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 of the past. From the 1920s Morison became an influential adviser to the British Monotype Corporation, advising them on type design. His strong aesthetic sense was a force within the company, which starting shortly before his joining became increasingly known for commissioning popular, historically influenced designs that revived some of the best typefaces of the past, with particular attention to the middle period of printing from the Renaissance to the late eighteenth century, and creating and licensing several new type designs that would become popular. Original typefaces commissioned under Morison's involvement included Times New Roman, Gill Sans and Perpetua, while revivals of older designs included Bembo, Ehrhardt and

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 ...

. Times New Roman, the development of which Morison led to the point that he felt he could consider it his own design, has become one of the most used typefaces of all time. Becoming closely connected to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' newspaper as an advisor on printing, he became part of its management and the editor of the '' Times Literary Supplement'' after the war, and late in life joined the editorial board of ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

''.

Early life and career

Stanley Morison was born on 6 May 1889, at

Wanstead Wanstead () is an area in East London, England, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It borders South Woodford to the north, Redbridge to the east and Manor Park to the south, with Leytonstone and Walthamstow to the west. It is located 8 m ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, but spent most of his childhood and early adult years (1896–1912) in London at the family home in Fairfax Road, Harringay. He was self-taught, having left school after his father abandoned his family. In 1913 Morison became an editorial assistant on '' The Imprint'' magazine. Morison was one of the founders of The Guild of the Pope's Peace, an organization created to promote

Pope Benedict XV Pope Benedict XV (; ; born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, ; 21 November 1854 – 22 January 1922) was head of the Catholic Church from 1914 until his death in January 1922. His pontificate was largely overshadowed by World War I a ...

's calls for peace in the face of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. On the imposition of

conscription Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it conti ...

in 1916 during

, he was a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...

, and was imprisoned. Like his friend Eric Gill, Morison was a convert to Catholicism, distancing him from many of his later colleagues. Morison married Mabel Williamson, a teacher, in 1916; the marriage was an unhappy one and Morison rapidly separated from his wife. In 1918 he became design supervisor at the Pelican Press, which published material critical of the war. He moved on to a similar position at the Cloister Press. In 1922, he was a founder-member of the Fleuron Society dedicated to typographic matters (a fleuron being a typographic flower or ornament). He edited the society's journal, '' The Fleuron'', from 1925 to 1930. The quality of the publication's artwork and printing was considered exceptional. From 1923 to 1925, he was also a staff editor/writer for the '' Penrose Annual,'' a graphic arts journal.

With the Monotype Corporation

From 1923 to 1967, Morison was a typographic consultant for the Monotype Corporation. In the 1920s and 1930s, his work at Monotype included research and adaptation of historical typefaces, including the revival of the Bembo and

types. He pioneered the great expansion of the company's range of typefaces, and hugely influenced the field of typography to the present day. At Monotype, Morison obtained rights to typefaces by leading artists of the time including Bruce Rogers, Jan van Krimpen and Berthold Wolpe. Aesthetically, Morison disliked the excessive historicity of Victorian romantic fine printing, with its interest in reviving

blackletter Blackletter (sometimes black letter or black-letter), also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule or Gothic type, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 until the 17th century. It continued to be commonly used for ...

and the appearance of medieval manuscripts, but preferred a more restrained style of printing that nonetheless also rejected the harshly industrial appearance of the "batteries of bold, bad faces" of the nineteenth century. In 1927, the British Monotype Corporation hired Beatrice Warde – quickly named the company's Publicity Manager – and has been credited with spreading Morison's typographic influences through her own writings. Morison and Warde helped edit Monotype's newsletter, the ''Monotype Recorder'', which promoted Monotype equipment and provided tips for users, showcased examples of high-quality printing and included articles on printing history, several by Morison's collaborator Alfred F. Johnson, a curator at the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

. Through Daniel Berkeley Updike, the leading figure in American printing of the time with whom he carried an extensive correspondence, he became aware of an obscure late-eighteenth century type known as

in the archives of Sheffield type foundry Stephenson Blake, and arranged for Monotype to license and recreate it. While not all his projects at Monotype were successful and his position was insecure at the start of his tenure, his commission of Gill Sans and even more so Times New Roman both proved extremely financially successful for Monotype. Both remain among the most-used typefaces of all time. Morison became friends with Brooke Crutchley, printer to the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, one of Monotype's best customers, and his archives went to Cambridge after his death. Late in life, for Crutchley he wrote the book '' A Tally of Types'', an assessment of the typefaces created by Monotype that were used in Cambridge. Despite its limited scope and some oversights, it is considered one of the landmark books on twentieth-century printing. As a writer for the ''Fleuron'' he was known for promoting the radical idea that

italics In typography, italic type is a cursive font based on a stylised form of calligraphic handwriting. Along with blackletter and roman type, it served as one of the major typefaces in the history of Western typography. Owing to the influence f ...

in book printing were too disruptive to the flow of text, and should be phased out. While this influenced some contemporary type designers such as van Krimpen and Dwiggins at Linotype, Morison rapidly came to concede that the idea was misguided, and late in life commented that Times New Roman included an italic that "owed more to Didot than dogma." Morison wrote prolifically on the history of printing.

