P22 Type Foundry's profile

Slab Serif Woodtype Digitizing Project

Typography
These two extra bold fonts are classic slab serif wood type styles with one detail of difference. Columbian is an extra bold Clarendon wood type that was manufactured by many of the wood type manufacturers in the late 19th century. "Clarendons" feature bracketed or rounded serif joins whereas "Antique" was a class of typefaces that features squared off slab serifs. Some type designs have only minor differences from others. The Columbian design is essentially identical to Wm. Page & Co.’s "Antique no. 4", the difference being the bracketed serifs. In researching material for the digitization of Columbian, we started with a 15 line font identified as "Columbian" shown in the Angelica Press wood type portfolio (printed in 1976). This font is in fact "Page Antique no. 4". Comparing Antique no. 4 to Columbian specimens from Hamilton and other manufactures confirms the only real difference is the serif treatments. Therefore, both fonts are presented as a pair. Each font features a full Western & Central European character set.
The specimen of Columbian above is from the 1876 Wm. Page Poster Type Catalog (Courtesy Newberry Library Chicago)
This 1890 Wm. Page Specimen book shows the unbracketed Antique No.4 (Courtesy David Shields)
Sketches by Tim Martin for missing characters not found in wood type specimens
Full Character set in final versions of both HWT Slab fonts
 
Thanks for assistance to Amelia Hugill- Fontanel at the Cary Collection, RIT, Tom Walker at Indiana University, the Rob Roy Kelly Collection at U of Texas, Austin and David Shields
 
Slab Serif Woodtype Digitizing Project
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Slab Serif Woodtype Digitizing Project

HWT SLAB LOST TWINS OF BOLD, RUGGED WOOD TYPE.

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