Harry Graham Carter (27 March 1901 – 10 March 1982) was an English

typographer 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), an ...

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

and writer. He was a well-known historian of type. He was the father of type designer

Matthew Carter Matthew Carter (born 1 October 1937) is a British type designer.Christophe_Plantin.html" ;"title="y Christophe Plantin">y Christophe Plantin' in typography's golden age was in perfect condition (some muddle aside) long withPlantin's accoun ...

Biography

Carter studied at the progressive

Bedales School Bedales School is a co-educational, boarding and day independent school in the village of Steep, near the market town of Petersfield in Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1893 by John Haden Badley in reaction to the limitations of conven ...

(where he was a friend of John Rothenstein), and at

The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its pred ...

"where he became competent in French, German, Spanish, and Russian". (He would later learn Arabic, and design a Hebrew font.) Though he was studying law, Carter became interested in typography and bought a printing press. His first work with type came in 1928 and 1929 as an apprentice at the

Monotype Corporation Monotype Imaging Holdings Inc., founded as Lanston Monotype Machine Company in 1887 in Philadelphia by Tolbert Lanston, is an American (historically Anglo-American) company that specializes in digital typesetting and typeface design for use with ...

. At this time he formed friendships with

Jan van Krimpen Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Numb ...

Stanley Morison Stanley Arthur Morison (6 May 1889 – 11 October 1967) was a British typographer, printing executive and historian of printing. Largely self-educated, he promoted higher standards in printing and an awareness of the best printing and typefaces o ...

Francis Meynell Sir Francis Meredith Wilfrid Meynell (12 May 1891 – 10 July 1975) was a British poet and printer at The Nonesuch Press. Early career He was the son of the journalist and publisher Wilfrid Meynell and the poet Alice Meynell, a suffragist a ...

, and Oliver and Herbert Simon (cousins of his school-friend, John Rothenstein). He became involved the

Curwen Press The Curwen Press was founded by the Reverend John Curwen in 1863 to publish sheet music for the "tonic sol-fa" system. The Press was based in Plaistow, Newham, east London, England, where Curwen was a pastor from 1844. The Curwen Press is bes ...

, and after leaving the Monotype Corporation worked briefly at the

Kynoch Press The Kynoch Press was an English-based fine press in Witton, Birmingham, founded in 1876 as a company press for Kynoch, a British manufacturer of ammunition. Initially, the press was used to print packaging. The press closed in 1981. History To ...

in Birmingham. In 1931 he and Herbert Simon published ''Printing Explained''. From 1936 to 1938 he worked at the

Nonesuch Press Nonesuch Press was a private press founded in 1922 in London by Francis Meynell, his second wife Vera Mendel, and their mutual friend David Garnett,Miranda Knorr"The Nonesuch Press: A Product of Determination" An Exhibit of Rare Books at the Oka ...

in London, as Meynell's book-designer. His son,

, was born in 1937. In 1937, 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 ...

, Alfred F. Johnson,

and

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. ...

started to produce a list of all known pre-1800 type specimens. The list was published in '' The Library'' in 1942. However, because of the war, many libraries at the European continent were not accessible anymore. In 1942 he translated

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' wa ...

' ''

In Praise of Folly ''In Praise of Folly'', also translated as ''The Praise of Folly'' ( la, Stultitiae Laus or ), is an essay written in Latin in 1509 by Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam and first printed in June 1511. Inspired by previous works of the Italian hum ...

'' into English. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he saw service in the Middle East. After the war, he worked for some eight years at

HMSO The Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) is the body responsible for the operation of His Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) and of other public information services of the United Kingdom. The OPSI is part of the National Archives of the Un ...

, again under Meynell. In 1954 Carter was hired by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, where he worked for sixteen years. He was archivist and assistant to

as Morison worked on ''John Fell'', published in 1967. He also cataloged thousands of matrices, punches, and fonts for the

Plantin-Moretus Museum The Plantin-Moretus Museum ( nl, Plantin-Moretusmuseum) is a printing museum in Antwerp, Belgium which focuses on the work of the 16th-century printers Christophe Plantin and Jan Moretus. It is located in their former residence and printing esta ...

, and assisted Charles Enschede with his ''Typefoundries in the Netherlands''. Carter was the author and editor of books and articles on typography and the history of type. Notable among his writings are, ''The Wolvercote Mill: a study of paper-making at Oxford'' (1957); ''A View of Early Typography: Up to about 1600,'' (1969); and ''A History of the Oxford University Press. Volume I: To the Year 1780'' (1975).

References

External links

Biography of Harry Carter online at Fine Press Book AssociationBiography of Harry Carter online at Hyphen PressBiography of Harry Carter online
at

St Bride Library St Bride Library (formerly known as St Bride Printing Library and St Bride Typographical Library) is a library in London primarily devoted to printing, book arts, typography and graphic design. The library is housed in the St Bride Foundation I ...

CARTER, Harry Graham
''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2015; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Harry Graham English typographers and type designers People educated at Bedales School Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford Oxford University Press people 1901 births 1982 deaths Private press movement people

Biography

Further reading

References

External links