Gill Sans

20th Centur y Type D

es igner s

Sebasti

on Carter. N

ew York 1

995. WW Norto

n

Gill SansSeb

astion Carte

r. New

York 1995. W

W Norton

02

“Gill Sans is the H

elvetica of England.”

Eric Gill d

escribed himself

on his own gr

avesto

ne as a

stone c

arver,

which em

braced

the two ac

tivities

for which

he was m

ost fam

ous, sculpture

and the c

utting o

f inscr

iptional

letterin

g. He m

ight have

added: w

ood engra

ver, fo

r he w

as a v

ersatil

e and origi

nal artis

t in

that medium, an

d his engra

vings f

or the C

ranach

Press C

anticum Cantico

rum and the Golden

Cockerel

Press Fo

ur Gospels

(both 1931) are m

agnificen

t achieve

ments of book il

lustration.

He might al

so have ad

ded: essay

ist, since

he was a

n indefatigab

le write

r on a g

reat va

riety o

f

subjects fr

om sex, politic

s, religio

n and the n

ature o

f workm

anship to art, clo

ths and typ

ogra-

phy. And he m

ight also have

added: ty

pe desig

ner, since

in Gill Sans an

d Perpetu

a he d

esigned

two of the m

ost popular

faces o

f the c

entury.

Eric Gill w

as born on 22 Fe

bruary 1882 in Brigh

ton, the s

econd ch

ild of a larg

e family.

He showed an

early

talent fo

r draw

ing, and was s

ent to art

school at

Chichester,

where the

family

had moved. At th

e age

of seven

teen his o

bvious in

terest

in letter

ing and arc

hitecture

led to

his bein

g appren

ticed to

W. H. Caroë, a

rchitec

t to the E

cclesias

tical C

ommissioners

in

Westminste

r. At th

e same ti

me he b

egan to

carve

letterin

g, encourag

ed by W. R. Leth

aby, the

principal o

f the C

entral Sch

ool of Arts and Craft

s, and ver

y rapidly b

egan to get

commissi

ons.

At the C

entral Sc

hool he atten

ded letter

ing class

es give

n by Edward

Johnston, te

n years

his

senior, a

nd was profoundly i

nfluenced by Jo

hnston’s in

tegrity

and ap

proach to

his work.

In

1902 the t

wo men share

d rooms in

Lincoln’s Inn, until

Johnston’s m

arriage

the n

ext year,

closely

followed by Gill’s

the year

after.

— Ben Archer

“Gill Sans is the H

elvetica of England.”

In 1903 he left C

aroe’s

office, where

he had neve

r been

conten

t, and bega

n his life-l

ong

career

as a se

lf-employed

craftsm

an. He was i

mmediately s

uccessfu

l, and so

on, besides

carved

work, he w

as commissi

oned by W. H

. Smith to

paint the s

ign on their

bookshop in Paris

, and

severa

l other bran

ches there

after, a

nd by Count H

arry K

essler

to draw an

d engra

ve lett

ering

for the t

itle page

s of books

published by t

he Insel

Verlag in

Leipzig.

The early

letter

ing was

drawn an

d reproduced

by the li

ne blocks

, but Gill w

as so dissa

tisfied w

ith the resu

lt that f

or

Die Odyss

ee (1910 –11) he h

ad the draw

n letter

ing by h

and.

Gill’s works

hop in Hammers

mith was proving to

o small,

and with a young fa

mily to think

of he moved

in 1907 to the S

ussex vil

lage of D

itchling. H

ere he b

egan to

carve

sculpture, th

e

medium in which some o

f his best

work was d

one. His la

rge public

commissions, s

uch as the

work for th

e BBC on broadcas

ting House

in Portland Place

, London, made h

im nationally

fa-

mous. Quite

early o

n plans were

made for him to work w

ith Maillol an

d; both came to

nothing,

for Gill w

as very

much his own man, but th

ey indicat

e the e

steem

in which he was h

eld ea

rly in

his care

er. At th

e same ti

me, his spirit

ual progre

ss led him toward

s the R

oman Catholic c

hurch,

and he and his w

ife were

receiv

ed in 1913. Shortly

after

this he w

as given

the task

of carvin

g

the Stati

ons of th

e cross i

n Westminste

r Cath

edral, co

mpleted in 1918, his fi

rst majo

r sculptural

commission, beca

use of w

hich he was e

xcused arm

y servic

e during W

orld War I.

