American Type Founders

Annual Reports (1894-1907, fragments to 1920)

This is an imperfectly scanned copy, with many missing pages and years, and material at times obliterated by the poor scanning. The 1894-1907 reports are complete, save for some pages partially obliterated by poor scanning of tipped-in mterial. The 1908 report has its cover only. The 1909-1911 reports are missing entirely. The 1912 report has its cover only. The 1913-1915 reports are missing entirely. The 1916 report is missing all save the first page. The 1917 report is missing its first three pages. The 1918 report is missing all save the first page. The 1919 report is missing entirely, save for one page of financials mis-filed after the 1920 report. The 1920 report is missing its first three pages. It also includes clippings of contemporary Dow, Jones & Co. "Special News Bulletins," sometimes quite rude, related to ATF's reports. These annual reports are brief and not really very satisfactory as annual reports. They are, however, of value in dating both the closing of plants in the original amalgamation and the acquisition of typefoundries later.

This volume has been scanned from the Princeton University copy and is available online at The Hathi Trust; the image at left links to its presentation there. Here, for convenience, is a local copy assembled from the Hathi Trust page images (163 Megabytes): atf-annual-reports-1894-1919-hathi-njp-32101065324723.pdf

Photographic Views... (before 1935; 2002)

Rehak, Theo, David Peat, Rich Hopkins, eds. Photographic Views of Central Plant: American Type Founders Company, Jersey City, New Jersey . (American Typecasting Fellowship, 2002.)

This is a facsimile of a booklet published by American Type Founders, the original of which Theo Rehak "discovered ... carelessly discarded". This edition was prepared with additional material by Rich Hopkins and Theo Rehak and published in 2002 as a joint keepsake for the 2002 American Typecastng Fellowship conference (Provo, UT) and the September 2002 meeting of The Typophiles. It shows the Jersey City, NJ plant and thus must date from before 1935, by which time ATF had moved to its Elizabeth, NJ plant.

This book is not reprinted here. As of 2011 copies are still available from David Peat.

Jones. [Newcomen Lecture] (1948)

Jones, Thomas Roy. Printing in America - and American Type Founders. (NY: The Newcomen Society of England, American Branch, 1948.) This lecture, presented as a glowing progress report, charts the first, deliberate, stages of the destruction of ATF by its management and owners. It's enough to put one off big corporate rhetoric.

He can't spell Binny's name correctly, either.

Rehak. The Fall of ATF. (2004)

Rehak, Theo. The Fall of ATF: A Serio-Comedic Tragedy. [Printed privately], 2004.

This text is in copyright and therefore is not reprinted here.

Walters. The Sale of the Century. (1994)

Walters, Gregory Jackson. Auction of the Century: The Sale of the American Type Founders Company . "Square Text" No. 9 (Autumn, 1994). Clinton, MI: Square Text Press [Phillip Driscoll], 1994. This is a firsthand account of the horrifying, deeply depressing auction which ended ATF.

This text is in copyright and therefore is not reprinted here.

1892. Popular Designs for Artistic Printers. [Central & Boston]

Popular Designs for Artistic Printers. ([unspecified]: American Type Founders Company, 1892.) Subtitle: "Selecting from the novelties manufactured by the Central Type Foundry, of St. Louis, and Boston Type Foundry, of Boston."

This volume has been digitized by Google Books from the University of Michigan copy. The icon at left links to a version of this digitization that I assembled from the higher-resolution page scans available from The Hathi Trust and then uploaded to The Internet Archive. The Hathi Trust version may be accessed directly at: http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015063770823. Here is a local copy of the Google Books digitization as Google presents it, which is lower-resolution (but only 3.8 Megabytes): atf-1892-google-mich--popular-designs-for-artistic-printers.pdf. Regrettably, this is not a good scan of the book in either version.

1893. Catalogue. [Cleveland]

Catalogue and Price List of Type and Material. (Cleveland, OH: American Type Founders Company [Cleveland Type Foundry branch], 1893.)

