Alfred F. Johnson
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Alfred Forbes Johnson, MC (November 1884 – 27 March 1972) was an English
academic librarian An academic library is a library that is attached to a higher education institution and serves two complementary purposes: to support the curriculum and the research of the university faculty and students. It is unknown how many academic librar ...
,
bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...
, curator, and expert in
typography Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing ( leading), and ...
. He was Deputy Keeper of Printed Books at the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
. He is author of many bibliographical reference works, and the standard ''Encyclopaedia of Typefaces''.


Biography

Johnson was born in
Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
in 1884, to John and Ellen Angeline Johnson, née Beilby. He was educated at
Nottingham Grammar School , motto_translation = Praise to the end , address = Waverley Mount , city = Nottingham , county = Nottinghamshire , postcode = NG7 4ED , country = England , coordinates = , type = Independent day school , established = , closed = , religious ...
and read
Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
at the
University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...
, where he took a
first-class degree The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...
, played for the university football team, and met his wife, Sarah Elizabeth Jackson. He began working at the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
in 1906, joining the Department of Printed Books, which eventually became the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
, where he was a pioneer in sixteenth-century French and Italian bibliography and printers' type faces. In
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
he joined the
Artists Rifles The 21 Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) (Reserve), historically known as The Artists Rifles is a regiment of the Army Reserve. Its name is abbreviated to 21 SAS(R). Raised in London in 1859 as a volunteer light infantry unit, the regimen ...
and was commissioned from there as a lieutenant in the artillery. He saw action in France, where he was awarded the
Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...
for gallantry. After the war he returned to the British Museum, where he became Deputy Keeper of Printed Books while producing many books and monographs on typographical subjects. In 1956 he was awarded the
Bibliographical Society Founded in 1892, The Bibliographical Society is the senior learned society dealing with the study of the book and its history in the United Kingdom. Largely owing to the efforts of Walter Arthur Copinger, who was supported by Richard Copley ...
's gold medal for distinguished services to bibliography, and he was president of the society from 1956 to 1958. Johnson made a major contribution towards the dating and attribution of early printed books from their typography which led him to a wider interest in typefaces and design. This culminated in the publication of ''The Encyclopaedia of Typefaces'', produced in collaboration with W Turner Berry and W P Jaspert in 1953. The Encyclopaedia has been through 11 editions and has become "the leading guide to typefaces".


Bibliography

*''Il Giorno 1. Il Mattino. Il Mezzogiorno. Giuseppe Parini, 1729–1799'', Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1921 *''Francisci Petrarchae Epistolae Selectae Edidit A F Johnson'', Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1923 * * *''The First Century of Printing at Basle'', Ernest Benn, London,1926 * *''The Italian Sixteenth Century'', Ernest Benn, London, 1926 *''French Sixteenth Century Printing'', Ernest Benn, London, 1928 *''One Hundred Title-Pages, 1500–1800'', John Lane, London, 1928 * *''German Renaissance Title-Borders'', Oxford University Press (for the Bibliographical Society), Oxford, 1929 *''Decorative Initial Letters. Collected and arranged with an introduction'', Cresset Press, London, 1931 *''A Catalogue of Engraved and Etched English Title-Pages Down to the Death of William Faithorne, 1691'', Oxford University Press (for the Bibliographical Society), Oxford, 1934 *''Catalogue of Specimens of Printing Types by English and Scottish Printers and Founders, 1665–1830'', with W Berry and S Morison, Oxford University Press, London, 1935 *''A Catalogue of Italian Engraved Title-Pages in the Sixteenth Century, '' Oxford University Press (for Bibliographical Society), Oxford, 1936 *''The Italic Types of Robert Granjon'', Great Britain, 1941 *''A List of Type Specimens'', with: Harry Carter,
Ellic Howe Ellic Paul Howe (20 September 1910 – 28 September 1991) was a British author who wrote extensively on occultism and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn as well as on typography and military history. During World War II he worked for Britain's ...
, Stanley Morison,
Graham Pollard Henry Graham Pollard (known as Graham Pollard) (7 March 1903 – 15 November 1976) was a British bookseller and bibliographer. Early life Pollard was the son of the historian Albert Pollard and was born in Putney, London on 7 March 1903. ...
, 1942 *''Luminario. Or, the Third Chapter of the Liber Elementorum Litterarum on the Construction of Roman Capitals'', with S Morison, Verini, London, 1947 *''A Catalogue of Italian Writing-Books of the Sixteenth Century ith facsimiles', 1950 *''A History of the Old English Letter Foundries'', Faber & Faber, London, 1952 * *''Three Classics of Italian Calligraphy. An unabridged Reissue of the Writing Books of Arrighi, Tagliente and Palatino'', Dover Publications, New York, 1953 *''Short-title Catalogue of Books Printed in Italy and of Italian Books Printed in Other Countries from 1465 to 1600 now in the British Museum'', British Museum Department of Printed Books, London, 1958 *''Type Designs: Their History and Development'', Grafton, 1959 *''Practical Cataloguing'', Association of Assistant Librarians, London, 1962 *''Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in the German-Speaking Countries and German Books Printed in Other Countries from 1455 to 1600 now in the British Museum'', British Museum Department of Printed Books, London, 1962 *''Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in the Netherlands and Belgium and of Dutch and Flemish Books Printed in Other Countries from 1470 to 1600 now in the British Museum'', British Museum. Department of Printed Books, London, 1965 *''A Programmed Course in Cataloguing and Classification'', Deutsch, London, 1968 *


References


External links


The British MuseumThe British LibraryThe Bibliographical Society


Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Alfred Forbes 1884 births 1972 deaths People from Nottingham People educated at Nottingham High School Alumni of the University of Manchester Recipients of the Military Cross Academic librarians Artists' Rifles soldiers Military personnel from Nottingham British Army personnel of World War I Royal Field Artillery officers