Trafton Calendar Cuts

Hi Paul,
Were these BB&S? Early ATF? I am not sure which specimen books to be checking.

Dan

Hi Dan,

My impression is that they were released in the 1930s by ATF I suppose. I’ve never seen them in a catalogue that I can recall. Howard Trafton designed two types for ATF in the early to mid 1930s, so I suppose they were done about the same time.

Thanks for looking,
Paul

>Howard Trafton designed two types for ATF in the early to mid 1930s

Which ones? McGrew lists only three series for Trafton: Trafton Script (1933), Cartoon Light (1936) and Cartoon Bold (1936). All three were cut and cast by Bauer in Germany, not ATF.

Regards,
David M.
www.CircuitousRoot.com

Hi Paul,
Are these the ones? If so, I will try to drum up some more images.

Dan

What a lot of people may not know is that ATF issued several catalogs in the 30s and 40s that were paperback and show a lot of really nice cuts that do not appear in any of their hardbound catalogs (or later in their binders). This has vexed me over the years because I have several really slick ATF foundry-cast cuts (some are 3-color) that I have never found in any of the numerous ATF catalogs that I have.

I have one or two of the style shown above, but mine are not in good shape and wouldn’t make good proofs. I think one of mine has the silhouetted guy being followed by a turkey (perhaps the November calendar piece?).

Rick

Here’s a lead: Google Books returns the following snippet from Bruce Rogers’ book _Pi_ (1953):

“In the intervals of typesetting I had composed the decorations from Howard Trafton’s calendar cuts in the pseudo- Greek style, together with a few other odd ornaments.”

Regrettably, the snippet doesn’t include the information on where Rogers used these decorations (and I don’t yet have this volume to check). The cut Dan posted would certainly fit this description, though.

Regards,
David M.
www.CircuitousRoot.com

Hi Dan,

Yep, those are the ones. I wonder if the matrices survived the ATF sale?

@Rick, I have seven that are ok and one damaged, but am curious as to which month is represented by each image, some of them are really strange.

@David, Bauer, right. The book Rogers referred to is Twelve Moneths and Christmas Day from ‘Fantastickes’, by Nicolas Breton. He had intended to typeset and print the book himself on the little Albion he had owned for 30 years, in the end he typeset it, but had the printing done by The Thistle Press, and it was published by Clarke and Way. He sold the press to Valenti Angelo.

And to prove what a small world it is, I just read a bio of an artist, the father of one of my childhood friends, who studied art under Howard Trafton.

Paul

I have a copy of an ATF 64-page catalog dated 1944 that shows on pages 10-11, the cut that Dan posted, February ‘Calendar Silhouette.’ No mention of Trafton. The series of 13 were available in 48, 72, 96 pt sizes. The first of the series is titled ‘Cover Design’ followed by 12 months of beautiful silhouettes.
Same page shows lefts and rights of eight ‘Calendar Decorators’ in various sizes.

Paul,
I remember holding these matrices in my hands. I just checked with Micah and it appears there is still one size of them down at the foundry.

We have a solid stash of the ATF promo materials. I won’t be back down there until the 9th of April, but I will make sure to bring back any related materials to scan for you and I’ll shoot some photos of those mats.

Dan

Thanks, Dan. I’ll be looking forward to it.

Hi Paul,

I have what I think is a full set of these cuts in the 48-point size. Here’s a photo. I’ve posted it on my Flickr page so you can see the detail better.

Thanks so much for identifying them. I bought them on eBay a while back and have been wondering what they were. My plan has been to use them as chapter heads in a small book, for which I would write the story. Now that I know they are calendar cuts, I suppose the story must take place over the course of a year. :-)

I will be interested to learn more about them. I would love to see some samples of how they were used.

Barbara

Trafton calendar cuts.jpg

Curiouser and curiouser. While I only have a few of these calendar cuts, I do have a full set of left and right “Calendar Decorators” that Stanislaus mentions above. They are basically the birds, ducks, rabbitts, etc. that are incorporated in the cuts shown. Until now I had idea that Trafton had designed them.

Could these designs be any more ART DECO????? Very, very cool.