Meanwhile

the community

at Ditch

ling bega

n to gr

ow. Edward Jo

hnston went to

live

there in

1912, and in

1916 an ac

quaintance

of Gill’s

from H

ammers

mith, Hilar

y (Douglas

)

Pebler moved

in and se

t up the St D

ominic’s Pres

s, a sm

all hand – pres

s works

hop for which

much of Gill’s

early

engraving w

as done. But af

ter a f

ew yea

rs Gill q

uarrele

d with Pepler, mostly

over money:

Pepler was a

compara

tively w

ealthy

man and ca

sual about business

, whereas G

ill

had to su

pport himself

and his f

amily,

and was alm

ost fanatic

ally m

ethodical

about k

eeping

time –

sheets an

d accounts. I

n 1924, Gill moved

his growing e

ntourage to

a rem

ote abandoned

monastery

in the Welsh

mountains at

Capel-y-ffin. Sh

ortly befo

re he w

ent, he h

ad been ask

ed

by Stan

ley Moriso

n to write

about ty

pography

for The F

leuron, but h

ad declined, sa

ying that

typogra

phy was ‘

not his country

’. Moriso

n and he h

ad

03

— Ben Archer

met about te

n years

before

when Morison was w

orking w

ith Francis

Meynell

at the M

eynell

family

publishing fi

rm of Burns an

d Oates, a

nd he had co

mmissioned Gill t

o engra

ve some in

i-

tials fo

r them

. By Novem

ber 1925, Gill h

ad given in to

Morison, an

d was draw

ing alphabets

for

him, alphabets

which were

, in the coars

e of tim

e, to beco

me Perp

etua.

Early in 1924, M

orison had an

nounced his h

ope that

Monotype u

sers w

ould soon be

able to ad

d to th

eir rep

ertoire

of class

ic reviv

als ‘at

least o

ne origi

nal desig

n’. Much lat

er he

described in A tal

ly of ty

pes (1953) th

e way h

e cam

e to ask

Gill to make

that desig

n. He h

ad

found that the p

rivate p

ress ty

pes were

mostly too quaint. ‘W

hat was w

anted was a

design that,

while bein

g new, was o

f genera

l utility an

d in no respect

unusual.’ The c

alligrap

hers like

Edward

Johnston were

trained to

write let

ters th

at were

formed fre

shly by th

e pen, with not en

ough

of the m

odifications m

ade by c

enturies of ex

pertise

in cuttin

g punches.

‘The fine se

rif is n

ot in

origin ca

lligraphic b

ut epigra

phic; not w

ritten but sc

ulptured. It

follows that a

set o

f drawings

of a finely

serifed

face b

y a contem

porary p

ractitio

ner of le

ttering co

uld best be m

ade by o

ne

who was either

an engra

ver on meta

l or wood; or, p

referab

ly, a scu

lptor on sto

ne or sl

ate. O

n

this analys

is the p

roblem beca

me soluble, an

d Gill the o

bvious m

an to so

lve it.’

04

gill san

s

x-height

base lin

e

ascender l

ine

descender l

ine

In 1925 Morison, so

mewhat d

isenchanted

with Monotype b

ecause

of the m

istake

over

Fournier, and als

o with a growing in

terest

in the technique o

f hand punchcutting, w

as beco

m-

ing inter

ested in the c

utting o

f Frederic

Warde’s

Arrighi ita

lic by G

eorges P

lumet. He h

ad also

been intro

duced by F

rancois T

hibaudeau of D

eberny &

Piegnot to

Charles M

alin (1883-1955),

a younger

man than Plumet’s

retire

ment. It was t

o Malin th

at Moriso

n turned for h

is plan of

turning Gill’s

drawings i

nto type in

the traditio

nal way. T

his was p

artly a

lso as a c

oncession to

Gill’s initia

l relucta

nce to have

anyth

ing to do with mach

ine productio

n, and his c

ondemnatio

n

of industri

al desig

n, in th

e genera

lly acc

epted se

nse of th

e proces

s where

by an ‘ar

tist’ m

akes

drawings f

or ‘workm

en’ to car

ry out. W

ithin a few

years

, as we sh

all see, Gill c

hanged his m

ind

completely, n

ot without a

good deal of se

lf-justif

ying sophistr

y, and desig

ned Gill Sans.

