Edmund Fry (1754–1835) was an English

type-founder A type foundry is a company that designs or distributes typefaces. Before digital typography, type foundries manufactured and sold metal and wood typefaces for hand typesetting, and matrices for line-casting machines like the Linotype and Mono ...

Early life

Fry was the son of Joseph Fry, and member of the Bristol Fry family, born at

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. He studied medicine; took the degree of M.D. at Edinburgh, and spent some time at

St George's Hospital St George's Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Tooting, London. Founded in 1733, it is one of the UK's largest teaching hospitals and one of the largest hospitals in Europe. It is run by the St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundatio ...

, London.

Fry & Co.

In 1782 his father admitted him and his brother Henry, as partners in the type-foundry business in

Queen Street, London Queen Street is a street in the City of London which runs between Upper Thames Street at its southern end to Cheapside in the north. The thoroughfares of Queen Street and King Street (a northward continuation of Queen Street beyond Cheapside) we ...

. The father retired in 1787, when the new firm, Edmund Fry & Co., issued their first 'Specimen of Printing Types,’ followed the next year by an enlarged edition. Several founts of the oriental type, which fill twelve pages, were cut by Fry. In 1788 the printing business was separated from the foundry, and remained at Worship Street as the 'Cicero Press,’ under the management of Henry Fry. The foundry was removed to a place opposite

Bunhill Fields Bunhill Fields is a former burial ground in central London, in the London Borough of Islington, just north of the City of London. What remains is about in extent and the bulk of the site is a public garden maintained by the City of London Cor ...

in Chiswell Street, and new works erected in a street then called Type Street. Homer's series of the classics (1789–1794), printed by Millar Ritchie, were from the characters of the Type Street foundry. In 1793 'Edmund Fry & Co., letter founders to the Prince of Wales,’ produced a 'Specimen of Metal-cast Ornaments curiously adjusted to paper,’ which gained vogue among printers. The next year Fry took Isaac Steele into partnership, and published a 'Specimen' which 'shows a marked advance on its predecessors'. On the admission of George Knowles in 1799, the firm took the name of Fry, Steele, & Co. At the start of the nineteenth century the modern-faced type supplanted the old-faced. 'Specimens of modern cut printing types from the foundry of Messrs. Fry & Steele' are given in Caleb Stower's 'Printer's Grammar,’ 1808. About this time Fry reassumed sole management of the business. In 1816 a 'Specimen of Printing Types by Edmund Fry, Letter Founder to the King and

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,’ was published. The firm soon after became Edmund Fry & Son, on the admission of his son, Windover. In a 'Specimen' printed in 1824 the name is changed back to 'Edmund Fry' at 'the Polyglot Foundry.' In 1828 he moved to dispose of his business, and issued a descriptive circular. It was purchased by William Thorowgood of

Fann Street Fann Street is a street in the City of London. It runs west–east, from its junction with Aldersgate Street and Goswell Road in the west, to the junction with Golden Lane in the east. In its original form of Fann's Alley the street was almost ...

, and the stock removed in 1829. It was then in the hands of Thorowgood & Besley, then R. Besley & Co., and finally Sir Charles Reed & Sons, before closing in the early twentieth century.

Later life

Fry was one of the most learned of the English typefounders, but retired with little. He was a member of the

Company of Stationers The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers (until 1937 the Worshipful Company of Stationers), usually known as the Stationers' Company, is one of the livery companies of the City of London. The Stationers' Company was formed in ...

. He died at Dalby Terrace, City Road, London, at the age of eighty-one, on 22 December 1835.

Works

In 1798 he circulated a 'Prospectus' of the major work on which he had been occupied for sixteen years, published as ''

Pantographia ''Pantographia'', with the full title being ''Pantographia; containing accurate copies of all the known alphabets in the world; together with an English explanation of the peculiar force or power of each letter'', is the title of a 1799 work on w ...

, containing accurate Copies of all the known Alphabets of the World, together with an English explanation of the peculiar Force and Power of each Letter, to which are added Specimens of all well-authenticated Oral Languages, forming a Comprehensive Digest of Phonology'', 1799. The volume contains more than two hundred alphabets, including eighteen varieties of the Chaldee and thirty-two of the Greek. Many of the characters were expressly cut by Fry for his book. Fry cut several founts of oriental types for the university of Cambridge, the

British and Foreign Bible Society The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply the Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world. The Soc ...

, and other bodies. In 1833 twenty designs for raised type for the blind were submitted to the

Royal Scottish Society of Arts The Royal Scottish Society of Arts is a learned society in Scotland, dedicated to the study of science and technology. It was founded as The Society for the Encouragement of the Useful Arts in Scotland by David Brewster, Sir David Brewster in 182 ...

, who had offered a prize for the best example. Among them was one from Fry, to whom the gold medal was awarded a couple of years after his death.

Family

He was married twice: first to Jenny, daughter of Nicholas Windover, of Stockbridge,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, of whose issue one son only survived, Windover Fry (1797–1835); secondly to Ann Hancock, by whom he had a son, Arthur (1809–78). A portrait of Fry, painted by Frédérique Boileau, was shown at the

Caxton Exhibition Caxton may refer to: Places * Caxton Street, Brisbane, Australia * Caxton, Cambridgeshire, a village in Cambridgeshire, UK ** Caxton Gibbet, a knoll near the village * Caxton Hall, a historic building in London, UK * Caxton Building, a historic ...

in 1877. A silhouette has been reproduced by Reed and Fry.

References

* ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Fry, Edmund 1754 births 1835 deaths Businesspeople from Bristol Alumni of the University of Edinburgh English typographers and type designers

Edmund Edmund is a masculine given name or surname in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector". Persons named Edmund include: People Kings and ...