howland" (q.v.).

When Monotype developed an attachment in 1903 to cast display sizes, DeVinne was the first type shown in their first announcement. Later ATF specimens showed this typeface and several derivatives as DeVinne No.2, probably because of adjustments to conform with standard alignment. DeVinne Italic and DeVinne Condensed were drawn by Werner and produced by Central in 1892 and copied by some other sources. Howland, shown by Dickinson in 1892, is essentially the same as DeVinne Condensed No.3, later shown by Keystone. ATF introduced DeVinne Extended in 1896, while BB&S showed DeVinne Compressed, Extra Compressed, and Rold in 1898-99. Keystone's DeVinne Title is another version of bold, not as wide as that of BB&S.

In 1898 Frederic W. Goudy was asked to take the famous display type and make a book typeface of it. The resulting DeVinne Roman, Goudy's second type design, was cut the following year by the Central branch of ATF. DeVinne Slope, essentially the same design but sloped rather than a true italic, was cut by the foundry about the same time, perhaps from the same patterns as the roman.

DeVinne Open or Outline and Italic also originated with Central. In the roman and smaller sizes of italic only the heavy strokes are outlined; in larger sizes of italic, certain thin strokes are also outlined. Monotype cut the open typefaces in 1913. DeVinne Shaded is another form of the outline, created by Dickinson in 1893; parts of the outline are much thicker than others. DeVinne Recut and Recut Outline, shown by BB&S, are not true members of this family, but are a revival of Woodward and Woodward Outline, designed by William A. Schraubstadter for Inland Type Foundry in 1894; there were also condensed, extra condensed, and extended versions, all "original" by Inland. DeVinneRecutItalic was a rename of Courts, by Werner about 1900, also from Inland. Compare McNally.

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History of type ⦿ Frederic William Goudy ⦿ Elzevir ⦿