Years l

ater, M

orison wrote i

n A tally: L

ong before t

he cuttin

g of Perp

etua, th

e Corporati

on

had cut punches f

rom new draw

ings made fo

r the p

urpose by d

raughtsm

an capable o

f makin

g

clear o

utlines.

But as to

a book-ty

pe of th

e highest

ambitio

n, no reproductio

n direct fr

om the

drawing-b

oard had been

as sati

sfactory a

s those m

ade from typ

e alrea

dy existin

g, e.g. B

ell’s ro

-

man and ita

lic. The d

ifferen

ce betw

een the d

rawn patte

rn and the e

ngraved

letter

was crucial

.

Virtue w

ent out with the h

and-cutter

when the mech

anic cam

e in with his p

antograph an

d the

rest o

f the g

ear. The n

ew en

gineers w

ere not w

hat the o

ld engra

vers w

ere. They

could mass-

produce, or reproduce, punches;

they could not cr

eate, or re

create

, the e

ngraved

quality th

at

had belonged

to typ

ography

in the roman let

ter sin

ce 1465.’

05

In 1925 Morison, so

mewhat d

isenchanted

with Monotype b

ecause

of the m

istake

over

Fournier, and als

o with a growing in

terest

in the technique o

f hand punchcutting, w

as beco

m-

ing inter

ested in the c

utting o

f Frederic

Warde’s

Arrighi ita

lic by G

eorges P

lumet. He h

ad also

been intro

duced by F

rancois T

hibaudeau of D

eberny &

Piegnot to

Charles M

alin (1883-1955),

a younger

man than Plumet’s

retire

ment. It was t

o Malin th

at Moriso

n turned for h

is plan of

turning Gill’s

drawings i

nto type in

the traditio

nal way. T

his was p

artly a

lso as a c

oncession to

Gill’s initia

l relucta

nce to have

anyth

ing to do with mach

ine productio

n, and his c

ondemnatio

n

of industri

al desig

n, in th

e genera

lly acc

epted se

nse of th

e proces

s where

by an ‘ar

tist’ m

akes

drawings f

or ‘workm

en’ to car

ry out. W

ithin a few

years

, as we sh

all see, Gill c

hanged his m

ind

completely, n

ot without a

good deal of se

lf-justif

ying sophistr

y, and desig

ned Gill Sans.

Years l

ater, M

orison wrote i

n A tally: L

ong before t

he cuttin

g of Perp

etua, th

e Corporati

on

had cut punches f

rom new draw

ings made fo

r the p

urpose by d

raughtsm

an capable o

f makin

g

clear o

utlines.

But as to

a book-ty

pe of th

e highest

ambitio

n, no reproductio

n direct fr

om the

drawing-b

oard had been

as sati

sfactory a

s those m

ade from typ

e alrea

dy existin

g, e.g. B

ell’s ro

-

man and ita

lic. The d

ifferen

ce betw

een the d

rawn patte

rn and the e

ngraved

letter

was crucial

.

Virtue w

ent out with the h

and-cutter

when the mech

anic cam

e in with his p

antograph an

d the

rest o

f the g

ear. The n

ew en

gineers w

ere not w

hat the o

ld engra

vers w

ere. They

could mass-

produce, or reproduce, punches;

they could not cr

eate, or re

create

, the e

ngraved

quality th

at

had belonged

to typ

ography

in the roman let

ter sin

ce 1465.’

This is a c

urious pass

age in the c

ontext of Perp

etua, s

ince Bell

was cut se

veral y

ears af

ter

it was b

egun. It

is even

more curio

us in the co

ntext of M

orison’s re

lations w

ith Monotype, sin

ce

some of th

e most s

uccessfu

l faces

he superv

ised there

were rec

reations o

f types

which ce

rtainly h

ad existe

d but did so

no longer

. Moreo

ver in th

e sam

e book h

e had co

n-

demned M

onotype C

aslon, of w

hich the foundry t

ypes had been

availab

le as m

odels, as

‘a com-

plete fai

lure as a

facsimile.’ M

orison’s w

hole work

at Monotyp

e was d

edicated to

proving th

at

the engineer

s could produce

good letter

s, given

the right m

odels in gra

phic form

, an en

deavour

which culminate

d in his own Times

New Roman, which was d

rawn by a

non-specia

list draft

s-

man and had neve

r seen a h

and punchcutter. The la

st part

of the p

assage

is the m

ost curio

us

because

in 1953 he did not belie

ve it: c

ertainly w

hen Van Krimpen made a

similar

point a few

years l

ater, M

orison rep

lied, ‘I d

o not really

believe

that you mean

that Monotyp

e and foundry

type a

re twoess

entially d

ifferen

t things.

