October 9, 2005

MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan


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This page is about a foundry that dominated all American foundries in the nineteenth century. It spearheaded the big merger in 1892 that created the American Type Founders Company (ATF): MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan.

History

American typefounding started in the 18th century. In 1735, Christopher Saur established a foundry mainly for German type at Germantown, PA. His foundry was finally absorbed by Binny & Ronaldson.

Dutchman Adam G. Mappa settled in New York around 1787 and cast Dutch and German faces, roman styles and oriental alphabets. Under financial stress, many of the matrices passed into the hands of Binny & Ronaldson.

In 1796, typefounding started in Philadelphia when Archibald Binny and James Ronaldson, both natives of Edinburgh, Scotland, set up shop there: they created the Philadelphia Type Foundry, aka Binny & Ronaldson and the James Ronaldson Type Foundry. Binny had emigrated in 1793. James Ronaldson (b. Gorgie, Scotland, 1768, d. Philadelpoha, 1842) arrived in Philadelphia in 1794. The firm published specimen books in 1809, 1812, 1814 and 1816.

In 1815, Binny left, and the company became James Ronaldson, successor of Binny & Ronaldson. The last specimen book is from 1822.

In 1823, Richard Ronaldson (James' brother) took over the foundry, until 1833, when he in turn was succeeded by Lawrence Johnson Lawrence Johnson, an energetic and well-loved person (b. Hull, England, 1801, d. Philadelphia, 1860), and George F. Smith. Johnson had introduced stereotyping in Philadelphia. George Smith, who had come from England ca. 1810, was a good manager and a practical typefounder. The company was called Johnson & Smith from 1833 until 1843.

The L. Johnson Type Foundry flourished under Johnson's workaholic reign. In 1843, Smith, who was in ill health, retired. The company was renamed L. Johnson & Co, and existed under that name from 1843-1860. In 1845, Johnson was associated with Thomas MacKellar (b. 1812, New York, d. 1899, Philadelphia), John F. Smith and Richard Smith (the sons of George Smith). The foundry now quickly grew in reputatioon. In 1855, the firm published the Typographic Adviser, the first printer's newspaper in the United States--it kept running and being distributed to printers until 1897 under the editorship of Thomas MacKellar (until 1885) and later William Brasher MacKellar.

Johnson died in 1860, and was succeeded by his three partners who, with Peter A. Jordan, constituted the firm known as MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan. It became one of the world's main foundries. John F. Smith (b. Philadelphia, 1815, d. Philadelphia, 1889) was the financial expert. Richard Smith (b. Philadelphia, 1821, d. Paris, 1894) liked machinery, and thus, naturally, he ran the mechanical department. He was put in charge of the James Conner Type Foundry in New York. After that, he had an important position at the Figgins Type Foundry in London, and later he traveled through Europe where he studied type manufacturing methods. It was after that that he he took up the manufacturing position at the L. Johnson Type Foundry. Peter A. Jordan (b. Philadelphia, 1822, d. 1884) was a good business man. Thomas MacKellar had experience from the printing company Harpers Brothers in New York and started out at Johnson & Smith as a proofreader in 1833. He was also a poet, who was known as a generous person and a respected citizen who helped many causes. So we had tytpefounders with very different backgrounds. In 1868, the business was still called the Johnson Type Foundry.

Jordan died in 1884. In 1885, William Brasher MacKellar (b. Philadelphia, 1844), G. Frederick Jordan (b. Philadelphia, 1850, son of Peter A. Jordan) and Carl Friederich Huch (b. Brunswick, Germany, 1830, an immigrant since 1850) were associated with the remaining partners and they formed The MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan Company. George Frederick Jordan introduced many mechanical improvements to typecasting.

In 1892, the American Type Founders' Company was created, and MacKellar was absorbed into it, becoming its principal branch. At the formation of ATF, William Brasher MacKellar was its first Vice-President. Later he became the Manager of ATF. George Frederick Jordan became Director of the ATF Company. Carl Friederich Huch, on the other hand, retired in 1892.

