Sol Hess (born 1886,

Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

– d. 1953) was an American

typeface designer Type design is the art and process of designing typefaces. This involves drawing each letterform using a consistent style. The basic concepts and design variables are described below. A typeface differs from other modes of graphic production su ...

. After a three-year scholarship course at Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Design, he began at

Lanston Monotype 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 ...

in 1902, rising to typographic manager in 1922. He was a close friend and collaborator with Monotype art director

Frederic Goudy Frederic William Goudy (, March 8, 1865 – May 11, 1947) was an American printer, artist and type designer whose typefaces include Copperplate Gothic, Goudy Old Style and Kennerley. He was one of the most prolific of American type designers and ...

, succeeding him in that position in 1940. Hess was particularly adept at expanding type faces into whole families, allowing him to complete 85 faces for Monotype, making him America's fourth most prolific type designer. While he was with Monotype, Hess worked on commissions for many prominent users of type, including, Crowell-Collier,

Sears Roebuck Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a world-pioneering mail-order business and later also a leading department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001. The curren ...

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

World Publishing Company The World Publishing Company was an American publishing company. The company published genre fiction, trade paperbacks, children's literature, nonfiction books, textbooks, Bibles, and dictionaries,Curtis Publishing for whom he re-designed the typography of their

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.MacGrew, p. 331.

Typefaces designed by Sol Hess

All faces cut by

. * Hess Title + Italic (1910) ** ''Hess Title Italic'' (1911) * Bookman series based on an oldstyle antique face designed by A.C. Phemister for the Scottish foundry of

Miller & Richard Miller & Richard was a type foundry based in Edinburgh that designed and manufactured metal type. It operated from 1809 to 1952. The foundry was established by William Miller. He had been works manager of the foundry established by Alexander W ...

about 1860. ** ''Bookman Oldstyle Condensed'' (1916) ** ''New Bookman'' (1927) * Jefferson Gothic (1916), alternate characters for Benton's ''News Gothic Extra Condensed''. Also cast by Baltimore Type & Composition Company as ''Tourist Extra Condensed''. * Cochin series, based on the original by the G. Peignot et Fils foundry in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. ** ''Cochin'' (1917) ** ''Cochin Italic'' (1921) ** ''Cochin Bold + Bold Italic'' (1921) ** ''Cochin Open'' (1927) ** ''Cochin Bold Tooled'', was designed in house by Monotype, probably by Hess. * Goudy Old Style series, all based on Frederic Goudy's ''

Old Style Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) indicate dating systems before and after a calendar change, respectively. Usually, this is the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various European countries between 158 ...

'' ** Swash capitals for ''Goudy Bold Italic'' (1919) ** Swash capitals for ''Goudy Handtooled Italic'' (1922) ** ''Goudy Heavy Face Open (1926) ** ''Goudy Heavy Face Condensed'' (1927) ** ''Goudy Text Shaded'', was designed in house by Monotype, probably by Hess. * Hess Old Style (1920), based on faces by

Nicolas Jenson Nicholas Jenson (c. 1420 – 1480) was a French engraver, pioneer, printer and type designer who carried out most of his work in Venice, Italy. Jenson acted as Master of the French Royal Mint at Tours and is credited with being the creator of on ...

. ** ''Hess Old Style Italic'' (1922) * Hess Bold (1922), a companion face for Goudy's ''Goudy Light''. ** ''Hess Bold Italic'' (1924) * Italian Old Style Wide (1924), designed as a companion to Goudy's ''Italian Old Style''. * Scotch Roman series based on faces cut by the Scottish foundry of

Alexander Wilson & Son Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

before 1833. ** ''Scotch Open Shaded Italic'' (1924) ** Swash initials for ''Scotch Roman Italic'' * Kennerley Open Capitals (1925), designed as a companion to Goudy's '' Kennerley Open''. * Heavyface Condensed (1927) * Alternate Gothic Modernized (1927), thirteen alternate characters for Benton's '' Alternate Gothic No. 1''. * Cooper Tooled (1928), based upon Oz Cooper's '' Cooper Hilite'', though with the white line on the opposite side. * Broadway series ** ''Broadway Engraved'' (1928) ** Lowercase letters for Benton's ''

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

'' (1929) * Tourist Gothic series ** ''Tourist Gothic '' (1922), adapted from on Barnhart Brothers & Spindler's ''Modern Condensed Gothic'' by including a set of alternate rounded capitals. ** ''Tourist Gothic Italic'' (1938) ** ''Tourist Extra Condensed'' was actually just Baltimore Type's re-branding of Hess's ''Jefferson Gothic''. * Bodoni series ** ''Bodoni Bold Panelled'' (1928) ** ''Bodoni Bold Condensed'' (1934) * Sans Serif series, based on

Rudolf Koch Rudolf Koch (20 November 1876 – 9 April 1934) was a German type designer, professor, and a master of lettering, calligraphy, typography and illustration. Commonly known for his typefaces created for the Klingspor Type Foundry, his most widel ...

’s Kabel. ** ''Sans Serif Extrabold'' (1930) ** ''Sans Serif Extrabold Condensed'' (1930) ** ''Sans Serif Medium Condensed'' (1930) ** ''Sans Serif Light Condensed'' (1930) ** ''Sans Serif Lined'' * Hadriano Stone Cut (1932), an in-line version of Goudy's ''Hadriano Title''. * Pendrawn (1933) * Hess Neobold (1934) * Stymie series, based on Benton's ''

Stymie A stymie is an obsolete rule in the sport of golf. It legislated for the situation where a player's ball lay behind or blocked by another player's ball; the blocked player was not afforded relief. In the modern game, the blocking ball is temporar ...

