Harry Graham Carter (27 March 1901 – 10 March 1982) was an English typographer, translator and writer. He was a well-known historian of type. He was the father of type designer

Matthew Carter Matthew Carter (born 1 October 1937) is an English type designer.A Man of Letters

Biography

Carter studied at the progressive

Bedales School Bedales School is a coeducational boarding and day public school, in the village of Steep, near the market town of Petersfield in Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1893 by Amy Garrett Badley and John Haden Badley in reaction to the li ...

(where he was a friend of John Rothenstein), and at

The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

where he became competent in French, German, Spanish, and Russian. He would later learn Arabic, and design a Hebrew font. Though he was studying law, Carter became interested in typography and bought a printing press. His first work with type came in 1928 and 1929 as an apprentice at the

Monotype Corporation Monotype Imaging Holdings Inc., founded as Lanston Monotype Machine Company in 1887 in Philadelphia by Tolbert Lanston, is an American (historically Anglo-American) company that specializes in digital typesetting and typeface design for use wit ...

. At this time he formed friendships with

Jan van Krimpen Jan van Krimpen (12 January 1892, in Gouda, South Holland, Gouda – 20 October 1958, in Haarlem) was a Dutch typographer, book designer and type designer. He worked for the printing house Joh. Enschedé, Koninklijke Joh. Enschedé. He also wo ...

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

Francis Meynell Sir Francis Meredith Wilfrid Meynell (12 May 1891 – 10 July 1975) was a British poet and printer at The Nonesuch Press. Early career He was the son of the journalist and publisher Wilfrid Meynell and the poet Alice Meynell, a suffragi ...

, and Oliver and Herbert Simon (cousins of his school-friend, John Rothenstein). He became involved the

Curwen Press The Curwen Press was founded by the Reverend John Curwen in 1863 to publish sheet music for the "tonic sol-fa" system. The Press was based in Plaistow, Newham, east London, England, where Curwen was a pastor from 1844. The Curwen Press is best ...

, and after leaving the Monotype Corporation worked briefly at the

Kynoch Press The Kynoch Press was an English-based fine press in Witton, Birmingham, founded in 1876 as a company press for Kynoch, a British manufacturer of ammunition. Initially, the press was used to print packaging. The press closed in 1981. History ...

in Birmingham. In 1931 he and Herbert Simon published ''Printing Explained''. From 1936 to 1938 he worked at the Nonesuch Press in London, as Meynell's book-designer. His son,

Matthew Carter Matthew Carter (born 1 October 1937) is an English type designer.A Man of Letters

, was born in 1937. In 1937, Carter, Ellic Howe, Alfred F. Johnson,

and

Graham Pollard Henry Graham Pollard (known as Graham Pollard) (7 March 1903 – 15 November 1976) was a British bookseller and bibliographer. Early life Pollard was the son of the historian Albert Pollard and was born in Putney, London on 7 March 1903. ...

started to produce a list of all known pre-1800 type specimens. The list was published in '' The Library'' in 1942. However, because of the war, many libraries on the European continent were not accessible anymore. In 1942 he translated

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...

' ''

In Praise of Folly ''In Praise of Folly'', also translated as ''The Praise of Folly'' ( or ), is an essay written in Latin in 1509 by Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam and first printed in June 1511. Inspired by previous works of the Italian Renaissance humanism, hu ...

'' into English. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he saw service in the Middle East. After the war, he worked for some eight years at

HMSO The Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) is the body responsible for the operation of His Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) and of other public information services of the United Kingdom. The OPSI is part of the National Archives of the U ...

, again under Meynell. In 1954 Carter was hired by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, where he worked for sixteen years. He was archivist and assistant to

as Morison worked on ''John Fell'', published in 1967. He also cataloged thousands of matrices, punches, and fonts for the Plantin-Moretus Museum, and assisted Charles Enschede with his ''Typefoundries in the Netherlands''. Carter was the author and editor of books and articles on typography and the history of type. Notable among his writings are, ''The Wolvercote Mill: a study of paper-making at Oxford'' (1957); ''A View of Early Typography: Up to about 1600,'' (1969); and ''A History of the Oxford University Press. Volume I: To the Year 1780'' (1975). In 1967-1968 he held the Lyell Readership in Bibliography.Barker, Nicolas. 1968. "The Book as Artefact." ''

The Book Collector ''The Book Collector'' is a London-based journal that deals with all aspects of the book. It is published quarterly and exists in both paper and digital form. It prints independent opinions on subjects ranging from typography to national heritag ...

'' 17 (no 2) Summer: 143-150.

References

External links

Biography of Harry Carter online at Fine Press Book Association

Biography of Harry Carter online at Hyphen PressBiography of Harry Carter online
at St Bride Library
CARTER, Harry Graham
''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2015; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Harry Graham English typographers and type designers People educated at Bedales School Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford Oxford University Press people 1901 births 1982 deaths Private press movement people

Biography

Further reading

References

External links