The source of this material was MacKellar's own book from 1896: 1796-1896 One Hundred Years MacKellar Smiths and Jordan Foundry, Philadelphia, PA. For a list of specimen books and a few pictures from them, check Maurice Annenberg's book, Type Foundries of America and their Catalogs (1975, Maran Printing Services; reprinted in 1994 by Oak Knoll Press, New Castle, DE).

Links include


The specimen books

The early typefaces of the Johnson Type Foundry all came from Binny & Ronaldson, which owned several Scotch typefaces. Many designs were added by MacKellar, mostly between 1876 and 1891, with a clear acceleration of the production in 1889-1891. None of the punchcutters or type designers are named in any specimen book: the status of the punchcutter was like that of a craftsman or expert mechanic. MacKellar's specimen books were beautifully printed and widely distributed---MacKellar clearly had an eye for the business part of his foundry. It was not until the early part of the 20th century that we saw other foundries produce such wonderful catalogs.

The Compact Book of Specimens

The Compact Book of Specimens (MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan Company, 1890) has an impressive 512 pages of partial specimens of their types. Only a few types, namely those produced in 1891-1892, are missing. I will attempt to list all types shown in the catalog--not an easy task since I was not allowed to scan or photocopy any part of the book by Harvard University librarians. This was a book known by all printers at the time. The dates shown refer to original types patented in that year. Many patented faces had no date. Omitting borders, ornaments, Greek faces, music faces, and so on, we could find these:

  • Scripts
    • Bijou (1883)
    • Centennial Script (1875)
    • Chaucer (1883)
    • Circular Black (1883)
    • Circular Script (1883)
    • Engravers Italic
    • Grolier (1887)
    • Hairline Italic
    • Italic Script
    • Law Italic (+ No. 2)
    • Master Script (1886)
    • Old Style Circular
    • Pencraft (+No. 2) (1885)
    • Queen Bess Script (1882)
    • Recherche
    • Sansom Script (1888) (named after the street in Philadelphia where MacKellar was located)
    • Script No. 2
    • Script No. 9 (nice upright script)
    • Scrivener
    • Spencerian Script (+ No. 2) (1878)
    • Stylus (1883)
  • Typewriter
    • Standard Typewriter Pica
  • Text faces
    • Bradford Series
    • Old Style (extensive family--plus No. 2, 3, 4, Antique, Antique No. 2).
    • Ronaldson Series (extensive)
  • Titling/display faces
    • Antique Extra Condensed
    • Antique (+No. 2, 3, 5, 6)
    • Antique Extended (+No. 2)
    • Boldface Roman & Italic
    • Clarendon (+ No. 2)
    • Italic Title
    • Lightface
    • Lining Antique
    • Mortised (1884)
    • Skeleton Antique
    • Title, Half-Title
    • Title No. 2, 3
  • Sans
    • Gothic (+No. 2, 3, 4, 5, 8)
    • Imprint Gothic
    • Lining Gothic
    • Round Gothic
  • Celtic theme
    • Celtic (+No. 2)
    • Nymphic (1885)
    • Runic
    • Unique Celtic (1889) (nothing Celtic about this ugly face though)
  • Western look
    • French Clarendon
  • Semiserif
    • Latin Antique
  • Transitional
    • Baskerville
  • Specialized faces (display, themed)
    • American (1876)
    • Antique Open
    • Antique Pointed
    • Aquatint (1878)
    • Arboret (+ No. 2) (1884)
    • Archaic (1888)
    • Artistic (1886)
    • Attic (1879)
    • Bizarre (1884)
    • Broadgauge (original--steam engine face--no date)
    • Broadgauge Ornate (original--steam engine face--no date)
    • Broadgauge Shaded (original--steam engine face--no date)
    • Byzantine (original--no date) (heraldic face)
    • Cabalistic (1879)
    • Cadmus (1887)
    • Cameo (original--no date)
    • Campanile (1879)
    • Caxtonian (1878)
    • Celtic Single Shade (original--no date)
    • Chamfer
    • Chancel (1884)
    • Cimmerian (1882)
    • Cloister (original--polygonal face--no date)
    • Cloister Shaded (original--no date)
    • Concave
    • Condensed Cloister Shaded (original--no date)
    • Continental (original--no date)
    • Copperplate (1877) (bank bill face: etched stripes)
    • Crayon (1886) (etched stripes)
    • Crosier
    • Cruikshank (1886)
    • Culdee (1885)
    • Dado (1882)
    • Doric
    • Eastlake (1879)
    • Edson (1881)
    • Esthetic (1882)
    • Extended
    • Fancy Celtic (1883)
    • Fantail
    • Filigree (hyper-decorated)
    • Franconian
    • Franklin Shaded (original--no date)
    • French Clarendon Italic (original Western face--no date)
    • French Clarendon Shaded (original Western face--no date)
    • Fresco (1883) (Showboat style face)
    • Gallic
    • Glyptic (1878)
    • Glyptic No. 2 (1878)
    • Glyptic Shaded (1878)
    • Gothic Ornate No.2 (original--no date)
    • Gothic Ornate
    • Greenback (+ No. 2) (original--no date)
    • Gutenberg (1888)
    • Hansard (1887)
    • Horizontal (1878)
    • Interline (1876) (etched stripes)
    • Ionic Shaded
    • Italic Copperplate (1878)
    • Italic Inlaid (original--no date)
    • Italic Ornate (original--no date)
    • Japanesque (+ No. 2, 3) (1877)
    • Keystone (+ Open) (1876)
    • Kitcat (1883)
    • Knobby (1884) (useless)
    • Koster (1888)
    • Lacrosse (1876)
    • Lithographic Slope (original--no date)
    • Medallic (1884) (money face with stripes)
    • Mezzotype (1880) (etched stripes)
    • Minaret (original--no date--heraldic face)
    • Minster (1878) (great decorated caps here)
    • Missal
    • Monastic (+ No. 3)
    • Monastic Shaded
    • Monkish (1884)
    • Monumental
    • Obelisk (1881)
    • Oblique (1878)
    • Oblique Shaded
    • Opaque Shaded (original--no date)
    • Ornamented (+ No. 2, 5, 4, 9, 10, 21, 15, 16, 22, 25, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 7, 19, 27, 20, 18, 30, 17, 22, 24, 26)
    • Ornamented No. 11, 24
    • Oxonian (1881)
    • Parsee (1888)
    • Peaked (original saloon font--no date)
    • Phidian (original Western billboard face--no date)
    • Philadelphian (original--no date)
    • Pictorial (1882)
    • Plain Shade (original--no date)
    • Pynson (1887)
    • Radiant (+ No. 2) (1876) (gradual etched striping title face)
    • Radiated (original--no date)
    • Relievo No. 2
    • Ringlet (1882)
    • Romanesque (original--no date)
    • Round Shaded (+ No. 2)
    • Roundhead (1883)
    • Ruskin (1880) (etched stripe look--great)
    • Rustic (woodv log face)
    • Rustic
    • Slanting Shaded (original--no date)
    • Smithsonian (original--no date)
    • Steelplate Gothic (1885)
    • Stencil (1882) (bank bill face: etched stripes; not a stencil face at all)
    • Stencil Gothic (+ No. 2)
    • Tendril (1878)
    • Tilted (1886) (awful)
    • Tinted (1885) (etched stripes; athletic numbering face!)
    • Title Italic Open
    • Trojan (1878)
    • Tuscan Antique (+ No. 2)
    • Tuscan Shaded (+ No. 2, 3, 4)
    • Tuscan
    • Unique (+ No. 2) (original--no date)
  • Blackletter faces
    • Anglo-Gothic
    • Angular Text (1884)
    • Antiquarian
    • Black (+ No. 2, 3, 4)
    • Black Inlaid (+ No. 2) (original--no date)
    • Black Ornate Shaded
    • Black Ornate
    • Black Shaded
    • Boldface Borussian
    • Borussian
    • Card Text (+ No. 2) (original--no date)
    • Card Text Shaded (original--no date)
    • Caxton Black
    • Chapel Text
    • Condensed Black (+ No. 2, 3, 4)
    • Condensed Black Shaded
    • Condensed German Title
    • Eureka Text (original--no date)
    • Fancy Text (original--no date)
    • Fancy Text Shaded
    • German (+ No. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
    • German Ornamented (+ No. 2)
    • German Shaded (+ No. 2)
    • German Title
    • Graphic Text (original--no date) (etched stripes)
    • Illuminated (+ No. 2) (1876) (etched stripes)
    • Lady Text (1884)
    • Medieval Text Ornate (original--no date)
    • Medieval Text
    • Medieval
    • Modern Text
    • Queen Anne Text (1881)
    • Ripple Text (1878)
    • Saxon Ornate Shaded (+ No. 2)
    • Saxon Ornate
    • School Text (1876)
    • Sloping Black (original--no bdate)
    • Sloping Black Shaded
    • Teuton Text
    • Teutonic Extended
    • Teutonic Shaded
    • Teutonic Title
    • Teutonic
    • Text Ornate (original--no date)
    • Title Black (1881)
    • Title Black Shaded (1881) (etched stripes)
    • Title Text (original--no date)
    • Title Text Open (+ No. 2, 3) (original--no date)
    • Treasury (original--no date)
    • Treasury Open (1875) (an etched currency face)
    • Tudoresque
  • Newspaper headline faces
    • Black Open (+ No. 1)
    • Black
    • Black Shaded (+ No. 2)
    • Lightface
    • Modern Text
    • Modern Text Open
    • Modern Text Shaded
    • Modern Text Double Shaded
    • Mortised
    • No. 2
    • Sloping Black
    • Scribe Text

