Category: Press and typeface identification
Later topic: 13 x 19" Chase - Need help identifying...
Earlier topic: ID please

24pt mystery type

Anyone recognize this face? I have tried identifont to no avail. Interesting characteristics are the less formal, spur-like serifs (but not all the serifs) and the fact that the bowl of the lowercase a is not closed where it meets the vertical stroke.

I am totally stumped. Any ideas?

image: mysteryFace.jpg

mysteryFace.jpg

image: mysteryFace2.jpg

mysteryFace2.jpg

image: mysteryFace3.jpg

mysteryFace3.jpg

image: mysteryFace4.jpg

mysteryFace4.jpg

Log in to reply   5 replies so far

Without any references at hand and not much of the font shown, I’m gonna guess Colwell Handletter.

I think Colwell Handletter is pretty similar in general look, feel, and “color” but differs in details. The sample shown looks like it’s actually Artcraft.

As Dave Robison suggests, it does look a lot like Artcraft. But the specimen in McGrew (a composite from three sources) doesn’t show it to best advantage. In particular, the ‘a’ of the McGrew showing has a closed bowel.

Here is Artcraft in the 1925 Barnhart Brothers & Spindler catalog:

http://www.galleyrack.com/temp/bbs-1925-artcraft-0600grey.jpg

BBS inherited the materials of Wiebking’s Advance Type Foundry, so this would presumably be close to the original.

Here it is in the Lanston Monotype copy:

http://www.galleyrack.com/temp/lanston-monotype-03340-artcraft-mtf1-0600...

And here it is in the Ludlow Typograph copy (from the large maroon-covered specimen book; it doesn’t appear in the smaller Ludlow specimens I have):

http://www.galleyrack.com/temp/ludlow-typefaces-D-1140-0600rgb-0190.jpg

It also appears on p. 92 of the 1923 ATF specimen.

I apologize for the off-list links above. Specimens don’t work very well in the limited space allowed for inline images here on Briar Press. The images linked are all 600dpi scans (about 5 Meg each); save them offline and view them with a proper image viewer for best results.

Regards,
David M.
www.CircuitousRoot.com

Another vote for Artcraft.

Wow. Humble thanks to you all. David, the 1925 Artcraft specimen is a dead ringer as far as I can tell from the very limited amount of type I have. Hooray. Now if I can only find someone selling a full font of it so I can complete it!

Thanks again to everyone for the help in IDing this one.