This volume has been digitized by Google Books from the University of Michigan copy. The icon at left links to a version of this digitization that I assembled from the higher-resolution page scans available from The Hathi Trust and then uploaded to The Internet Archive. The Hathi Trust version may be accessed directly at: http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015035068512. Here is a local copy of the Google Books digitization as Google presents it, which is lower-resolution (but only 12 Megabytes): cleveland-type-foundry-1893-google---Catalogue_and_Price_List_of_Type_and_Mat.pdf.

1895. Catalogue and Book of Specimens. [Cleveland]

Catalogue and Book of Specimens of Type Faces and Printing Material and Machinery . (Cleveland, OH: American Type Founders' Company [Cleveland Type Foundry branch], 1895.)

A digital version of this book, including the original page scans, is available at The Internet Archive; the link at left goes there. Here are local copies of the PDF version and the (nicer) DjVu version.

1896. Pacific Coast Blue Book [SF]

Pacific Coast Blue Book - Containing Specimens of Type.. Printing Machinery [and] Printing Material... . (San Francisco, CA: American Type Founders' Company, 1896.)

A digital version of this book, including the original page scans, is available at The Internet Archive; the link at left goes there. Here are local copies of the PDF version and the (nicer) DjVu version.

1897. Specimens of Printing Types. [NY]

Specimens of Printing Types. (New York: American Type Founders Company, 1897.) Type, ornaments, borders, and cuts only (no machinery).

A digital version of this book, including the original page scans, is available at The Internet Archive; the link at left goes there. Here are local copies of the PDF version and the (nicer) DjVu version.

1897. Handy Specimen Book. [Buffalo]

Handy Specimen Book[:] Specimens of Type[,] Borders & Ornaments[,] Brass Rule, Wood Type, etc. [and] Catalogue of Printing Machinery and Materials, Wood Goods, etc. . (Buffalo: American Type Founders Company, 1897.)

A digital version of this book, including the original page scans, is available at The Internet Archive; the link at left goes there. Here are local copies of the PDF version and the (nicer) DjVu version.

1898. Desk Book

Desk Book: Specimens of Type[,] Borders & Ornaments[,] Brass Rule & Electrotypes [and] Catalogue of Printing Machinery and Materials, Wood Goods, etc. . ([no location specified]: American Type Founders Company, 1898.)

This volume has been digitized by Google Books from the New York Public Library copy. The icon at left links to a version of this digitization that I assembled from the higher-resolution page scans available from The Hathi Trust and then uploaded to The Internet Archive. The Hathi Trust version may be accessed directly at: http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433006348316. Here is a local copy of the Google Books digitization as Google presents it, which is lower-resolution (64 Megabytes): atf-1898-google-nypl--desk-book-specimens.pdf.

1900. Desk Book

Desk Book of Type Specimens[,] Borders[,] Ornaments[,] Brass Rule & Cuts . ([no location specified]: American Type Founders Company, 1900.) This has been digitized by Google Books from the Univ. of Michigan copy, but as of early 2011 is not yet available from Google Books. It is, however, available from The Hathi Trust in a version which presents the individual page scans: http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015001988578 The icon at left here links to a version of this digitization that I assembled from the higher-resolution page scans available from The Hathi Trust and then uploaded to The Internet Archive.

1903. Borders/Ornaments/Materials

Specimens of Borders and Ornaments, Cuts and Brass Rules and Illustrated Catalogue and Price List of Printing Material and Printers' Supplies . ([not stated]: American Type Founders Company, 1903.) Type, ornaments, borders, and cuts only (no machinery).

A digital version of this book, including the original page scans, is available at The Internet Archive; the link at left goes there. Here are local copies of the PDF version and the (nicer) DjVu version.

1906. American Line Type Book

American Line Type Book[,] Borders, Ornaments [and] Price List [of] Printing Material and Machinery . ([Jersey City, NJ]: American Type Founders Company, 1906.) The "American Line" referred to in the title is the American Lining System of typeface alignment.

