Original drawing of Gill Sans c.1926
Last year I had the opportunity to spend some time at St. Brides typographic library in Clerkenwell, near Fleet Street, the historic birthplace of printing on London.
Nigel Roche, the Librarian, took us through Eric Gill’s original drawing of Gill Sans (pictured). The paper has discoloured over time making the corrections to the glyphs very clear. The grid is still visible together with Eric Gill’s signature. It’s fascinating to see how the design evolved.
Apart from proportional changes (compared to the modern Monotype version overlaid), major design changes can be seen. The tail of the ‘a’ is straight in the drawing, and most of the vertical terminals are angled, most pronounced in the p and q.
Thanks to: St. Bride Library, Bride Lane, Fleet Street, London EC4Y 8EE and Nigel Roche.