Stanley Morison

Stanley Morison
Morison drawn by Sir William Rothenstein in 1923.
Born(1889-05-06)6 May 1889
Wanstead, Essex, England
Died11 October 1967(1967-10-11) (aged 78)
London, England
Occupation(s)Typographer, printer, historian
Notable workTimes New Roman

Stanley Arthur Morison[1] (6 May 1889 – 11 October 1967) was a British typographer, printing executive and historian of printing.[2][3][4] Largely self-educated, he promoted higher standards in printing and an awareness of the best printing and typefaces of the past.[5][6][7]

From the 1920s Morison became an influential adviser to the British Monotype Corporation, advising them on type design. His strong aesthetic sense was a force within the company, which starting shortly before his joining became increasingly known for commissioning popular, historically influenced designs that revived some of the best typefaces of the past, with particular attention to the middle period of printing from the Renaissance to the late eighteenth century, and creating and licensing several new type designs that would become popular.[8][9][10][11] Original typefaces commissioned under Morison's involvement included Times New Roman, Gill Sans and Perpetua, while revivals of older designs included Bembo, Ehrhardt and Bell.[12] Times New Roman, the development of which Morison led to the point that he felt he could consider it his own design, has become one of the most used typefaces of all time. Becoming closely connected to The Times newspaper as an advisor on printing, he became part of its management and the editor of the Times Literary Supplement after the war, and late in life joined the editorial board of Encyclopædia Britannica.[13]

  1. ^ "Stanley Arthur Morison". Men Who Said No. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  2. ^ Lawson, Alexander S. "Stanley Morison: Significant Historian (obituary)". The Alexander S. Lawson Archive. Archived from the original on 27 May 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2016. During the 20th century two typographic historians have achieved notable stature and will be long remembered. The first of these, Daniel Berkeley Updike of Boston, died in 1940. The second, Stanley Morison, died at his home in London on October 11, 1967. He was 78 years of age... During the 1920s when there was slight interest in the production of new "book" types, the Monotype firm—with Morison's guidance—embarked upon a program of classic type revivals which resulted in the cutting of such faces as Garamond, Bembo, Poliphilus, Baskerville, Bell, and Fournier. These types remain in demand and are among the best of the historic revivals.
  3. ^ Morison, Stanley (1937). "Type Designs of the Past and Present, Part 3". PM: 17–81. Archived from the original on 4 September 2017. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  4. ^ Morison, Stanley (1937). "Type Designs of the Past and Present, Part 4". PM: 61–81. Archived from the original on 24 July 2021. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  5. ^ Allan Haley (15 September 1992). Typographic Milestones. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 99–108. ISBN 978-0-471-28894-7.
  6. ^ Moran, James (1968). "Stanley Morison" (PDF). Monotype Recorder. 43 (3): 28. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  7. ^ Flower, Desmond (1946). "Notes on the Present State of British Book Typography". Graphis: 366–373. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  8. ^ McKitterick, David (2004). A history of Cambridge University Press (1. publ. ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521308038.
  9. ^ "Modern". MyFonts. Monotype. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  10. ^ Shinn, Nick. "Lacunae" (PDF). Codex. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 August 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  11. ^ Badaracco, Claire (1991). "Innovative Industrial Design and Modern Public Culture: The Monotype Corporation, 1922-1932" (PDF). Business & Economic History. 20 (second series). Business History Conference: 226–233. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  12. ^ "Fonts designed by Monotype Staff". Identifont. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  13. ^ William Roger Louis (1996). Adventures with Britannia: Personalities, Politics, and Culture in Britain. I.B.Tauris. pp. 140–4. ISBN 978-1-86064-115-2.