A type foundry is a

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

that

designs A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

or distributes

typeface A typeface (or font family) is a design of Letter (alphabet), letters, Numerical digit, numbers and other symbols, to be used in printing or for electronic display. Most typefaces include variations in size (e.g., 24 point), weight (e.g., light, ...

s. Before

digital typography Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line spacing, letter spac ...

, type foundries manufactured and sold

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

and

wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

typefaces for hand

typesetting Typesetting is the composition of text for publication, display, or distribution by means of arranging physical ''type'' (or ''sort'') in mechanical systems or '' glyphs'' in digital systems representing '' characters'' (letters and other ...

, and

matrices Matrix (: matrices or matrixes) or MATRIX may refer to: Science and mathematics * Matrix (mathematics), a rectangular array of numbers, symbols or expressions * Matrix (logic), part of a formula in prenex normal form * Matrix (biology), the ...

for line-casting machines like the Linotype and

Monotype Monotyping is a type of printmaking made by drawing or painting on a smooth, non-absorbent surface. The surface, or matrix, was historically a copper etching plate, but in contemporary work it can vary from zinc or glass to acrylic glass. The ...

, for

letterpress Letterpress printing is a technique of relief printing for producing many copies by repeated direct impression of an inked, raised surface against individual sheets of paper or a continuous roll of paper. A worker composes and locks movable t ...

printers. Today's digital type foundries accumulate and distribute typefaces (typically as digitized fonts) created by

type designer Type design is the art and process of designing typefaces. This involves drawing each letterform using a consistent style. The basic concepts and design variables are described below. A typeface differs from other modes of graphic production su ...

s, who may either be

freelancer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

s operating their own independent foundry, or employed by a foundry. Type foundries may also provide custom type design services.

England

In England, type foundries began in 1476, when

William Caxton William Caxton () was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into Kingdom of England, England in 1476, and as a Printer (publishing), printer to be the first English retailer ...

introduced the

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...

, importing at least some of the type that he used in printing. Until

William Caslon William Caslon I (1692/93 – 23 January 1766), also known as William Caslon the Elder, Mosley, 2008 was an English typefounder. The distinction and legibility of his type secured him the patronage of the leading printers of the day in England ...

(1692–1766), English type generally had a poor reputation so the best type was imported from

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...

. Only after Caslon had established his

Caslon foundry The Caslon type foundry was a type foundry in London which cast and sold metal type. It was founded by the punchcutter and typefounder William Caslon I, probably in 1720. For most of its history it was based at Chiswell Street, Islington, was the ...

Chiswell Street Chiswell Street is in the London Borough of Islington. It includes several buildings listed by Historic England. Location The street, in St Luke's, Islington, runs east-west and forms part of the B100 road. At the west end it becomes Beech St ...

, did the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

become a major centre for the industry, until the end of the 20th century when famous metal-based printing districts such as

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...

came to the close of their era. The industry was particularly important in

Victorian times In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed th ...

, when education became available to all due to the new school boards, and firms such as Charles Reed & Sons, the printer and type founders were in their heyday. The

St Bride Printing Library St Bride Library (formerly known as St Bride Printing Library and St Bride Typographical Library) is a library in London primarily devoted to printing, book arts, typography and graphic design. The library is housed in the St Bride Foundation In ...

in the City of London encourages wider public interest in the history of type founding for the printed book and newspaper.

Modern corporations

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Comput ...

Google LLC Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

Letraset Letraset was a company known mainly for manufacturing sheets of typefaces and other artwork elements using the dry-transfer lettering method. Letraset was acquired by the Colart group and became part of its subsidiary Winsor & Newton. C ...

Monotype Imaging 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 ...

Ascender Corporation Ascender Corporation was a digital typeface foundry and software development company in the Chicago suburb of Elk Grove Village, Illinois. It was founded in 2004 by a team of software developers, typographers, and people previously involved in dev ...

, a subsidiary of Monotype Imaging **

Bitstream A bitstream (or bit stream), also known as binary sequence, is a sequence of bits. A bytestream is a sequence of bytes. Typically, each byte is an 8-bit quantity, and so the term octet stream is sometimes used interchangeably. An octet may ...

, a subsidiary of Monotype Imaging **

FontFont FontShop International was an international manufacturer of digital typefaces (fonts), based in Berlin. It was one of the largest digital Type foundry, type foundries. The ''FontFont'' library of fonts contains designs by 160 type designers, amo ...

, a subsidiary of Monotype Imaging, located in Germany **

International Typeface Corporation The International Typeface Corporation (ITC) was a type manufacturer founded in New York in 1970 by Aaron Burns, Herb Lubalin and Edward Rondthaler. The company was one of the world's first type foundries to have no history in the production of ...

(ITC), a subsidiary of Monotype Imaging **

Linotype GmbH The Mergenthaler Linotype Company was a company founded in the United States in 1886 to market the Linotype machine (), a system to cast metal type in lines (linecaster) invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler. It became the world's leading manufacturer ...

, a subsidiary of Monotype Imaging, located in Germany **

URW Type Foundry URW Type Foundry GmbH (formerly URW++ Design & Development GmbH) is a type foundry based in Hamburg, Germany. The foundry has its own library with more than 500 font families. The company specializes in customized corporate typefaces and the dev ...

, a subsidiary of Monotype Imaging, located in Germany ** Hoefler & Co. (H&Co), a subsidiary of Monotype Imaging, located in New York City

Large form

Berthold Type Foundry H. Berthold AG was one of the largest and most successful type foundry, type foundries in the world for most of the modern typography, typographic era, making the transition from Movable type, foundry type to cold type successfully and only comin ...

