Frederic William Goudy

Frederic William Goudy , 1865-1947, American type designer, b. Bloomington, Ill. Goudy is celebrated as one of the finest and most prolific type designers in history. In 1905, Goudy established his first press, which he moved to New York City the next year. His wife, Bertha M. Sprinks Goudy, acted as typesetter. Kennerley, Deepdene, Garamont, and Forum are a few of his more than 100 typefaces. About 75 of his designs were destroyed when his plant burned down in 1939. Goudy is the author of The Alphabet (1918), Elements of Lettering (1922), and Typologia (1940).

Bibliography: See his Half Century of Type Design and Typography, 1895-1945 (1947).

Goudy, Frederic W[illiam] (1865–1947), type designer and printer, founded his Village Press (1903) in Illinois, and three years later moved it to New York, where until its destruction by fire (1939) it was famous for expressing the character of the text in its design and printing of books. Goudy designed some 100 new type faces. His writings include The Alphabet (1918), Elements of Lettering (1921), The Capitals from the Trajan Column at Rome (1936), Typologia (1940), and a new edition of The Alphabet, and Elements of Lettering (1942).