# Victorian Letterpress & Wood Type

> The commercial jobbing print of the industrial century: posters, playbills, auction notices and ephemera built from a flood of new display types (fat faces, Egyptians, grotesques, Tuscans and condensed wood type). Lines are centred and each is set in a different face and size to fill the measure, framed in rules and stock borders and printed in black with one or two flat colours.

- Period: 1810–1900
- Where: Western Europe, North America
- Origin: London type foundries; American wood-type makers in New York and Wisconsin
- Branch: Traditions & vernacular
- Also known as: Jobbing printing, Wood type poster, Playbill style, Artistic printing
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/victorian-letterpress/

## How it works

- Centre every line and change typeface and size line by line, enlarging the key words to fill the full measure.
- Combine condensed and extended wood type, slab serifs, fat faces and Tuscans; contrast of weight and width is the hierarchy.
- Frame the sheet with printers' rules, corner ornaments and stock borders.
- Add a stock engraving and print in black with one or two flat colours, often on tinted paper.
- Write for the street: capitals, exclamations and pointing hands that demand immediate attention.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Central symmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/central-symmetry/) (defining)
- [Framed panels](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/framed-panels/) (characteristic)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Horror vacui](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/horror-vacui/) (characteristic)
- [Extreme scale contrast](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/extreme-scale-contrast/) (characteristic)
- [Layered information](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/layered-information/) (characteristic)

### Typography
- [Eclectic mixing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/eclectic-mixing/) (defining)
- [Slab serif](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/slab-serif/) (characteristic)
- [Ornamented display](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/ornamented-display/) (characteristic)
- [Condensed display](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/condensed-display/) (characteristic)
- [Didone](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/didone/) (characteristic)
- [All caps](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-caps/) (characteristic)
- [Grotesque & neo-grotesque](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/grotesque-and-neo-grotesque/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (defining)
- [Monochrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/monochrome/) (characteristic)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (characteristic)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Rectilinear](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rectilinear/) (occasional)
- [Naturalistic depiction](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/naturalistic-depiction/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Paper & letterpress bite](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/paper-and-letterpress-bite/) (defining)
- [Hard offset shadow](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hard-offset-shadow/) (characteristic)
- [Carved line](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/carved-line/) (occasional)
- [Misregistration & overprint](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/misregistration-and-overprint/) (occasional)

### Ornament
- [Borders & frames](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/borders-and-frames/) (defining)
- [Abundant decoration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/abundant-decoration/) (characteristic)
- [Rules & bars](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rules-and-bars/) (characteristic)
- [Floral & vegetal](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/floral-and-vegetal/) (occasional)
- [Emblems & badges](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/emblems-and-badges/) (occasional)

### Imagery
- [Typography only](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/typography-only/) (characteristic)
- [Line illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/line-illustration/) (characteristic)

### Medium & production
- [Letterpress](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/letterpress/) (defining)

### Tone & intent
- [Communal & popular](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/communal-and-popular/) (characteristic)
- [Agitational & persuasive](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/agitational-and-persuasive/) (characteristic)
- [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (occasional)

Avoids: Dynamic asymmetry, Modular grid, Flush left, ragged right, Lowercase only, Generous white space, Ornament-free

Palette: #efe4c9, #1b1a17, #b3322b, #24477d, #d9b45a

Typefaces: Fat face romans (Thorne, Figgins), Egyptian / Antique slab serifs, Clarendon (Fann Street Foundry, 1845), French Clarendon (reversed-stress Italienne) wood type, Tuscan and other ornamented wood type, Gothic condensed (grotesque) wood type

Known for: Robert Thorne and Vincent Figgins (fat faces and Antique slab, 1810s); William Caslon IV, Two Lines English Egyptian (first sans-serif type, 1816); Darius Wells (first American wood type, 1828); William H. Page & Co. and Hamilton Manufacturing Co. (wood type); Hatch Show Print, Nashville (1879– ); Rob Roy Kelly, American Wood Type 1828–1900 (1969)

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Neoclassical Book Typography](https://stylogeny.com/styles/neoclassical-typography.md) (1757–1830)
- Influenced by: [Renaissance Book Typography](https://stylogeny.com/styles/renaissance-book.md) (c. 1460–1600)
- Influenced by: [Hand-Painted Signage & Vernacular Lettering](https://stylogeny.com/styles/hand-painted-signage.md) (1800–present)
- Led to: [Belle Époque Lithographic Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/belle-epoque-poster.md) (1866–1914)
- Led to: [Spanish Bullfight Poster (Cartel Taurino)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/cartel-taurino.md) (1879–present)
- Led to: [Onitsha Market Pamphlets](https://stylogeny.com/styles/onitsha-market-literature.md) (1947–1980)
- Led to: [Hipster Artisanal Revival](https://stylogeny.com/styles/hipster-artisanal.md) (2007–2018)
- Alike in its design choices: [Mexican Popular Graphics (Posada)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/mexican-popular-graphics.md) (1880–1917), 71% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Edo-moji Commercial Lettering (Kanteiryū, Yose-moji, Sumō-ji)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/edo-moji.md) (1779–present), 57% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Urdu Katib Lithography](https://stylogeny.com/styles/urdu-katib-lithography.md) (1837–present), 54% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Vyaz (Ornamental Slavonic Lettering)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/vyaz-lettering.md) (c. 1230–present), 51% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Bulaq (Amiriyya) Naskh Book Printing](https://stylogeny.com/styles/bulaq-naskh-printing.md) (1822–1956), 50% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Gothic Blackletter & Fraktur Tradition](https://stylogeny.com/styles/blackletter-fraktur.md) (c. 1180–present), 50% alike

## Real works

- [The Hippotheatron and New York Cirque: Grand Equestrian, Gymnastic and Acrobatic Performances](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hippotheatron_poster_c1869.jpg): Torrey Brothers, Printers, New York, c. 1869, Library Company of Philadelphia (via Wikimedia Commons)
- [Recruits Wanted! 104th Pennsylvania Regiment! (Ringgold Regiment recruiting broadside)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Recruits_Wanted_for_the_Ringgold_Regiment,_104th_Pennsylvania_Volunteers.jpg): Printed at the "Democrat" office, Doylestown, Pa., by W. W. H. Davis, c. 1862, Library Company of Philadelphia (via Wikimedia Commons)
- [Playbill: Mr. Risley and His Son, Classical Gymnastics; Gwynneth Vaughan (New Strand Theatre)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harvard_Theatre_Collection_-_TCS_63_-_New_Strand,_1843.jpg): Designer unidentified (London jobbing printer), 26 June 1843, Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University (TCS 63)

## Sources

- Rob Roy Kelly, American Wood Type 1828–1900 (1969)
- Nicolete Gray, Nineteenth Century Ornamented Typefaces (1938; rev. 1976)
- James Mosley, The Nymph and the Grot: The Revival of the Sanserif Letter (1999)
- Philip B. Meggs & Alston W. Purvis, Meggs' History of Graphic Design
- Wikipedia: Fat face (Didone-derived display type, London c. 1805–1810): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_face

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Victorian Letterpress & Wood Type”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/victorian-letterpress/