Nevia?

I found about 50 characters of this beautiful type among lots of mixed type and would like to see if it can be identified so I can possibly purchase more. Thanks.

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Oops - here’s the image…

Here’s the image…

image: Untitled.jpg

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To me it looks like Bologna,the last F in the bottom row
looks to be an orphan, You know most Dogs are orphans
and they love bologna. best james

The first version of this type was William Dana Orcutt’s 1903 Humanistic, which was copied (with some changes) by Stephenson Blake probably in the late 40s, and renamed Bologna. ATF copied SBs version in 1952 and renamed it Verona because they thought American printers would call it Baloney, not realizing that they had cast the Humanistic years before. Ironically, Verona was the name given to Stephenson Blake’s version of ATF’s Munder Venizian. The mats still exist and have been cast by Dale Guild in the past. I have several sizes in my cases. What size is your specimen?

I’m pretty sure that Fritz still has the Dale Guild cast 14 pt. Verona in stock at NA Graphics.

http://order.nagraph.com/page46.html

Daniel Morris
The Arm Letterpress (and The Dale Guild)
Brooklyn, NY

Yes, we have lots of ATF Verona in 14 pt. We also have the BB&S Munder Venezian in 12 pt mentioned above cast by the Dale Guild and we have the 18 pt mats as well, but no mold with the correct depth of drive to cast the mats on a Barth. Munder Venezian is one of my favorites and I would like to see more of it available, but I am aware of only the 12 and 18 pt mats surviving the 1993 ATF auction. Stan Nelson told me he thought the Smithsonian had some Munder Venezian mats but I never followed up on that lead.

Thanks everyone for the terrific help. Just one more question… Looking at the nagraph site, what does the 695 in “ATF Verona 695” represent?

Thank again - the history and artistry are so very interesting. More type to come as I proof them.

Thanks everyone for the terrific help. Just one more question… Looking at the nagraph site, what does the 695 in “ATF Verona 695” represent?

Thank again - the history and artistry are so very interesting. More type to come as I proof them.

Ah - the sample I posted is 18pt.

The 695 is the casting number of the type. The identification number for the foundry.

More properly the series number. This becomes important when wading through various families of type, like the Copperplates, Bank Gothics, and the like where there are so many variations in weights and sizes within a given point size and range of type. There can be 7 different actual sizes of say Copperplate Gothic Medium in just the 6 and 12 point sizes. For both the foundry and their stocking dealers, a system based on numbers was essential to keep things sorted. And in our particular case, still is when faced with four or five hundred packages of a type face like the Copperplates sitting on the shelves.

Fritz

Thanks again. Am I correct that the 695 casting number is special to a particular foundry? And, great info on how the same sized type can actually be of a different physical size. I ran into that the other day and just couldn’t figure out what was up. That was my next question.

>Am I correct that the 695 casting number is special to a particular foundry?

The series number is indeed specific to the foundry or matrix manufacturer. If you look at the back of McGrew’s “American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century” [you need this book] you’ll see very convenient tables for ATF, Lanston Monotype, and Ludlow. ATF only started using their series numbers around 1930 (McGrew has a very useful note about this). Ludlow used an alphanumeric code. Mergenthaler Linotype “triangle” numbers were a system unto themselves, and Intertype used another system still.

For the Lanston Monotype numbers, see also various lists at:

http://www.circuitousroot.com/artifice/letters/press/comptype/monotype/t...

Especially for composition sizes, Lanston also had a delightfully complicated system of letter suffixes and such; see “Monotype Matrix Information” at:

http://www.circuitousroot.com/artifice/letters/press/comptype/monotype/t...

>And, great info on how the same sized type can actually be of a different physical size.

Here’s a page from the 1923 ATF specimen book showing Copperplate Gothic Heavy, which was produced with multiple face sizes in the various body (point) sizes:

http://www.galleyrack.com/temp/atf-1923-0600rgb-0334-heavy-copperplate-g...

(my apologies for an off-list link; you just can’t fit a specimen book page in the tiny image BriarPress allows).

Note that the *series* is the particular variation of the face; thus Copperplate Gothic Heavy is series 130, C G Light is 128, C G Heavy Condensed is 131, and so forth. Often (but not always) the italic was a separate series; for Lanston, usually (but there are exceptions) the italic had a 1 suffixed to the base series number.

In the page linked above, ATF C G Heavy (series 130, though the specimen doesn’t call this out) is shown in four body sizes (6, 12, 18, and 24 point). Each body size was cut in two to four face sizes. ATF chose to number these consecutively across the body sizes, No. 21 through No. 30.

Here’s a scan of the label of a font of ATF 6 point Copperplate Gothic Heavy No. 21 (130):

http://www.galleyrack.com/temp/font-atf-130-heavy-copperplate-gothic-6pt...

In Ludlow’s version, Lining Plate Gothic Heavy, they chose to number the face sizes *within* the body sizes; thus 6 point LP Gothic Heavy Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and then 12 pt Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.

It’s easier to work with than to describe. It can also be a lot of fun, in a geeky sort of way. There’s a lot of history hiding behind these dry numbers and their not infrequent exceptions and irregularities.

Regards,
David M.
www.CircuitousRoot.com

Thank you David and I just ordered the book.