The Typefaces of W.A. Dwiggins | Hacker News Reader

The Typefaces of W.A. Dwiggins

atlasobscura.com

155 pointsartsandsci25 comments

Reading many of the descriptions of the types without supporting pictures of each is very teasing. I found some examples (mostly via wikipedia):

Metro: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/Me...

Electra: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/El...

Caledonia: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/3b/91/30/3b91...

Initials: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d8/Dw...

This page could also be of use: https://fontsinuse.com/type_designers/225/william-addison-dw...

That page is super useful. Thanks.

Does anyone know where to find the "Aldine cursive" font that's pictured in the article? I love the look of it.

I do too. Unfortunately per the article, it was an internal experiment at Underwood and never released, even in physical form.

By the way, if anyone else has the thought to use 'WhatTheFont' to identify a similar font based on the sample image...don't waste your time. Useless results.

This trick still works in Google, and it's especially useful for finding fonts: intitle:index.of Aldine cursive

First result looks promising.

None of the links that come up in a SERP in my browser look at all relevant. There are many places where the words “Aldine” and “cursive” might both come up in a page. The word Aldine comes from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldus_Manutius and his press https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldine_Press, and just refers to a general style of typeface.

Aldine typefaces are sometimes called Garalde (a portmanteau of Garamond and Aldus). So it's a classification: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vox-ATypI_classification#Garal...

As far as cursive typewriter fonts go, maybe you want something like this? https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/zephyris/marista/regular/

Yes, in Italian (though not anymore used much if not by typographers and similar) "aldino" is a synonym of "italico" (italic which is rarely used in Italian) and of "corsivo" (cursive) that is the actual common name or attribute of any right inclined font, just like italic is in English.

>Manutius' type rapidly became very popular in its own day and was widely (and inaccurately) imitated. The Venetian Senate gave Aldus exclusive right to its use, a patent confirmed by three successive Popes, but it was widely counterfeited as early as 1502. Griffo, who had left Venice in a business dispute, cut a version for printer Girolamo Soncino, and other copies appeared in Italy and in Lyons. The Italians called the character Aldino, while others called it Italic. Italics spread rapidly; historian Hendrik Vervliet dates the first production of italics in Paris to 1512. It was - curiously enough - given a sort of patent in 1502

You might like Operator, by Hoefler & Co. [0] or Cartograph by Connary Fagen [1]. Both have monospace options with some cursive elements in the oblique cuts. Nothing as extreme as what's pictured, however.

0. https://www.typography.com/blog/introducing-operator 1. http://connary.com/cartograph.html

Aldine Cursive reminded me immediately of Operator's monospaced italic font.

I quite like the look of Operator. But seeing Italic font used in code (via Atom) with cursive was quite jarring at first. Not really my style but it's unique.

I love the design of that Cartograph landing page.

The way it's monospace without being glaringly so is quite impressive.

I found this: https://www.typemag.org/home/2017/3/29/bruce-kennet-dwiggins... to fill in some gaps in the article.

Thought the same thing. It's beautiful.

Agreed, I'd love to use this in my editor. I use Fantasque Sans Mono[1] now, and it's italics have a little of the same feel.

[1]https://fontlibrary.org/en/font/fantasque-sans-mono

It's already what I'm using everyday at work and at home.

Fantasque has been a favorite of mine for a long time. It's playful, but not a novelty font, and very readable in my opinion.

You may also enjoy Matthew Butterick’s Triplicate, which has true italics.

http://practicaltypography.com/triplicate.html

I would love to use this in my IDE. I know it's odd to say enthusiastic things about a font, but that "y" completely tickles me.

It's like a more extreme and beautiful version of my favoured programming font monofur

Wow, I thought he had some cool typefaces, but I really hated this one. It is so uneven, so many different angles on serifs and things. The o sticks out so much -- it doesn't even look italic.

Its funny, I thought this article might be about Dwiggins losing his work in a fire. When he was working with the Village Press, they moved from Massachusetts to New York City. The office was destroyed in a fire on Jan. 10, 1908. Obviously,"Graphic artists" (I think he invented the term) didn't back up to the "cloud" in those days; everything was physical. His also famous mentor/collaborator, Fred Goudy, lost work in both that fire, and another in 1936. The article doesn't mention the fire, but details like this explain how extremely high quality projects didn't survive, or didn't re-emerge until the digital revivals.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/34564322@N03/15630456883

WAD was also an astonishing and whimsical puppeteer. He ran a puppet theatre for his friends on Boston's South Shore for many years, and documented it in a large, beautifully designed and illustrated book. Many of his puppets are held by the Boston Public Library's rare book collection and were displayed outside the entrance to the rare book room. They provide rare insight to a remarkable man.

Really interesting piece, thanks for posting this

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