Font identification

By “bookbinding font” I assume you mean that the type is cast in solid brass. Solid brass type was manufactured for the bookbinding trade to withstand the high temperatures it was submitted to. It was heated for the purpose of foil stamping onto leather and cloth bindings.

I happen to have a brass font identicle to yours and have always simply called it “Latin” based on the general style of the font.

I don’t know if much research has ever beern done specifically on brass-cast bookbinders fonts. These fonts were usually produced by specialty manufacturers, not traditional lead-alloy typefoundries.

I have seen a few specimen catalogs from such manufacturers over the years, and most of them offer a fairly limited selection of faces.

I do however, have one catalog in my library from the F.H. Stevens Type Co. of Boston, MA. It has no date, but appears to be late nineteenth or early twentieth century in origin. It is a specimen book of brass type for “Bookbinders, Badge Printers and Box Makers”.

I displays 64 pages of specimens, showing a total of 559 individual fonts! No names on any of them. They are simply numbered 1 through 559 and represent around 60 different typefaces. Some faces are offerred as as a choice of caps only or caps and lowercase. The variety is quite impressive and represents the popular faces of the time.

It is also interesting to note that the all caps fonts are offerred in quantities of 100 characters per font and the cap and lowercase fonts all contain 175 characters.

Also note that brass type is standard height so it can also be mixed with lead type to printed with.

Thank you for your very informative response! I intend to use this for foil stamping. It is interesting that the F.H. Stevens company you mention is out of Boston, as this type possibly came from Harcourt Bindery of Boston.

Best regards,
Bob