A digital version of this book, including the original page scans, is available at The Internet Archive; the link at left goes there. Here are local copies of the PDF version and the (nicer) DjVu version.

This book has also been digitized by Google Books. The Google Books version, additionally, has been uploaded to The Internet Archive. The Internet Archive's own digitization (the one linked and reproduced here) is of higher quality. For the sake of completeness, though, here is a local copy of the Google Books version: atf-1906-google---American_Line_Type_Book.pdf.

1907. Brass Type

Specimens and Price List of Brass Type[,] Borders, Ornaments and Bras Rule for the Use of Bookbinders, Boxmakers and Advertising Manufacturers . (Jersey City, NJ: American Type Founders Company, 1907.)

Digitized by Google Books (q.v.) The link here is to a local copy of the Google Books digitization. The Google Books version, additionally, has been uploaded to The Internet Archive.

1909. Supplement

Supplement to the American Line Type Book[:] Borders and Ornaments . ([no location given]: American Type Founders Company, 1909.) Includes the first showing of Century Oldstyle.

This volume has been digitized by Google Books from the University of Michigan copy. The icon at left links to a version of this digitization that I assembled from the higher-resolution page scans available from The Hathi Trust and then uploaded to The Internet Archive. The Hathi Trust version may be accessed directly at: http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015033591697

Note that there may be some confusion in the Hathi Trust catalog between the Supplement (of 1909) and the Supplement No. 2 (of 1911). This is a 1909 Supplement, identified as such on its title page and bearing the Hathi Trust identification code: mdp.39015033591697

1911. Supplement No. 2 (UM Copy)

Supplement No. 2 to the American Line Type Book. ([no location given]: American Type Founders Company, 1911.)

This volume has been digitized by Google Books from the University of Michigan copy. The icon at left links to a version of this digitization that I assembled from the higher-resolution page scans available from The Hathi Trust and then uploaded to The Internet Archive. The Hathi Trust version may be accessed directly at: http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015036947730

Note that there may be some confusion in the Hathi Trust catalog between the Supplement (of 1909) and the Supplement No. 2 (of 1911). This is a 1911 Supplement No. 2, identified as such on its title page and bearing the Hathi Trust identification code: mdp.39015036947730

1911. Supplement No. 2 (NYPL Copy)

Supplement No. 2 to the American Line Type Book. ([no location given]: American Type Founders Company, 1911.)

This volume has been digitized by Google Books from the New York Public Library copy. The icon at left links to a version of this digitization that I assembled from the higher-resolution page scans available from The Hathi Trust and then uploaded to The Internet Archive. The Hathi Trust version may be accessed directly at: http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433006350437

1912. Specimen Book of Type Styles

American Specimen Book of Type Styles [and] Complete Catalogue of Printing Machinery and Printing Supplies . (Jersey City, NJ: American Type Founders Company, 1912.)

A digital version of this book, including the original page scans, is available at The Internet Archive; the link at left goes there. Here are local copies of the PDF version and the (nicer) DjVu version.

1917. American Specimen Book of Type Styles, Supplement

Supplementary Catalogue [of] New Type Faces[,] Borders[,] Ornaments [and] Brass Rule Produced by This Company Since the Publication of the American Specimen Book of Type Styles, 1912 . ([Jersey City, NJ]: American Type Founders Company, 1917.)

A digital version of this book, including the original page scans, is available at The Internet Archive; the link at left goes there. Here are local copies of the PDF version and the (nicer) DjVu version.

This book has also been digitized by Google Books. The Google Books version, additionally, has been uploaded to The Internet Archive. The Internet Archive's own digitization (the one linked and reproduced here) is of higher quality. For the sake of completeness, here is a local copy of the Google Books digitization: atf-1917-google-mich--American_specimen_book_of_type_styles--supplement.pdf

1923. Specimen Book and Catalog.

[NOT FINISHED] This is one of the finest type specimen books ever issued. It was also the last comprehensive specimen book put out by ATF. I'm (very, very) slowly digitizing my own copy (on a "when I get a chance" basis). Right now (March 2011) I have done only the Cheltenham family (pp. 96-129). More will follow here when I have it done.

