Richard Austin (1756–1832) was an English

punchcutter Punchcutting is a craft used in traditional typography to cut letter punches in steel as the first stage of making metal type. Steel punches in the shape of the letter would be used to stamp matrices into copper, which were locked into a mould sh ...

. He was the original cutter of the typefaces now known as ''Bell'', ''Scotch Roman'', and ''Porson.'' Born in London 4 August 1756 and christened at St Luke's Old Street, he studied seal, die and copper-plate engraving as an apprentice to John Phillips near Finsbury Square. He married Phillips' daughter Sarah and set up on his own about 1786. He was hired by John Bell's British Letter Foundry in 1788 as a punch-cutter, to imitate Didot's 1782 types "de la troisième manière," cut by Pierre Vafflard to F-A Didot's designs. Bell sold his interest in the foundry to S & C Stephenson. When the foundry closed in 1797, Austin brought in his own punches and sold strikes to Fry & Steele, Figgins, and Caslon. Strikes were even sold in North America. Austin cut Greek types for Cambridge University Press in 1806–8, following designs provided by the famous master

Richard Porson Richard Porson (25 December 1759 – 25 September 1808) was an English classical scholar. He was the discoverer of Porson's Law. The Greek typeface '' Porson'' was based on his handwriting. Early life Richard Porson was born at East Ruston, ne ...

. He probably also cut the Sarcophagus Greek that preceded it. Austin then provided strikes to William Miller's foundry in Edinburgh & Alexander Wilson's Sons' foundry in Glasgow, creating the types now known as Scotch, before founding his own Imperial Letter Foundry in London in 1815, with his son George (who had been his apprentice until 1805). The first Miller Specimen of 1809 is now lost (The University of Vermont holds the 1811 Specimen). Wilson's earliest specimen showing the improved types is dated 1812. Richard Austin died circa 20 August 1832, leaving the foundry to his son George, whom many credited with the innovations in type designs manifest in the Scotch types. Austin's other sons were John Phillips Austin, a music engraver, and Richard Turner Austin (1781-1842), a painter (member of the Royal Academy) and commercial wood engraver.

Typefaces

* Austin's Pica No. 1 (c. 1918) . *

Bell A bell /ˈbɛl/ () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be m ...

(1790, British Letter Foundry), revived 1931 by

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 ...

. Called "Brimmer" by Bruce Rogers at Riverside Press. *

Scotch Roman Scotch Roman is a class of typefaces popular in the early nineteenth century, particularly in the United States and to a lesser extent the United Kingdom. These typefaces were modeled on a design known as Pica No. 2 from the Edinburgh foundry of ...

(1809, William Miller/Miller & Richards), revived 1903 by Linotype, and in 1907 by

. Also known as '' Georgian,'' ''Scotch Roman #137'' is a 1920 revision by

.Jaspert, W. Pincus, W. Turner Berry and A.F. Johnson, ''The Encyclopedia of Type Faces'', Blandford Press Ltd., 1983 (pg. 203)

References

External links

British Letter Foundry specimen
(1789) - work of Austin's early career, cut in four sizes. Specimen in the collection of the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

.
A Specimen of Printing Types & Various Ornaments
(1796–7) - the last specimen of the British Letter Foundry's catalogue and an auction catalogue created when it was put up for an auction in 1796. Introduction by

James Mosley James Mosley (born 1935) is a retired librarian and historian whose work has specialised in the history of printing and letter design. The main part of Mosley's career has been 42 years as Librarian of the St Bride Printing Library in London, whe ...

providing historical context. Specimen includes many distinguished ornamental characters and inline fonts in the popular style of the period, as well as some engravings such as emblems and coats of arms. English typographers and type designers 1760s births 1830 deaths {{typ-stub