'' ** ''Stymie Extrabold'' (1934) ** ''Stymie Medium Condensed'' (1935) ** ''Stymie Extrabold Condensed'' (1935) ** ''Stymie Light Condensed'' (1936) ** ''Stymie Extrabold Italic'' (1935) * Baskerville Bold (1935), adapted from

John Baskerville John Baskerville (baptised 28 January 1707 – 8 January 1775) was an English businessman, in areas including japanning and papier-mâché, but he is best remembered as a printer and type designer. He was also responsible for inventing "wov ...

’s heavyface of 1757. * Spire (1937), capital letters only. * Twentieth Century series (1937) ** ''Twentieth Century Bold Italic'' (1937) ** ''Twentieth Century Extrabold Italic'' (1937) ** ''Twentieth Century Extrabold Condensed Italic'' (1938) ** ''Twentieth Century Ultrabold'' (1941) ** ''Twentieth Century Ultrabold Condensed'' (1944) ** ''Twentieth Century Medium Condensed Italic'' (1947) ** ''Twentieth Century Ultrabold Italic'' (1947) * Century Bold Condensed Italic (1938), based on Benton’s '' Century Bold''. * New Gothic Condensed lowercase (1938) * Slimline (1939), a knock off of ''Huxley Vertical''. * Onyx Italic (1939), a companion to Gerry Powell’s ''Onyx'' * Squareface (1940), a variation of '' Stymie Extra Bold''. * Stylescript (1940) * Post series, commissioned by the

and based upon E.J. Kitson’s hand lettering for that magazine. ** ''Post Black Italic'' (1939) ** ''Post Stout Italic'' (1934) ** ''Ward Roman + Italic'' (1942), based upon '' Memphis Light''. Privately cast for use in the

catalog. * Alternate Gothic Italic, No. 2 (1946), an italic companion to Benton’s '' Alternate Gothic No. 2''. * Stationers Gothic series ** ''Stationers Gothic Light'' (1948) ** ''Stationers Gothic Bold'' (1948) ** ''Stationers Gothic Medium'' (1948) * Hess New Bookbold + Italic (1948), an adaptation of '' Garamond Bold''. * Artscript (1948), based on the calligraphy of Domingo Maria de Servidori of

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

from 1798. * Cheltenham Wide Italic, a companion to Goodhue’s ''

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

''. * Poster, also called ''Hess Poster''. * Hess Monoblack, never listed in regular specimen books, only on a “specimen request sheet.”

Typefaces adapted for Monotype composition by Sol Hess

* Bruce Oldstyle (1902), based on a face produced by the Bruce Foundry about 1869. ** ''Bruce Oldstyle Italic'' (1908), the first kerned italic for Monotype casting. * Caslon series ** ''English Caslon Old Style No. 37 + Italic'' (1903), commissioned by the Gilliss Press in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. ** ''Caslon Old Style No. 437 + Italic'', based on Stephenson Blake’s ''Caslon Old Face''. * Classic Hebrew (1920) *

Janson Janson is the name given to a set of old-style serif typefaces from the Dutch Baroque period, and modern revivals from the twentieth century. Janson is a crisp, relatively high-contrast serif design, most popular for body text. Janson is based ...

+ Italic (1936), based on the thirteenth century face of

Anton Janson Anton Janson (January 17, 1620 in Wanden/Wauden? in Friesland – November 18, 1687 in Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 ...

. Adapted by Hess and Bruce Rogers. * Laurentian (1940), a Monotype adaptation of William Dana Orcutt’s ''Humanistic'' (1904, privately cast by

American Type Founders American Type Founders (ATF) Co. was a business trust created in 1892 by the merger of 23 type foundries, representing about 85% of all type manufactured in the United States. De Vinne, Theodore Low, ''The Practice of Typography,'' Century Comp ...

for

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...

). Later modified by Stephenson Blake and called ''Bologna'', which was in turn copied by

ATF The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), commonly referred to as the ATF, is a domestic law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and preven ...

and called ''Verona'' * Goudy Bible (1941), a re-branding of Goudy’s ''Goudy Newstyle'' (1921, Village Letter Foundry). Used by Bruce Rogers and Hess for the famous

Oxford Lectern Bible The Oxford Lectern Bible was a massive edition of the English Bible designed by American typographer Bruce Rogers using his font Centaur. The Bible, completed in 1935, was published by Oxford University Press. There were three sizes of the Bible p ...

of 1948. * Martin + Italic (1945), listed by Monotype as having been produced and being based on “old sources” but no specimen survives.

External links

Samples of Hess's fonts
by

MyFonts MyFonts is a digital fonts distributor, based in Woburn, Massachusetts. It was created by Bitstream Inc., launched in September 1999 (during the ATypI conference in Boston), and started selling fonts in March 2000. In November 2011, Monotype Ima ...

References

*Jaspert, W. Pincus, W. Turner Berry and A.F. Johnson. ''The Encyclopedia of Type Faces.'' Blandford Press Lts.: 1953, 1983. . * MacGrew, Mac, ''American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century,'' Oak Knoll Books, New Castle Delaware, 1993, . * Rollins, Carl Purlington ''American Type Designers and Their Work.'' in Print, V. 4, #1, p. 13. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hess, Sol American typographers and type designers 1886 births 1953 deaths University of the Arts (Philadelphia) alumni