Philip Gaskell Philip Gaskell (6 January 1926 – 31 July 2001) was a British bibliographer and librarian. Life He was born on 6 January 1926 in Highgate, London, the son of John Wellesley Gaskell, director of an engineering company, and his wife, Olive Eliza ...

however cautioned that "his books and papers were always stimulating, and frequently sound in their general conclusions, but at the same time he was inaccurate".

Times New Roman

Morison was also typographical consultant to ''

'' newspaper from 1929 to 1960; and in 1931, having criticised the paper for the poor quality of its printing, he was commissioned by the newspaper to produce a new, easy-to-read typeface for the publication. '' Times New Roman,'' the typeface which Morison developed with graphic artist Victor Lardent, was first used by the newspaper in 1932 and was issued commercially by Monotype in 1933. He held the held the Sandars Readership in Bibliography at Cambridge in 1931 and lectured on "The English newspaper: some account of the physical development of the journals printed in London from 1622 down to the present day." Morison edited the ''History of the Times'' from 1935 to 1952, and was editor of ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'' between 1945 and 1948.

Later career

Morison was Lyell Lecturer in Bibliography at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

in 1956-1957 and lectured on "Aspects of Authority and Freedom in Relation to Greco–Latin Script, Inscription, and Type." In 1960, Morison was elected a Royal Designer for Industry. He was a member of the editorial board of ''

'' from 1961 until his death in 1967. He was offered a knighthood in 1953 and the CBE in 1962, but declined both. He was instrumental in development of the exhibition of the contribution printing had made to the enlargement of human knowledge: Printing and the Mind of Man. It coincided with the 1963 International Printing Machinery and Allied Trades Exhibition (IPEX). Morison died in London on 11 October 1967.

Selected publications

* ''On Type Faces, Examples of the use of type for the printing of books: with an introductory essay & notes by Stanley Morison'', The Medici Society of Seven, Grafton St, London, & The Fleuron, Westminster, 1923 * ''Four centuries of Fine Printing; Two Hundred and Seventy-two Examples of the Work of Presses Established Between 1465 and 1924'', 1924 * ''Type Designs of the Past and Present'', 1926 * ''English newspaper: Some account of the physical development of journals printed in London between 1622 & the present day'', 1932 * ''First Principles of Typography'', 1936 * ''A List of Type Specimens'', with: Harry Carter, Ellic Howe, Alfred F. Johnson and Graham Pollard, 1942 * ''English Prayer Books'', 1943; revised edition 1945; revised and enlarged edition 1949; digital reprint 2009 * ''A Tally of Types'', 1953 * ''Calligraphy 1535–1885: A collection of seventy-two writing-books and specimens from the Italian, French, Low Countries and Spanish schools'', 1962 * ''On Type Designs Past and Present: A Brief Introduction'', 1962 * ''The Typographic Book, 1450–1935: A Study of Fine Typography Through Five Centuries'', 1963 * ''Letter Forms, typographic and scriptorial: Two essays on their classification, history and bibliography'', 1968 * ''Politics and Script'', 1972 * ''Selected Essays on the History of Letter-Forms in Manuscript and Print'', Vol. 1 & 2, 1980.

Notes and references

Notes

Explanatory footnotes

Citation footnotes

General references

* James Moran, ''Stanley Morison: His Typographic Achievement'' * Nicolas Barker, ''Stanley Morison'' (authorised biography) (Note: Barker had to write the biography rapidly, resulting in a release with numerous misprints and errors, listed in an errata section of the ''Times Literary Supplement'' shortly afterwards.)

External links

Linotype > Font Designers > Stanley Morison

published by th
Old School Press
and
picture of Morison
at ''Typolis''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morison, Stanley 1889 births 1967 deaths British anti–World War I activists English typographers and type designers Fleuron Society members English conscientious objectors English designers People from Wanstead People from Harringay Converts to Roman Catholicism Historians of printing AIGA medalists Historians of technology