Apologies if this has been discussed before, but does anyone know the typeface(s) used on the Vandercook manual, or on the identification sign / tag on the press? I have a 1962 SP-15. I want to guess it’s something like Gill Sans or a popular modern font of the time, but perhaps they had their own typeface created.
Mostly Spartan that came from proofs pulled from metal type, though later on in the 60s they got lazy and used transfer type on some of the originals in the files we have. It was often left up to who ever they used to make the plates as these were all farmed out to various vendors though Spartan was specified.
Fritz
Absolutely.
And most important, the warnings about needless running of the rollers!
Now we just need someone to reproduce the ‘trip’ & ‘print’ tags, center line markers, and dead line tags…
Daniel Morris
The Arm Letterpress
Brooklyn, NY
Thank you!
The typeface in the SP series manuals and on carriage nameplates is Spartan, which was produced by ATF and Linotype. (See American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century by Mac McGrew.)