Deepdene (typeface) explained

Deepdene
Style:Serif
Creator:Frederic Goudy
Foundry:Lanston Monotype
Releasedate:1927 onwards
Shown Here:Linden Hill

Deepdene is a serif typeface designed by Frederic Goudy from 1927–1933. It belongs to the "old-style" of serif font design, with low contrast between strokes and an oblique axis. However, Deepdene has crisp serifs and a nearly upright italic, with much less of a slant than is normal for this style.

Issued by the American branch of Lanston Monotype, Deepdene was popular on its release and often used for the body text of books.[1] [2] Several digitisations have been created.

Deepdene is named after Goudy's home in Marlborough-on-Hudson.[3] [4] This was itself named for the road on which he previously lived in Queens, New York.[5] [6]

Design

Goudy described the design as loosely inspired by "a Dutch type which had just been introduced;" Goudy's friend Paul Bennett suggested in later life that this was Jan van Krimpen's Lutetia although Walter Tracy writes that the attribution cannot be certain.[7] He also later created a medium weight, bold and bold italic.

Goudy's biographer D. J. R. Bruckner praised the design as "the type that brings together the most characteristics of Goudy types the best".[8]

Goudy later created a blackletter design, Deepdene Open Text and the derived Deepdene Text, which was intended to complement it for purposes such as initial capitals. The designs are not related otherwise.[9]

The family in metal type included:

Digitisations

See also: List of typefaces designed by Frederic Goudy. Deepdene has been digitised and released by several organisations and software companies. P22's digitisation under their LTC imprint perhaps uniquely includes the swash capitals and small caps in italics.[10] The open-source "League of Movable Type" project has released an open-source digitisation, "Linden Hill", by Barry Schwartz, in regular and italic with swashes but without bold weights.[11]

References

Notes

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Updike. John. John Updike. A Bull in the Typography Shop: a review of Frederic Goudy by D. J. R. Bruckner. The New York Times. 16 December 1990 . 5 February 2016.
  2. Web site: Deepdene Oldstyle. P22. 11 June 2016.
  3. Web site: Guide to the Frederic Goudy Papers, 1903-1966. Catherine Pelton Durrell '25 Archives and Special Collections Library. Vassar College. 11 June 2016.
  4. Web site: Deepdene, Goudy's Home on Old Post Road. Marlborough Local History (blog). 2 March 2012 . 11 June 2016.
  5. Book: Sloane, Eric. Eric Sloane. Return to Taos: Eric Sloane's Sketchbook of Roadside Americana. April 2006. Courier Corporation. 978-0-486-44773-5. 8–9.
  6. Book: Emily Amodeo. Joanne Sagarese Pagnotta. James B. Cosgrove. Marlborough. 2012. Arcadia Publishing. 978-0-7385-9788-1. 8.
  7. Book: Tracy, Walter. Walter Tracy. Letters of Credit: A View of Type Design. January 2003. D.R. Godine. 978-1-56792-240-0. 121.
  8. Book: Bruckner. D. J. R.. Frederic Goudy. 1990. Masters of American Design.
  9. Book: Goudy. Frederic. A Half-Century of Type Design and Typography, Volume 2. 1946. The Typophiles. New York. 150–201. 11 June 2016.
  10. Web site: LTC Deepdene. MyFonts. LTC. 27 August 2015.
  11. Web site: Schwartz. Barry. Linden Hill. League of Movable Type. 27 August 2015.