Rick

Did a quick trace of one of the cuts above to see how it might look in print.

goat.png

Another Bruce Rogers book using the Trafton decorations was his “Works of Epicurus” (Limited Editions Club - 1947). It is a suberb small volume bound in blind stamped black goat skin. The trafton decorations are arranged as chapter headings and printed in raised gold on pale grey rag paper. A very lovely LEC volume.

@Barbara, The cut on the top line, second from the right is from a larger size. The actual 48pt cut would have been a similar size figure as in the others. @Derek, Rogers must have liked the cuts, because he used them for the book I mentioned above. @oprion, Remember the image would be inverted.

Paul, I also noticed the great difference in scale of the man playing the lyre. Several of the other figures are not quite to scale, either. They’re all on 48-point bodies, and the numbers are consecutive S16 through S28 (the lyre-player is S22). So it’s a bit of a mystery to me.

I pulled a quick proof today, below and also on Flickr. The cuts are in numerical order except for the last line, which goes S28, S27, S26. I think these cuts will be a challenge to print, with both large solid areas and very fine detail (those tiny fingers!) I’m thinking that they will drive the choice of paper.

I ordered a copy of the Nicolas Breton book today, though not one of the signed ones (I have my limits). It’s interesting that there’s another book using the same figures. This could become a veritable genre.

Barbara

Trafton calendar cuts proof001.jpg

@Barbara, I have the smaller lyre player, and it seems very small on the 48pt face, but it is in scale. The ones I don’t have are the last four on your proof. I appreciate the proof so I can see what I am missing. Unfortunately I have a feeling that finding them will be like drawing an inside straight.

Paul

Just received my copy of the Nicholas Breton book. I’ve posted a Flickr set.

Barbara

This thread prompted me to acquire a copy of “Ornaments Typecast by ATF” (from 1944, which was an odd year to be publishing a book of ornaments). Here, then, are the ATF showings of the Trafton Calendar Silhouettes and Decorators:

http://archive.org/details/OrnamentsTypecastByATF1944

They were also packaged as Handy Boxes Nos. 98 (silhouettes) and 99 (decorators).

Regards,
David M.
www.CircuitousRoot.com

Thanks for posting David, that is exactly what I originally wanted to see.

Wow, thanks from me, too, David. This raises a question, however. Some of the illustrations in the Nicholas Breton book are much larger than the largest cut offered by ATF. For example, the figure at the head of the January chapter measures 138 points from the tip of the largest bird’s wing to the baseline. So I suppose Bruce Rogers must have had some engravings made based on the Trafton designs? He says in his introductory note that Howard Trafton designed the peacock for him, so I guess they were working together on this.

Barbara

I’ll be down at the foundry on Monday. When I get back I will give a report on which matrices are still there.

Dan

Thanks, Dan. Another odd thing is that the June cuts — the lyre player — have designations referring presumably to 30, 48, and 72 points, whereas most of the others are designated 48, 72, and 96. This would explain the difference in scale between the one I have and the one Paul has. (August, the scythe wielder, is another odd one with 48, 60, and 84.)

I would love to see an actual calendar printed with these. You’d think, since they were advertised and sold in Handy Boxes, that there would be some calendars around. Maybe David’s right, that the war had something to do with it.

Barbara

It is interesting that the lyre player is noted as 30pt, mine is that designated size, but cast fully on 48pt. I have an AFT brochure dated 1941 that has the largest 96 S16 cut so presumably they were available before the war. Perhaps the war restrictions caused them to cast on smaller bodies to save on materials. When I ran Hatch Show Print a fellow came in who was going from shop to shop buying old type metal. He said he had a Russian freighter docked in Florida and was trying to fill it up with lead. I declined to help him out, of course. When I mentioned it to the owner, he said, “sure, sell it to the Russians, and they’ll make it into bullets and shoot it back at us.” War mentality.

These are the Trafton Calendar Cut matrices I was able to locate at The Dale Guild yesterday. Some of these with the wider set widths would be very difficult to cast with even our largest pivotal caster. There may be more matrices, but this grouping was kept together.

Larger photo here on Flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thearm/7064513569/in/photostream

Daniel Morris
The Arm Letterpress/The Dale Guild
Brooklyn, NY