This book has been scanned as a part of the Carnegie-Mellon University "Million Books" project, and a copy of this digitization is at The Internet Archive. This is actually a very poor digitization. (Although the fault is not in the format (DjVu, which is a lovely format) as one review at The Internet Archive suggests, but in the scanning itself. The original TIFF files seem to have been created in a manner more appropriate for optical character recognition than preserving graphic art.) Still, any edition is worth noting. It is at: http://www.archive.org/details/SpecimenBookAndCatalogue1923 It is also online directly at the Million Books project's Universal Digital Library (search on "Specimen Book and Catalog").

Book of American Types (1934)

Book of American Types: ATF Standard Faces. (Jersey City, NJ: American Type Founders Sales Corporation, 1934.) This volume has been scanned from the University of Michigan copy and is available online at The Hathi Trust ( http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015061016286). I have assembled a copy of this from the page scans available via the Hathi Trust (rendering JPEG2000 images as PNGs, converting TIFF images to PNGs, and wrapping the whole in a container PDF) and uploaded this version to The Internet Archive (archive.org). The image at left links to its presentation there.

The Book of American Types (1941)

A Supplement to the Book of American Types (1941)

A Supplement To the Book of American Types. This appeared in a pocket inside at least some copies of the 1941 edition of The Book of American Types .

Thanks are due to Jenny Addison, Prop. of Lock and Key Press, for making this available.

[Notice of Discontinued Faces]

This was pasted on the front flyleaf of a copy of The Book of American Types (1941) . It announces, without details (and indeed without any suggestion that the customer need bother with details) a reduction in faces offered with respect to The Book of American Types (probably this 1941 edition), the Handy Index of American Types and the ATF Price List No. 18.

Thanks are due to Jenny Addison, Prop. of Lock and Key Press, for making this available.

Ornaments Typecast by ATF (1944, covers only)

Regrettably, I have only the covers of this publication.

1950 Descriptive Price List

Descriptive Price List. (January, 1950). Printing code: "50M150LC".

1950 ATF Handypacks

ATF Handypacks. Specimen undated, but enclosed order forms coded "22M250LC", for a printing date of February, 1950.

[1951 Price List Cover Tag]

This is a sheet which presumably would have been folded over the cover of the ATF 1951 Descriptive Pricee List. It contains on its back "Adjusted Prices for Packages of Caps, Lowercase and Figures" effective January 1, 1951. Naturally, it was found paperclipped not to that but to an unrelated document. Printing code: 10M652LC.

Thanks are due to Jenny Addison, Prop. of Lock and Key Press, for making this available.

1953. Descriptive Index

Descriptive Index, ATF Foundry Type. September, 1953. Printing code: 50M953LC. A one-line specimen booklet of all types available from stock, with useful information. ATF fonting schemes. Nice diagram of "the Anatomy of ATF Type."

Thanks are due to Jenny Addison, Prop. of Lock and Key Press, for making this available.

Specimen Sections [folder cover]

Specimen Sections of ATF Leading Type Faces. This is a folder cover intended to contain separately printed specimen "sections" (stapled gatherings or coverless booklets). This particular copy contained, as scanned, [Section A] Script and Semiscript Faces (see below) . It also might have contained at least [Section B] Plain Display Gothics and [Section C] Spartan Family (both digitized below from a different source). I had to "stitch" this cover together from two scans; the join is rather obvious, I fear.

Thanks are due to Jenny Addison, Prop. of Lock and Key Press, for making this available.

[Section A] Script and Semiscript Faces

This is a specimen "section" (stapled gathering or coverless booklet) intended to be collected in the folder "Specimen Sections of ATF Leading Type Faces" (see above).

Thanks are due to Jenny Addison, Prop. of Lock and Key Press, for making this available.

