Typography Tuesday
SHADED FONTS
Shaded fonts go by a number of other monikers, including “shadowed,” “inline,” and “outline.” These are fonts where the interior of the letter is the same color as the background and the letter is formed in outline with a thin line on one side and thicker line on the other, creating a shadowed effect that suggests three-dimensionality. The fonts displayed here from Alphabets: A Manual of Letter Design, with Complete Alphabets of Varied Styles of Lettering by the American type designer and printing historian Douglas C. McMurtrie, published in Pelham, New York by Bridgman Publishers in 1926. The fonts are:
Narcissus, designed in 1921 by Walter Tiemann for the Klingspor Foundry, and based on a set of ornamental inline capitals first cut by Simon Pierre Fournier about 1745.
Mercure (we don’t have design or production information on this font).
Vanity Fair, designed by McMurtrie himself in 1923 and cast by Continental Type Founders for Condé Nast Press.
Greco Adornado, released by Richard Gans Foundry in 1924.
McMurtrie Title, also designed by McMurtrie for Condé Nast Press, and based on a specimen designed by Belgian type founder Jacques-François Rosart from 1768.
Douglas C. McMurtrie (1888-1944) held a number of important posts in his short lifetime, including printing manager for the Columbia University Printing Office, the Arbor Press, and Condé Nast Press; editor of the prestigious Ars Typographica magazine; typographic director of the Cuneo Press; director of advertising and typography at Ludlow Typograph Company; and head of the WPA’s American Imprints Inventory.
View other fonts from this publication.
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