The many faces of Frederic

Frederic W. Goudy was a printer and typographer who designed more than 100 different typefaces during his career, including the eponymous Goudy Old Style.

Before working with letters, Goudy was a numbers guy. It was around his job as a bookkeeper that he found the time to start experimenting with printing and subsequently typography.

This became his career, and he co-founded the Village Press with his wife Bertha.

“The main purpose of letters, then, is the practical one of making thoughts visible; yet they have as well a decided decorative quality…”

— The Alphabet: Fifteen Interpretative designs drawn and arranged with explanatory text and illustrations, Frederic W. Goudy

During the time of the Village Press, the Goudys created books together. One such book was The Alphabet, an essay presenting the development of lettering.

The book was written and illustrated by Frederic and typeset by Bertha. It’s available to view here on Internet Archive.

Creating

The presentation of a piece of writing affects how we engage with it.

Try some experimentation of your own. Font, spacing, illustration or collage – take a short piece of your own writing and play around with its presentation.

We’d love to see what you come up with, if you’d like to share.