[Section B] Plain Display Gothics

This is a specimen "section" (stapled gathering or coverless booklet) intended to be collected in the folder "Specimen Sections of ATF Leading Type Faces" (see above).

[Section C] 1953. Spartan Family

This is a specimen "section" (stapled gathering or coverless booklet) intended to be collected in the folder "Specimen Sections of ATF Leading Type Faces" (see above). Printing code: 60M1053SP. Spartan was the Mergenthaler Linotype and ATF equivalent to Futura. McGrew indicates that Mergenthaler announced it in 1939 and that, by arrangement, ATF cut the first members of the ATF Spartan family in 1941. The present specimen is coded with a publication date of October 1953. This fits with the fact that it has neither Spartan Medium Condensed (1953) nor Spartan Bold (1955).

Spartan Extra Black [fragment]

I have no idea what this came from. It looks to be the back cover of a book, booklet,or brochure. What I have is what was saved from the trash. I'm filing it here simply to put it near ATF's Spartan Family specimen.

Thanks are due to Jenny Addison, Prop. of Lock and Key Press, for making this available. Even saving small things is worthwhile.

[Section J] Miscellaneous and Typewriter Faces

This is a specimen "section" (stapled gathering or coverless booklet). It is similar in form to the sections collected in "Specimen Sections of ATF Leading Type Faces" (see above), but its cover is typographically distinct from those. I do not yet know if section J of that series is equivalent to this section J. This particular document came from a binder of specimens and advertising material from the Foster ATF Type Sales Company (the material in which generally dates to 1955-1956).

1954. Notice of Discontinued Faces

"Important Notice" of faces to be discontinued as of 1954-07-31. Also "Selling Prices of Foundry Type" effective 1954-03-01.

Thanks are due to Jenny Addison, Prop. of Lock and Key Press, for making this available.

1955 Descriptive Index (TY-111)

Type Faces: Descriptive Index and Price List of ATF Foundry Products . (No date, but the "155LC" in the printing code probably means January 1955.) The original of this particular copy was distributed by the Graphic Arts Equipment Company, Chicago.

Thanks are due to Jenny Addison, Prop. of Lock and Key Press, for making this available.

1955 Descriptive Index (TY-111) [Perfection]

Type Faces: Descriptive Index and Price List of ATF Foundry Products . The original of this particular copy was distributed by Perfection Type, Inc., Minneapolis. Only the back cover of this copy is reproduced here; it is otherwise identical to the one shown above.

Thanks are due to Sky Shipley of Skyline Type Foundry for making this available.

1955 Typographic Accessories (TY-112)

ATF Typographic Accessories. (No date, but the "255LC" in the printing code probably means Feburary 1955.)

Thanks are due to Jenny Addison, Prop. of Lock and Key Press, for making this available.

[1956 price increase]

This is a different copy of ATF Typographic Accessories (see above) with a sticker on its cover announcing a price increase effective April 1, 1956. Only the cover is reproduced here.

1956. Handy Type Index (TY-131)

Handy Type Index and Price List. Printing code: TY-131 40M656LC. Probably printed June 1956. This particular copy has with it an insert which contains on one side an ATF "Handy Order Blank, ATF form TY-134 50M756LC, and on the other side an advertisement for Perfection Type, Inc. (Minneapolis) in their capacity as an authorized ATF type dealer. (N.b., a fold-over tab in this insert had glued itself shut with age and since it could not be opened without risk of damage to the original I've left it closed.)

Thanks are due to Sky Shipley of Skyline Type Foundry for making this available.

1957. Typographic Accessories (TY-137)

ATF Typographic Accessories: Specimen Catalog and Price List. (Elizabeth, NJ: American Type Founders Company, June 1957.) "TY-137 25M 657LC"

N.B. This booklet is both explicitly dated "June 1957" and coded "657LC", suggesting that "657" does in fact encode the month and year. This is useful in provisionally dating other ATF publications.

[1959 price increase]

This is a different copy of Handy Type Index [TY-131 40M656LC] (see above) with a notice taped to it of a price increase effective 1959-01-01. Only the cover is reproduced here.

