R. Hunter Middleton Explained

R. Hunter Middleton
Birth Name:	Robert Hunter Middleton
Birth Date:	May 6, 1898
Birth Place:	Glasgow, Scotland
Death Place:	Chicago
Known For:	typography
Notable Works:	Tempo, Radiant

Robert Hunter Middleton (May 6, 1898 – August 3, 1985) was an American book designer, painter, and typeface designer.^[1] Born in Glasgow, Scotland he came to Chicago in 1908 where he studied at the School of the Art Institute. He joined the design department of the Ludlow Typograph Company in 1923 and served as director of the department of typeface design from 1933–71. In 1944 he began operating a private press, The Cherryburn Press. He died in Chicago.^[2]

Typefaces

All of these foundry types (except Andromaque) were cast by Ludlow Typograph^[3]

While cited as America's second most prolific (metal type era) type designer after Morris Fuller Benton, many of Middleton's fonts have never been digitised. This may be because many were display or script designs which dated after their time of greatest popularity.

References

• Rollins, Carl Purlington American Type Designers and Their Work. in Print, V. 4, #1.
• Jaspert, W. Pincus, W. Turner Berry and A.F. Johnson. The Encyclopedia of Type Faces. Blandford Press Lts.: 1953, 1983. .
• MacGrew, Mac, "American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century," Oak Knoll Books, New Castle Delaware, 1993, .
• Friedl, Ott, and Stein, Typography: an Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques Throughout History. Black Dog & Levinthal Publishers: 1998. .

Further reading

• Bruce Beck, Robert Hunter Middleton, the man and his letters. Eight essays on his life and career Chicago, 1985.

External links

• Robert Hunter Middleton Papers at the Newberry Library
• Robert H. Middleton letters at the Newberry Library

Notes and References

1. Shaw . Paul . Paul Shaw (design historian) . Chicago Modernism and the Ludlow Typograph: Douglas C. McMurtrie and Robert Hunter Middleton at Work . Journal of Design History . 30 June 2022 . 35 . 1 . 92–94 . 10.1093/jdh/epab046.
2. Friedl, Ott, and Stein, p. 382.
3. MacGrew, Mac, American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century, Oak Knoll Books, New Castle Delaware, 1993, .