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William H. Bradley
Book designer, poster designer and typographer, born in Boston (1868). He died in 1962. His typefaces include the following: - Abbey Text (1895, A.D. Farmer).
- Bradley (ATF, 1895). This blackletter typeface was cut into a wood type by Hamilton in 1900.
- A beautiful unnamed lettering for the Inland Printer (1891-1892).
- He drew the Bradley Series and licensed it to American Type Founders in 1895. That blackletter design was copied and issued by the Inland Type Foundry (as "St. John") and by A.D. Farmer&Son Type Founding Co (as "Abbey Text", still 1895). Also in 1895, Hermann Ihlenburg at ATF made the Germanic-language version of the Bradley Series. Several German foundries had metal versions of his 1895 series under the names Halbfette Altgotisch, Altfettgotisch and Amerikanische Altgotisch, such as Bauersche Giesserei and Schelter & Giesecke (1903). Digital revivals: Fyne Fish NF (Nick Curtis, 2009), Bradley Pro (2005, Ralph Unger at Profonts), Bradley DJR (2018, David Jonathan Ross). Bradley was used by Disney in its Sleeping Beauty Castle.
- Priory Black (ATF, 1897-1898) is said to be due to Bradley. In 1904, ATF introduced a modernized version called Cloister Black (or Cloister Text), designed by Joseph W. Phinney or Morris F. Benton.
- Bradley Roman and Italic saw the light in 1901 when Bradley was writing Peter Poodle, Toymaker to the King, and these typefaces are known as the Peter Poodle types.
- In 1904, he co-designed Antique Bold with J.W. Phinney and Morris Fuller Benton at ATF.
- His Bewick Roman series (1904) has gorgeous ligatures (tt, ct, and so on). Mac McGrew: Bewick Roman was designed by Will Bradley in 1904 and issued by ATF the following year. It is a quaint display type with a number of unusual characteristics. Several capitals have both wide and narrow versions, although generally the typeface is rather narrow; there are also several tied charac$Gters and ornaments in the font, as was common with nineteenth-century designs. Compare Rogers, Vanden Houten.
- Wayside Roman and Italic. Mac McGrew: Wayside Roman and Italic were shown by ATF in 1900, as a handsome interpretation of modern typeface similar to Scotch Roman, but without the heavier capitals of the latter face. Some sources say the designer was Will Bradley, but this is disputed by other authorities, and most likely it is a revival of an older face. It was not in regular production very many years, but special castings have been made at times. Some figures appear to be oversize---6, 7, and 9 in the specimen shown here---but this is a characteristic of the font, although not uniform from one size to another. Also compare Oxford, Bell.
- In 1904, he created the beautiful Chap-Book series (Cuts, Borders, Directors (pointing fingers), Guidons (unbelievable parentheses)), as well as the Mission Toys Ornaments, all at ATF. Thereafter followed Missal Initials, Wayside Borders (1904), Wayside Ornaments (1904), Cloister Borders (1905), Cloister Initials (1905), Indian Borders (before 1908). Some of his ornaments made it to American Pi NF (2006, Nick Curtis) and to the five-font-set Bradley Dingies (by Paulo W, 2009). Mac McGrew: Missal Initials were issued by ATF in 1904; their design has been ascribed to Will Bradley. Derived from fifteenth-century sources, each letter is designed to fill a square area. Compare Caxton Initials, Lombardic Initials. For a digital version of Missal Initials, see Initials ATF Missal Caxton (2012, Alter Littera).
- Bradley Initials (1934). For a degital version, see Glenda de Guzman's Bradley Intials (1994, Font Bureau).
- Vanity (1921-1930) is custom type he made while he was art director.
- His last group of typefaces was Bradley Combination Ornaments, made in 1952 for Steve Watts, type merchandising director of the American Type Founders Company.
- Roman alphabet by Bradley.
Fontshop link. A Booklet of Designs (1915, New York) contains many of his interesting drawings for typefaces.
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William H. Bradley
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INTERNAL LINKS
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Type scene in Massachusetts ⦿
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Lombardic types ⦿
Morris Fuller Benton ⦿
Caxton ⦿
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