Thanks are due to Jenny Addison, Prop. of Lock and Key Press, for making this available.

1960. Handy Type Index (TY-138)

Handy Type Index and Price List. (Elizabeth, NJ: American Type Founders, 1960.) Printing code: TY-138 40M160LC. Dated January, 1960. The cover at first appears to be identical to TY-131, but note the elimination of the third color.

1961. Typographic Accessories (TY-142)

ATF Typographic Accessories: Specimen Catalog and Price List. (Elizabeth, NJ: American Type Founders Company, June 1961.) "TY-142 40M661LC." Dated June 1961.

1966. Handy Type Index (TY-154)

Handy Type Index. (Elizabeth, NJ: American Type Founders, 1966.) Printing code: TY-154 EP20M 11-66. Includes tipped-in specimen announcing Americana; shown at 36 point, available to 72 point.

Foundry Univers (1968)

Foundry Univers, "Created and cast by Deberny et Peignot, Paris for ATF Type Division." (Elizabeth, NJ: American Type Founders Company, 1968.) Printing code: IP-5M-9-68.

1969. Handy Type Index (TY-154)

Handy Type Index. (Elizabeth, NJ: American Type Founders, 1969.) Printing code: TY-154 EP10M 6-69.

1976. Handy Type Index (Form 1010 (Rev.))

Handy Type Index. (Elizabeth, NJ: American Type Founders, 1976.) Printing code: Form 1010 (Rev.) 976. By 1976 the Type Index was down to 14 pages.

1976. Supplement to Handy Type Index

Supplement to Handy Type Index. (Elizabeth, NJ: American Type Founders, September 1976.)

Fragments of an Unidentified Catalog

News Gothic Bold. Craw Modern. Caslon Antique ("temporary revival"). Univers Nos. 75 & 76.

1930. Raleigh Cursive and Raleigh Initials

Single sheet (two page) specimen. By American Type Founders Sales Corporation, Export Department. This is in poor shape, unfortunately. McGrew identifies Raleigh Cursive (ATF No. 531) as a design by Willard T. Sniffen (drawn 1929, released 1930) and Raleigh Initials as "by the same artist at about the same time." He says that sizes over 36 point were discontinued "in the late 1940s."

Shown used with Bernhard Booklet, Stymie Light, 2 Point Brass Rule No. 1072, and 10 Point Modernistic Border No. 78.

1937. Bernhard Modern

Four page specimen. According to McGrew, Bernhard Modern in roman and italic was released in 1937.

1948. Contact Bold Condensed

Single sheet specimen. According to McGrew, Contact Bold Condensed was released in 1948. Printing code T372-15M1048VC.

Thanks are due to Jenny Addison, Prop. of Lock and Key Press, for making this available.

1952. Dom Casual

Four page specimen announcing the face. According to McGrew, Dom Casual was cut by ATF in 1952 after an earlier version for phototypesetting.

1956. Murray Hill

Four page specimen announcing the face. According to McGrew, Murray Hill was released circa 1956. This fits well with the source of this present document, which was in a folder of literature from the Foster ATF Type Sales Co. which also included copies of TY-112 (Feb. 1955, but with a price increase sticker on the cover effective April 1, 1956) and TY-131 (June 1956).

1956. Hand Planed Rules

The Finest Quality Hand Planed Rules (Elizabeth, NJ: American Type Founders Company, ca. 1956.) The wording in this specimen suggests that it was published by ATF for the benefit of their authorized type dealers. This particular example was distributed by the Foster ATF Type Sales Company. The link here is "up and over" to the digitization of this work in the Marshall Trading Notebook.

Type[s] of the Month (Oct. 1958)

News Gothic Bold and Verona. Offer expires Oct. 20, 1958.

No. 1. Abbott (Abbott Oldstyle)

1901. John F. Cumming. {Saxe-Loy, 58} Listed as "Abbott Oldstyle" in 6-72pt by {McGrew, 3}