Frederic W. Goudy

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1. Introductory Notes

I have placed Goudy within this section of Letterform Designers because although Goudy was one of the few during the era of industrial metal typemaking who came to perform all aspects of it himself, ultimately he gave priority to the artist over the craftsman.

See also:

2. Pictures of Goudy

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(From {Leslie 1937}.)

3. Writing By Goudy

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"Notes on Letter Design" (1911)

Goudy, Frederic W. "Notes on Letter Design." The Graphic Arts. Vol. 1, No. 5 (May, 1911): 361-368. The icon at left links to a PDF extracted from the Google Books scan of the University of Michigan copy. It is probably complete, but it is confusing given the way in which it was scanned and then post-processed so as to eliminate all traces of its original physicality.

The first page of this article (p. 361) is set in, and Goudy claims is the first showing of, Kennerley.

In addition to more or less polemical points about the need for artistic design in types, presents some good information on his early types and personal history.

He also makes an interesting distinction between "finish" in design (a potentially bad quality; overfinishing) and the "mechanical accuracy in adjustment of line, set, etc., of the type body itself, these things are usually all that could be wished." (362) This remark is interesting in light of Goudy's own later practice in establishing line, set, and horizontal alignment (where I believe now that he first just "eyeballed" it on his drawings and then later compensated "hot" on the caster).

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Specimen and Price List (1915)

A Note on Letter Design & the Village Types: A Specimen and Price List of Kennerley, Kennerley Italic, & Forum Title . (Queens, NY: The Village Press and Letter Foundery, 1915). 12 pages.

This has been digitized by Google from an unknown source, but even though it is clearly public domain they have not released it for viewing.

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"Recollections of N.T.A.M." (1937)

Goudy, Frederic W. "Recollections of N. T. A. M." [Norman T. A. Munder] Production Manager, Vol. 3, No. 12, Whole No. 36 (August, 1937); [unpaginated]. This number of the journal Production Manager was dedicated to Norman T. A. Munder and contained two good articles on Munder (Goudy's and "Norman T. A. Munder: A Brief Sketch of the Career of a Famous Baltimore Printer" by Robert L. Leslie.) It also contains portraits of Munder, Cleland, Bradley, and Goudy. The icon at left links to PDF of Goudy's article, extracted from the Google Books digitization of the Univ. of Michigan copy. Google has mis-dated this as 1915, which is a good thing since had the realized it was 1937 they probably wouldn't have released it (it is, nevertheless, in the public domain).

It contains a brief account of the origins of Kennerley, including a description of the Goudys' tiny Brooklyn apartment.

4. Goudy's Types

5. Notes and References

{Leslie 1937} Robert L. Leslie, "Norman T. A. Munder: A Brief Sketch of the Career of a Famous Baltimore Printer." Production Manager, Vol. 3, No. 12, Whole No. 36 (August, 1937). The entire issue of this journal, in the PDF from the Google Books scan of the University of Michigan copy, is reprinted in the Notebook on Munder.


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