The 1868 specimen book

Specimens of Printing Types Borders Cuts Rules Etc (MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan, Philadelphia, 1868, 601 pages) is a large format book that showcases most, if not all, types owned by the company at that time. In the book, the company is still called the Johnson Type Foundry, but the preface is signed by Thomas MacKellar, John F. Smith, Richard Smith and Peter A. Jordan.

This book does not have a single full alphabet, and thus, I am afraid that many glyphs of many types may never be found again.

Half the book consists of ornaments, flourishes, and so forth. There are also Greek and Hebrew types, as well as a large section on blackletter faces, which was standard for that era.

I listed many types in the previous section, but it is quite amazing that the majority of the types were already in this 1868 book. We have many Scotch faces, specially adapted for newspapers.

The book prominently showcases Law Italic , so I assume that that was probably an original.

Among the scripts, we find Garibaldi Script, Hairline Italic, Italian Script, Graphotype (formal script), English Script + No. 2, Calligraphic Script, Secretary (upright script), Hancock, Bulletin Script, and Arabesque (a psycho script).

The blackletter section shows Cuneiform, Lutetian, Black Ornate No. 2, Borussian, Card Text (1868), Black Ornate, Allemanic, and many others too numerous to mention.

The fancy style types include Minionette, Philadelphian (1867), Minaret (original), and Byzantine (original). Many ornamented faces from the 1890 catalogs are already in this early specimen book. A curiosity is the stars and stripes ornamented letter face called National.

The 1890 specimen book

Specimens of Original Printing Types cast by the patentees MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan Co. (Philadelphia, PA , 1890) is a small book, mostly, but not entirely, contained in the bigger Compact Book described above.

Here is a list of faces I did not see in the Compact Book:

  • Binny Series (text family): Old Style No. 3, 4.
  • Ronaldson (1885)
  • Ronaldson Condensed (1885)
  • Ronaldson Extended (original--no date)
  • Ronaldson Title Slope (1796)
  • Ronaldson Gothic (1889)
  • Ronaldson Clarendon (1889)
  • French Script
  • Trojan (1878)
  • Giraffe (1891)
  • Zinco (1891)
  • Giraffe Extended (original--no date)
  • Black Cap
  • Columbian (1885) (forerunner of Toulouse)
  • Dynamo (1891)
  • Typo (1891)
  • Fillet (1890)
  • Spiral (1890)
  • Luray (1890--currency face)
  • Shadow (1891) (forerunner of Bank Gothic)
  • Opaque Shaded (original--no date)
  • Plain Shade (original--no date)
  • Stipple
  • Jenson (1890)
But even with this, the very latest fonts are still elusive. I am thinking, e.g., of some types made in 1892, such as Isabella, a nice art nouveau type digitized by Adobe.

Author

Luc Devroye
School of Computer Science
McGill University
Montreal, Canada H3A 2K6
lucdevroye@gmail.com
http://cg.scs.carleton.ca/~luc