Bell (typeface)

Not to be confused with the sans-serif typefaces Bell Gothic and Bell Centennial developed for AT&T, which are not related.
CategorySerif
ClassificationTransitional[1]
Designer(s)Richard Austin
FoundryBritish Letter Foundry

Bell is the name given to a serif typeface designed and cut in 1788 by the punchcutter Richard Austin for the British Letter Foundry, operated by publisher John Bell, and revived several times since.[2][3]

The Bell typeface has a precise appearance that features stylish contrasts between thick and thin strokes and ball terminals on many letters; it was influenced by the radical Didone styles of type becoming popular on the continent, in particular the work of the Didot family. However, it is less severe in design, somewhat similar to the earlier Baskerville and slightly later Bulmer typefaces.[4][5][6] The figures are distinctive for being at fixed height, or lining, at approximately three-quarter the height of the capitals, in contrast to earlier numerals of variable height.[a] The figures have a number of elaborate details reminiscent of the steely calligraphy of the period, and the slight inclination of some of them led Walter Tracy to suggest that Austin was following a written example.[7] In italic, like Baskerville, several letters have flourishes.[b]

After a short initial period of popularity, the face fell into disuse in Britain and Austin's later typefaces are quite different in style, although copies in the United States became popular around the early twentieth century with artisan printers. Its history was studied by the historian Stanley Morison in the late 1920s and early 1930s, whose employer, the Monotype Corporation, created a 1931 revival, particularly popular for printing on high-quality paper. Morison praised Austin for his "exceptional technical gift" and described his Bell typeface as "surpassing all previous English and continental type-cutting in precision [and maintaining] independence equally against Bodoni and Baskerville".[8]

Besides the digitisation of the Bell face by Monotype, an alternative professional adaptation of the Austin face in optical sizes by Paul Barnes and others under the name of "Austin" is available sold by Commercial Type.[9] As of 2017, it is used by The Daily Telegraph among others.[10][11][12] Austin's original matrices came into the possession of Stephenson Blake, and are now in the Type Museum collection in London.

  1. ^ a b Johnston, Alastair (2014). Transitional Faces: The Lives & Work of Richard Austin, type-cutter, and Richard Turner Austin, wood-engraver. Berkeley: Poltroon Press. ISBN 978-0918395320. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  2. ^ Kalman A. Burnim; Philip H. Highfill (1998). John Bell, Patron of British Theatrical Portraiture: A Catalog of the Theatrical Portraits in His Editions of Bell's Shakespeare and Bell's British Theatre. SIU Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-8093-2123-0.
  3. ^ Mosley, James (1796). A Specimen of Printing Types & Various Ornaments 1796: Reproduced Together with the Sale Catalogue of the British Letter-Foundry 1797. Printing Historical Society. pp. 5–12. ISBN 9780900003103.
  4. ^ Johnson, Alfred F. (1930). "The Evolution of the Modern-Face Roman". The Library. s4-XI (3): 353–377. doi:10.1093/library/s4-XI.3.353.
  5. ^ Neil Macmillan (2006). An A-Z of Type Designers. Yale University Press. pp. 38–9. ISBN 0-300-11151-7.
  6. ^ Stanley Morison (1 October 2009). The English Newspaper, 1622-1932: An Account of the Physical Development of Journals Printed in London. Cambridge University Press. pp. 185–201. ISBN 978-0-521-12269-6.
  7. ^ Tracy, Walter. Letters of Credit. p. 67.
  8. ^ Stanley Morison (19 November 2009). John Bell, 1745-1831: A Memoir. Cambridge University Press. pp. 15–25. ISBN 978-0-521-14314-1.
  9. ^ "Austin". Commercial Type. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  10. ^ Barnes, Paul. "New typefaces for The Daily Telegraph". Commercial Type. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  11. ^ Barnes, Paul. "New release: Austin News by Paul Barnes". Commercial Type. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  12. ^ Schwartz, Christian. "Austin". Schwartzco. Retrieved 8 February 2017.


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