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Type specimen sheets and booklets

 Collection
Identifier: Case Wing-Z250-A5

Scope and Content of the Collection

This is a growing collection of Type Specimen Sheets and Booklets issued from the 1870s onward.

The collection includes single sheet type specimens, type catalogs, booklets, posters, order forms, and other advertising materials originally issued by foundries, typesetters, and printers. Geographic ranges of these companies and individuals include the United States, Great Britain, and continental Europe. Significant amounts of material comes from American Type Founders Company, Amsterdam Continental Types and Graphic Equipment, Bauersche Giesserei, Berthold Type Foundry, Fonderies Deberny & Peignot, Lanston Monotype Machine Company, Ludlow Typograph Company, Mergenthaler Linotype Company, and Monotype Corporation. Nearly 700 individual typefaces are represented in the collection, many in multiple formats. Aside from advertising materials, there are also a few examples of individual typefaces from sources other than printers, such as periodicals set in a particular type. Collection originally amassed by Ernst F. Detterer, the second Custodian of the John M. Wing Foundation on the History of Printing, and continued by later Wing Collection curators

Dates

  • Creation: 1870-ongoing

Creator

Language

Materials are primarily in English, but also in French, German, and Spanish.

Conditions Governing Access

The Type specimen sheets and booklets are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 box at a time (Priority III).

Ownership and Literary Rights

The Type specimen sheets and booklets are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.

Extent

12.1 Linear Feet (23 boxes and 1 oversize box)

Abstract

A collection of over 2500 type specimen sheets and other advertising materials issued by type foundries, typesetters, and printers that display typefaces, type families, or groups of types. Geographic coverage includes United States, Great Britain, and continental Europe.

Organization

Papers are organized in the following series

Series 1: Individual Faces, 1920s-ongoing
Boxes 1-16
Series 2: Foundries and Type Houses, 1870-ongoing
Boxes 17-23
Series 3: Oversize, 1960-ongoing
Box 1

Collection Stack Location

3a 29, 4 19 16 (oversize)

Accruals

The Newberry continues to add materials to this collection on a regular basis.

Related Materials

For more type specimen examples see Robert Hunter Middleton papers (Wing Modern MS Middleton) and Douglas C. McMurtrie papers (Wing Modern MS McMu)

Processed by

Amanda Schriver and Lindsey O'Brien, 2014.

Acknowledgements

This inventory was created with the generous support of the Council on Library and Information Services, which is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Title
Inventory of the Type specimen sheets and booklets, 1870-ongoing
Status
Completed
Author
Finding aid prepared by Amanda Schriver and Lindsey O'Brien.
Date
©2014.
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Revision Statements

  • 7/23/2015: Revisions, additions, and updates were made.

Repository Details

Part of the The Newberry Library - Modern Manuscripts and Archives Repository

Contact:
60 West Walton Street
Chicago Illinois 60610 United States
312-255-3512