I do not believe t

hese diffe

rences

are ess

ential. I b

elieve

they are

differen

t but I quest

ion whether t

he diffe

rence

is so gre

at.’

Yet th

ere is

no doubt that i

n 1926 Morison th

ought that M

alin’s w

ork was a

necessa

ry

preliminary

to an

y cuttin

g by M

onotype. He d

id not doubt Monotyp

e’s ability

to cu

t the ty

pe,

but he did quest

ion their skil

l in tra

nsform

ing the d

rawings o

f a self

confess

ed amate

ur type d

e-

signer

into a cohere

nt fount. H

e was c

onfirmed in this o

pinion by Van Krimpen, whose L

utetia

had been cu

t as a fo

undry type sh

ortly befo

re, and was r

ecut by M

onotype so

me years

later. Y

et

whereas V

an Krimpen an

d his punchcutter

Radisch were

expert

partners

in close d

aily co

ntact

at Ensch

ede, Gill, who had a li

ttle kn

owledge o

f type d

esign, was d

ealing w

ith Malin at

a dista

nce

and with Morison as

an intermediary

.

06

“Letters a

re things, n

ot pictures o

f things.”

In the even

t, Malin

’s contrib

ution to Perp

etua w

as almost f

orgotten

. Beatrice

Ward

e did

not mention him by n

ame in

her artic

le intro

ducing the ty

pe in The F

leuron 7, an

d Gill ignored

him complete

ly in his n

ote on the ty

pe, giving al

l the c

redit to

Monotype: ‘T

hese draw

ings were

not made w

ith specia

l refere

nce to typ

ography

– they

were sim

ply lette

rs, draw

n with brush

and ink. For th

e typogra

phical qualit

y of th

e fount, a

s also for th

e rem

arkably fi

ne and prec

ise

cutting o

f the p

unches, the M

onotype C

orporation is t

o be prais

ed. In my opinion “Perp

etua” i

s

commendable in that,

in spite

of many

distinctiv

e chara

cters,

it reta

ins that c

ommonplaceness

and normalit

y which is

essential

to go

od book-type.’

The Paris

foundry

of Ribadeau

Dumas

cast a

fount fr

om Malin

’s punches,

which was

passed to

Monotype in

January

1927 for what b

ecame a

long series

of trails

, since

the sight o

f

the cast

and printed let

ters b

egan to

disturb Gill, w

ho had up to then see

n only smoke

proofs.

He object

ed to the b

lob on the tail o

f the y

which Malin had intro

duced, fo

und the g an

d the r

too heavy, a

nd agreed

with Morison that t

he capital

s were

too sh

ort; and the c

omments were

passed on to

the M

onotype w

orks to

make th

e changes

required

. In sp

ite of th

is, Perp

etua

exhibits in an

extre

me form

the tendency

of the M

onotype w

orks to

draw let

ters w

ith ruler

and compass

es. In a l

etter to

Morison in Novem

ber 1926 Gill d

rew tw

o diagram

s which illu

s-

trated his c

ontention that t

he uprigh

ts of ro

man letter

s should be im

perceptibly ‘w

aisted’, an

d

that the s

erifs sh

ould grow fro

m them as

though organical

ly. Under

his paro

dy of th

e draw

ing

office ver

sion with his para

llel-sided uprigh

ts and math

ematic

ally cir

cular brac

kets to

the serif,

Gill wrote, ‘Se

e how bloody th

e above

looks, and is.’

If Moriso

n passed th

is on to

the w

orks,

they took n

o notice, as

they hard

ly ever

did, and as

a resultin

the large

r sizes

of the P

erpetu

a

titlings,

as in many

Monotype fa

ces, th

e point w

here th

e compass

es tak

e over

from th

e ruler

is quite

perceptible.

