A
Joint Lecture by Matthew Carter and Charles Creesy
Tuesday, February 25, 2003, 6 p.m.
The Grolier Club 47 East 60th Street, New York, N.Y.
Co-sponsored by The Grolier Club, the Society of Typographic Aficionados,
and the Type Directors Club.
The prominent type designer and the Director of
Computer and Publishing Technologies at Princeton University Press discussed the digitization of a quintessentially American typeface.
"Monticello" is based on an original typeface made by America's first
permanent foundry, Binny & Ronaldson. Because he admired Binny &
Ronaldson's types, the typeface revival was named in honor of Thomas
Jefferson's home, Monticello.
Matthew Carter and Charles Creesy spoke on
Tuesday, February 25, 2003, at The Grolier Club about the new
digital "Monticello" typeface. This typeface can claim a lineage
stretching back to Thomas Jefferson and America’s first type foundry, Binny & Ronaldson. Originally commissioned by Princeton University Press
for the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, "Monticello" represented
the desire of editor Julian Boyd and the Press to present modern
documentary editing in historically allusive typography. Princeton
University Press's Charles Creesy will talk about Binny & Ronaldson, their
relations with Thomas Jefferson and how their 1797 type inspired the 1950
Linotype face "Monticello." Type designer Matthew Carter will build on
this history to discuss his 21st Century digital version of this
distinctively American typeface.
Attendees received two keepsakes, one, the first
showing of Carter’s new digital "Monticello," courtesy of Princeton
University Press, and second, a printing a letter of Thomas Jefferson,
courtesy of APHA member and printer Earl Kallemeyn.
Matthew Carter, a type designer with more
than forty years’ experience of typographic technologies ranging from
hand-cut punches to computer fonts, has designed ITC Galliard, Bell
Centennial (for U.S. telephone directories), Mantinia, Big Caslon, Miller,
and the screen fonts Verdana and Georgia. The recipient of numerous
awards, including the Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design, the Type
Directors Club Medal, and the AIGA Medal, Carter is a principal of Carter
& Cone Type, Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Charles Creesy, Director of Computing and
Publishing Technologies at Princeton University Press, was honored by the
Association of American University Presses in 1996 for his efforts to help
publishers adopt digital technologies. Creesy became interested in fonts
while setting headlines by hand for Princeton’s student newspaper in the
1960s, a skill he later applied to editing a magazine for the Peace Corps
in Ecuador. Upon his return to the U.S., he worked for the New Leader
in New York and became editor of the Princeton Alumni Weekly, which
made the transition from hot-metal composition to computers during his
tenure from 1975 to 1988. His article about the creation of the original
Linotype "Monticello" and the new revival by Matthew Carter will appear in
the Princeton University Library Chronicle.
This presentation is part of APHA's "On the Road"
series of events in 2002–2003, held across the United States. It is
co-sponsored by The Grolier Club,
the Society of Typographic
Aficionados (SoTA), and the Type
Directors Club.
Free and open to the public.
Reservations are not required but seating is available on a first
come-first served basis.
For more information contact APHA's Vice-President
for Programs, Mark Samuels Lasner (Contact information).
Downloadable press release with more information (PDF/278K)
Downloadable flyer and announcement of the event (PDF/303K)
The
American Printing History Association