#letter design

King Kong typography design ☆☆☆

Typography Tuesday

This week we present a few plates from the portfolio Manuscript & Inscription Letters for Schools & Classes & for the Use of Craftsmen by Edward Johnston (1872-1944) and Eric Gill (1882-1940), two of the most celebrated and influential calligraphers and type designers of the early 20th century. Originally published in 1909, our copy is the fifth printing of 1922 published in London by John Hogg. It was intended as a working supplement to Johnston's highly influential 1906 work Writing & Illuminating & Lettering, also published by John Hogg.

Gill is the English sculptor, stonecutter, type designer, and printmaker most noted for his Gill Sans typeface and the proprietary typeface he designed for the Golden Cockerel Press. This publication appears to be Gill’s first. Johnston, remembered most popularly for his type design for the London Underground, is arguably the most influential calligrapher of the 20th century. Among his students who later became well-known in their own right were Anna Simons, Graily Hewitt, T. J. Cobden-Sanderson, Percy Smith, Florence Kingsford, Dorothy Bishop Mahoney, and of course, Eric Gill. Johnston taught at the Royal College of Art in London from 1901 until his death. Johnston’s student Irene Wellington succeeded him at the Royal College of Art in 1944, and through that position she in turn influenced another generation of calligraphers and illuminators.

Click or tap on the images for captions.

View more of our posts on Edward Johnston.

View more of our posts on Eric Gill.