07

This is a c

urious pass

age in the c

ontext of Perp

etua, s

ince Bell

was cut se

veral y

ears af

ter

it was b

egun. It

is even

more curio

us in the co

ntext of M

orison’s re

lations w

ith Monotype, sin

ce

some of th

e most s

uccessfu

l faces

he superv

ised there

were rec

reations o

f types

which ce

rtainly h

ad existe

d but did so

no longer

. Moreo

ver in th

e sam

e book h

e had co

n-

demned M

onotype C

aslon, of w

hich the foundry t

ypes had been

availab

le as m

odels, as

‘a com-

plete fai

lure as a

facsimile.’ M

orison’s w

hole work

at Monotyp

e was d

edicated to

proving th

at

the engineer

s could produce

good letter

s, given

the right m

odels in gra

phic form

, an en

deavour

which culminate

d in his own Times

New Roman, which was d

rawn by a

non-specia

list draft

s-

man and had neve

r seen a h

and punchcutter. The la

st part

of the p

assage

is the m

ost curio

us

because

in 1953 he did not belie

ve it: c

ertainly w

hen Van Krimpen made a

similar

point a few

years l

ater, M

orison rep

lied, ‘I d

o not really

believe

that you mean

that Monotyp

e and foundry

type a

re twoess

entially d

ifferen

t things.

I do not believe t

hese diffe

rences

are ess

ential. I b

elieve

they are

differen

t but I quest

ion whether t

he diffe

rence

is so gre

at.’

Yet th

ere is

no doubt that i

n 1926 Morison th

ought that M

alin’s w

ork was a

necessa

ry

preliminary

to an

y cuttin

g by M

onotype. He d

id not doubt Monotyp

e’s ability

to cu

t the ty

pe,

but he did quest

ion their skil

l in tra

nsform

ing the d

rawings o

f a self

confess

ed amate

ur type d

e-

signer

into a cohere

nt fount. H

e was c

onfirmed in this o

pinion by Van Krimpen, whose L

utetia

had been cu

t as a fo

undry type sh

ortly befo

re, and was r

ecut by M

onotype so

me years

later. Y

et

whereas V

an Krimpen an

d his punchcutter

Radisch were

expert

partners

in close d

aily co

ntact

at Ensch

ede, Gill, who had a li

ttle kn

owledge o

f type d

esign, was d

ealing w

ith Malin at

a dista

nce

and with Morison as

an intermediary

.

“Letters a

re things, n

ot pictures o

f things.”

— Eric Gill

08

The type w

as delay

ed both by atten

tion to the d

etails o

f the ro

man, and by th

e italic

. Gill

was pers

uaded by Moriso

n, as Van Krim

pen was with Romulus a

few ye

ars lat

er, to su

bstitute

a sloped ro

man for the m

ore usual c

ursive it

alic. (S

loped romans ke

ep the roman let

ter form

s

and incline t

hem, m

ore or le

ss mech

anically, w

hile ital

ics have

a few

differen

t chara

cters a

nd

terminal fl

icks rat

her than se

rifs.) M

orison’s b

elief w

as that a

s italic

s were

originally

intended

for independent u

se, they

should not be u

sed for a

rticulati

on in prose set

in roman, a

belief

which was set o

ut in his e

ssay ‘To

wards an

ideal ital

ic’ (The F

leuron 5, 1926). Fe

licity it

alic finally

made its ap

pearance

in Beatrice

Warde’s

article

in The Fleu

ron 7 in 1930, which introduced

the

type; i

t looked

rather

like th

e later

Joanna italic

and was

hardly e

ver se

en again, A ye

ar late

r

Gill made d

rawings o

f what b

ecame st

andard Perp

etua it

alic, with a g

reater

angle

of slope a

nd

a few more c

ursive c

haracte

rs. As M

orison co

nfesses

to Van Krimpen, ‘The s

loped roman idea

does not go

down so well

in this o

ffice [Monotyp

e] as it

does outsid

e. The reas

on for this is

that when the d

octrine w

as applied

to Perp

etua, w

e did not gi

ve enough slo

pe to it.W

hen we

added more slope, it

seemed the fo

nt required

a little

more cursiv

e in it. T

he result w

as rath

er

a compromise.’