Elsner+Flake Elsner is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Branko Elsner (1929–2012), Slovenian footballer and manager * David Elsner (born 1992), German ice hockey player * Gisela Elsner (1937–1992), German writer * Hannelore Elsne ...

* Emigre *

Font Bureau The Font Bureau, Inc. or Font Bureau is a digital type foundry based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The foundry is one of the leading designers of typefaces, specializing in type designs for magazine and newspaper publishers. History ...

House Industries House Industries is a type foundry and design studio based in Yorklyn, Delaware. The company was created in the 1990s in Wilmington, Delaware by co-founders Andy Cruz and Rich Roat. The company is best known for its typeface creations, which have ...

* Neufville Typefoundry (

Fundición Tipográfica Neufville Fundición Tipográfica Neufville or the Neufville Typefoundry is a type foundry in Barcelona and the most important supplier of the printing industry in Spain during the 20th century. History Discovered punches and matrices testify that the ori ...

)

Independent

* Blambot * Chank Diesel *

Comicraft Comicraft is a company which provides graphic design and lettering services to various (primarily comic book) companies. History The company was founded by Richard Starkings in 1992. Starkings had been working for Marvel UK for five years, but ...

Dalton Maag Dalton Maag is an independent font foundry with offices in London, UK, and São Paulo, Brazil. It designs fonts for use in corporate identities, logos, and other text uses. Dalton Maag has a library of 30 retail fonts as of 2016 and offers cust ...

Darden Studio Joshua Darden (born 1979 in Northridge, Los Angeles, California) is an American typeface designer. He published his first typeface at the age of 15, becoming according to ''Fonts In Use'' the first known African-American typeface designer. C ...

* Larabie Fonts/Typodermic *

Mark Simonson Mark Simonson (born 1955) is an American independent type designer who works in St. Paul, Minnesota. Career Simonson has described his typefaces as often being inspired by lettering styles of the past, such as the graphic design of the 1970s, Ar ...

Studio *

Parachute A parachute is a device designed to slow an object's descent through an atmosphere by creating Drag (physics), drag or aerodynamic Lift (force), lift. It is primarily used to safely support people exiting aircraft at height, but also serves va ...

P22 Type Foundry P22 Type Foundry is a digital type foundry and letterpress printing studio based in Rochester, New York. The company was created in 1994 in Buffalo, New York by co-founders Richard Kegler and Carima El-Behairy. The company is best known for its t ...

* Sandoll Communications *

Scriptorium Fonts Scriptorium Fonts was a type foundry based in Austin, Texas, founded in 1992 by game designer, editor and historian Dave Nalle. The type foundry had three other type designers, these included: Michael Scarpitti, Peter Nevins and Kevin Andrew Mur ...

* Typofonderie / formerly *

Typotheque Typotheque is a type foundry and design studio from The Hague, Netherlands that develops and markets original typefaces. Typotheque specializes in creation of fonts for several scripts. Typotheque's work has been profiled in the design publicat ...

Defunct

American Type Founders American Type Founders (ATF) Co. was a business trust created in 1892 by the merger of 23 type foundries, representing about 85 percent of all type manufactured in the United States at the time. De Vinne, Theodore Low, ''The Practice of Typogr ...

* Barnhart Brothers & Spindler * Bauer Type *

Binny & Ronaldson Binny & Ronaldson established the first permanent type foundry in the United States. Founded in Philadelphia in 1796 by the Scottish people, Scot Archibald Binny (1762/3–1838) and James Ronaldson (1769–1841). History Archibald Binny, of Scot ...

Caslon Type Foundry The Caslon type foundry was a type foundry in London which cast and sold metal type. It was founded by the punchcutting, punchcutter and typefounder William Caslon, William Caslon I, probably in 1720. For most of its history it was based at Chiswe ...

* Charles Reed & Sons *

Deberny & Peignot Deberny & Peignot (Fonderie Deberny et Peignot) was a French type foundry, created by the 1923 merger of G. Peignot & Fils and Deberny & Cie. It was bought by the Haas Type Foundry (Switzerland) in 1972, which in turn was merged into D. Stempel ...

Grafotechna Grafotechna (Grafotechna n. p., Závod 5, Výroba písma, mosazných linek a matric) was a Czechoslovak type foundry, created in 1951. It ceased to exist after 1990. It was the only manufacturer of moveable type, metal types in the former Czechos ...

Inland Type Foundry The Inland Type Foundry was an American type foundry established in 1894 in St. Louis, Missouri, Saint Louis, Missouri and later with branch offices in Chicago and New York City. Although it was founded to compete directly with the "type trust" ( ...

Louis Pouchée Louis John Pouchée (1782 – 15 March 1845), was a London type founder and entrepreneur. Career Pouchée is first recorded as the proprietor of Alamode Beef and Veal House (1811–1812) and Pouchée & Co Coal Merchants (1811–22), both in Holb ...

Stephenson Blake Stephenson Blake is an engineering company based in Sheffield, England. The company was active from the early 19th century as a type founder, remaining until the 1990s as the last active type foundry in Britain, since when it has diversified in ...

VEB Typoart VEB Typoart was the only type foundry of East Germany. It was a state-owned enterprise ("Volkseigener Betrieb") located in Dresden. The foundry's most influential art directors were Herbert Thannhäuser (until 1963) and Albert Kapr (until 1987) ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Type Foundry Publishing