Remnants of a Legendary Typeface Have Been Rescued From the River Thames

[Introversion]

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/doves-typeface-2454807

The depths of the river Thames in London hold many unexpected stories, gleaned from the recovery of prehistoric tools, Roman pottery, medieval jewelry, and much more besides. Yet the tale of the lost (and since recovered) Doves typeface is surely one of the most peculiar.

A little over a century ago, the printer T.J. Cobden-Sanderson took it upon himself to surreptitiously dump every piece of this carefully honed metal letterpress type into the river. It was an act of retribution against his business partner, Emery Walker, whom he believed was attempting to swindle him.

The pair had conceived this idiosyncratic Arts and Crafts typeface when they founded the Doves Press in the London’s Hammersmith neighborhood, in 1900. They worked with draftsman Percy Tiffin and master punch-cutter Edward Prince to faithfully recall the Renaissance clarity of 15th-century Venetian fonts, designed by the revolutionary master typographer Nicolas Jensen.

With its extra-wide capital letters, diamond shaped punctuation and unique off-kilter dots on the letter “i,” Doves Type became the press’s hallmark, surpassing fussier typographic attempts by their friend and sometime collaborator, William Morris.

The letterforms only existed as a unique 16pt edition, meaning that when Cobden-Sanderson decided to “bequeath” every single piece of molded lead to the Thames, he effectively destroyed any prospect of the typeface ever being printed again. That might well have been the case, were it not for several individuals and a particularly tenacious graphic designer.
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[Alessandra Kelley]

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/doves-typeface-245480

For some reason your link forwards me to the ragged ends of a 2015 article about the reunion of the cast of "Saved By the Bell" (still on ArtNet, bizarrely).

I did a little digging and found this link instead:

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/doves-typeface-2454807

 

[Introversion]

For some reason your link forwards me to the ragged ends of a 2015 article about the reunion of the cast of "Saved By the Bell" (still on ArtNet, bizarrely).

I did a little digging and found this link instead:

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/doves-typeface-2454807

Huh, looks like essentially the same article? Maybe they updated it for the link I posted?

That is weird! That is the article I meant to post. Thanks!

 

[Alessandra Kelley]

Huh, looks like essentially the same article? Maybe they updated it for the link I posted?

That is weird! That is the article I meant to post. Thanks!

Looks like you accidentally clipped off the last number in the article url and it shifted to a much older article which probably had the same number but without the last digit.

Anyway -- That article and discovery is very cool!

 

[Introversion]

Looks like you accidentally clipped off the last number in the article url and it shifted to a much older article which probably had the same number but without the last digit.

Anyway -- That article and discovery is very cool!

Oh, thanks, I’ll fix the link!