Perpetu

a, Serie

s 239, was fi

nally iss

ued to the tr

ade in 1932. Fo

r the s

pecimen which ap

-

peared in the 1

930 Fleuron, Gill a

lso drew a d

elightful deco

rated cap

ital N. M

orison ask

ed him

to design the c

omplete alp

habet for M

onotype, but he d

eclined: Robert

Harling su

ggeste

d he

thought the d

esign to fre

ehand for the m

echanical

process o

f Monotyp

e reproductio

n. In 1936

he changed

his mind, an

d these Flo

riated Initia

ls were

cut as

Series

431. For w

hile Perp

etua w

as

making sl

ow progress t

hrough the works

, Gill was b

eginning to

make typ

ography v

ery much his

country. As e

arly as

1925, he had desig

ned some b

lock lett

ers for th

e Army a

nd Navy Sto

res,

and used sim

ilar form

s for si

gns at Capel-y

-ffin to warn

off uninvite

d visitors.

“…C

omm

ercially successful and classic typeface.”

09

Then in Octo

ber 1926 he w

as ask

ed by a yo

ung bookse

ller in Brist

ol called

Douglas

Cleverdon (w

ho later

published se

veral b

ooks of his)

to paint his b

ookshop nam

e in th

ese

same c

apitals. W

hile in Brist

ol he deve

loped flu, and to

pass the ti

me in bed he d

rew alp

habets

for Cleve

rdon to use a

s models

for letter

ing in his s

hop, including th

e sans-se

rif capital

s. A few

weeks la

ter. Morsio

n was stayi

ng with Cleve

rdon, and was i

nterest

ed in the a

lphabets. Earli

er

in the y

ear he h

ad tried to

interest

the S

tephensto

n Blake foundry

incutting a

versio

n of the

Army and Navy

capital

s without su

ccess, a

nd the Cleve

rdon alphabet b

ook convinced

him that

Gill could produce

for Monotyp

e the k

ind on sans-se

rif fam

ily that o

versea

s foundries

were

beginning to

produce with su

ch succe

ss.

Both Gill and he w

ere aw

are that w

hile san

s-serif c

apitals ar

e not difficult to

draw, it

is the

detailing o

f the lo

wer-case

which presents t

he problem

s. Gill a

dmitted that h

is desig

n was mod-

eled on Edward

Johnston’s L

ondon Transport a

lphabet, though he im

proved upon it

in detail.

He kept, a

nd strength

ened, the c

lassical

proportions, a

nd the e

ye-glas

s g, an

d introduced

his

own favorite

curve

d-tailed

R. The early

drawings d

iffer co

nsiderably f

rom the type a

s cut, a

nd

Monotype w

ere res

ponsible for m

any of th

e improvem

ents. Indeed

, when the draw

ings of th

e

capital

s were

first sen

t to the w

orks in July 1

927, Pierpont w

rote to Burch

, ‘I can se

e nothing

in this desig

n to rec

ommend it and much that i

s object

ionable.’ He a

lso complain

ed about th

e

descending ta

ils on the J

and Q of a titli

ng fount, b

ut was t

old to fit th

em in. M

orison lef

t most

of the w

ork on the ty

pe to be d

one betw

een Gill a

nd the works

, and Gill b

ecame in

creasin

gly

fascinate

d by the p

rocess in

volved. Fr

om 1928 he was p

aid a reta

iner by M

onotype to

act as

an

adviser. H

e even

made draw

ings and an

notated tra

il proofs o

f some o

f the m

ore outlan

dishvari-

ants of th

e Sans fa

mily, including th

e Kayo

, or Extra Bold, which he n

icknam

ed Gill Sans D

ouble-

Elefans. H

e was a

professional; a

nd he also had a w

ay of co

nstructin

g elaborate

arguments i

n

favour o

f an ex

pedient so

lution. Thus he convin

ced himself

that if th

e trade d

emanded typ

es for

such ugly purposes

as adver

tising, it

ought to have

ugly typ

es.

— Jacci H

oward Bear

“…C

omm

ercially successful and classic typeface.”

The titlin

g, Serie

s 231, was r

eady fo

r the B

ritish Fe

deration of M

aster P

rinters co

nfer-

ence in May 1

928, which Moriso

n addres

sed; an

d the asse

mbled dignitar

ies were

duly horri-

fied by the n

ew typ

e. The upper

and lower cas

e, Series

262, appear

ed in 1930, and the ty

pe

became a

phenomenal succe

ss.

In view of th

e warm

relatio

nship which Gill had deve

loped with Monotype, an

d always

had with Morsion, it

is surprisi

ng that t

he only o

ther typ

e he d

esigned for th

em was S

olus.

It was b

ased on a s

keletal

Egyptian

alphabet i

n the Cleve

rdon alphabet b

ook which Moriso

n,

by a quirk

of typefac

e nomenclat

ure desc

ribed as ‘blonde’ i

n colour, b

y contras

t with dark

er

Egyptian

s. Gill im

mediately d

ubbed it ‘Gents’

preferen

ce’ afte

r Anita

Loos’s Gentlem

en prefer

blondes. Solus w

as desig

ned and cu

t in 1929, an

d was inten

ded for the p

ublications o

f theEm-

pire Mark

eting B

oard, but neve

r used

.

It is als

o surprising th

at in 1928 he e

ntered into an

agreem

ent with Robert

Gibbings by

which he was t

o design typ

es exclusive

ly forth

e Golden Cocke

rel Pres

s, although the a

gree-

ment was a

friendly o

ne and not ri

gorously enforce

d. Caslon was t

he stan

dard typ

e face

of

those priva

te pres

ses that d

id not design there

own, and Gibbings h

ad inherited it

when he

bought Golden Cocke

rel in 1924. He so

on became u

nhappy with the it

alic, an

d asked Gill t

o

design one th

at would rep

lace it. V

ery quickl

y, howeve

r, the p

lan grew to

design a c

ompletely

new fac

e, strong e

nough in weight to

accompany

the wood en

gravin

gs, by G

ibbings, Gill h

im-

self, Eric

Ravilious an

d others, which

were Golden Cocke

rel’s prim

ary inter

est in the G

ibbings

years. A

lthough Gill first

suggest t

hat Monotyp

e might have

Golden Cockerel

exclusive

rights

to Perpetu

a for five y

ears; a

nd the consulted

Morison on the d

etails o

f the n

ew typ

e, Golden

Cockerel

Roman was cut by th

e Caslo

n foundry under t

he superv

ision of J.

Collinge.

10

The draw

ings were

complete

in April 1929 an

d the t

ype finally

delivere

d in January

1930, in

two sizes,

14pt with an

italic,

and 18pt without. T

here were

also tw

o titlings,

a 24pt w

hich was

enlarged fro

m the 18pt ca

pitals, a

nd a 36pt fo

r which gill

made new

drawings:

these lat

ter were

the most b

eautifu

l capital

s he p

roduced.

The Golden Cocke

rel Roman is

clearly

related

to perp

etua, b

ut is in many

ways a m

ore

conventional o

ld face: t

he angle

of stres

s isgre

ater, an

d some d

etails,

such as the lo

wer cas

e d,

less idiosyn

cratic.

In its 18pt si

ze it w

as used

for The Four G

ospels (1931), th

e Golden Cocke

rel

masterpiece

and one o

f the m

ost magn

ificent books o

f the c

entury.

In 1928, the r

emoten

ess an

d difficulty of lif

e at C

apel-y-ffin, ad

ded to th

e incre

asing

amount o

f time g

ill had to

spend in London, led

to his la

st move, to

Pigotts,

a farm

-house near

High Wyco

mbe. In 1930 his y

oungest daughter

Joan married

Rene Hagu

e, who wanted to

set

up as a p

rinter, an

d as a re

sult the fi

rm of H

ague &

Gill was e

stablish

ed at Pigo

tts. Fo

r it Gill d

e-

signed Joanna, b

egun in Marc

h 1930 and first

used in his o

wn essay E

ssay on typ

ography,

which

came o

ut the fo

llowing June. Although he h

ad talked

of his planned desig

n to Monotype in

1929,

and although he w

rote of it

as a typ

e without fr

ills, inten

ded to ec

ho the natu

re of productio

n,

it was c

ut and ca

st by th

e Caslo

n foundry, and alw

ays hand se

t at Hagu

e & Gill. H

owever, th

e

business was b

adly hit b

y the D

epression; th

e publish

ers J. M

. Dent bought the ri

ghts to Joanna

in 1938 and co

mmissioned Monotyp

e to cu

t it for m

achine c

omposition for th

eir exclusive

use

for a perio

d of thirty

years.

Gill made so

me changes

to the italic

capital

s which

had not existe

d

in the foundry v

ersion. Jo

anna was fi

nally iss

ued to the tr

ade in 1958. In form

Joanna has m

ost

of the e

xpected Gill f

eatures

, given a c

risp, sla

b-serife

d finish. The italic

, extre

mely condensed

and upright, is

to all

intents a

nd purposes th

e sloped ro

man Moriso

n originally

wanted fo

r

Perpetu

a. But in

genera

l Gill s

eems in

Joanna to have

left behind the q

uirks of Perp

etua, a

nd the

result is

his best

type.

11

In 1923 Gill desig

ned Aries, a

privately

commissi

oned type fo

r Fairf

ax Hall’s St

ourton

Press. C

ast at t

he Caslo

n foundry,

Aries is

a condensed

roman, beca

use of it

s priva

te pres

s

usage h

as been

little s

een. Then in 1934, fo

r Stephenson Blake

, Gill desig

ned his only t

ype con-

sciously

intended to

fill a perc

eived gap

in the mark

et for ad

vertisin

g types:

first call

ed Cunard,

but when iss

ued in 1935, twenty fi

ve year

s after

the acces

sion of George

V, rech

ristened Jubilee

,

it is a r

otunda in the tr

adition of M

orris’s Tr

oy, with more o

f the fi

ll of penmanship, b

ut without

the verv

e of th

e feel o

f penmanship, but w

ithout the v

erve o

f Koch’s W

allau. G

ill’s las

t roman

type, Bunya

n, dates fr

om 1934. It was d

esigned for an

editio

n of Stern

e’s A sen

timental

journey

which Hauge &

Gill printed

for George

Macy’s L

imited Editio

ns Club of N

ew York,

and is a cro

ss

between

Joanna and Golden Cocke

rel Roman. It

was cut o

nce aga

in by Caslo

n, and re

mained

a priva

te type u

ntil 1953, w

hen Linotype in

troduced

an ad

aptation ca

lled Pilgr

im, firstused

in

a posth

umous editio

n of Gill’s

Jerusale

m diary, with an

italic

based on one w

hich Gill h

ad pre-

pared Bunya

n but never cu

t. Pilgr

im was an ex

tremely

successfu

l text fa

ce, more

comfortable

than Perpetu

a, and delib

erately

promoted by L

inotype a

s a riva

l.

To accompany

Pilgrim, Linotyp

e commissi

oned a display

face fro

m the distin

guished wood en-

graver

Reynolds St

one (1909-79), w

hich was calle

d Minerva (1

954). As a

young man, St

one had

spent a fortn

ight workin

g at Pigo

tts under G

ill’s instru

ction, but G

ill had sai

d there was n

othing

he could tea

ch him, and se

nt him aw

ay; cer

tainly, S

tone’s lett

ering in

wood is unsurpass

ed, by

Gill or an

yone else. N

everth

eless,

Minerva la

cks the v

igour o

f Gill’s

types.

This complete

s the c

atalogue o

n Gill’s typ

es, desig

ned by a man whose p

rinciple activ

ities

lay else

where. He w

as extrao

rdinarily a

ctive, an

d any o

ne of his o

ccupatio

ns could ea

sily have

filled an

ordinary life

. In his w

riting, a

nd possibly i

n his engra

ving, h

e may

have sp

read himself

too thin, though his b

est works

excuse

the more

routine ones;

but his type d

esigns ar

e clear

,

distinct, a

nd necessa

ry, and am

ong the fe

w which have been

apprec

iated by n

ot just t

he specia

l-

ists, but al

so the genera

l public.

Eric Gill d

ied on 17 Novem

ber 1940 at

Harefield

Hospital in Middlese

x.

12

This book w

as set i

n Gill Sans, d

esigned by E

ric Gill o

f the M

onotype C

orporation. This b

ook

was desig

ned by Mart

in Willia

m Mascio in the c

ourse Typ

ographic S

ystems in

the Grap

hic Desig

n

Department o

f the U

niversity

of the A

rts, Philad

elphia P

A, Spring 2

010.

Co l o p h o n

This book w

as set i

n Gill Sans, d

esigned by E

ric Gill o

f the M

onotype C

orporation. This b

ook

was desig

ned by Mart

in Willia

m Mascio in the c

ourse Typ

ographic S

ystems in

the Grap

hic Desig

n

Department o

f the U

niversity

of the A

rts, Philad

elphia P

A, Spring 2

010.