William A. Kittredge (1891 – July 26, 1945) was a
Chicago designer and author on design.
Biography
William A. Kittredge was born in 1891 in
Lowell,
Massachusetts to printer Albion Kittredge and was apprenticed to Thomas Parkhurst of the Parkhurst Press.
After his apprenticeship, he worked at the
Riverside Press in
Cambridge, art director for a printing house in Philadelphia and various printing houses in New York and Boston as compositor, pressman, layout man, and art director.
Kittredge was Director of Design and Typography for
Lakeside Press Lakeside Press was a Chicago publishing imprint under which the RR Donnelley Company produced fine books as well as mail order catalogs, telephone directories, encyclopedias, and advertising. The Press was best known for its high quality editions f ...
under
R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co.'s of Chicago from 1922 to 1945, supervising all design services for the company. Under Kittredge's direction, Lakeside produced work for Chicago's Caxton Club and the Limited Editions Club. He also produced the "Four American Books" commissioning leading artists for cover designs including
Rudolph Ruzicka
Rudolph Ruzicka (29 June 1883 – 20 July 1978) was a Czech American wood engraver, etcher, illustrator, typeface designer, and book designer. Ruzicka designed typefaces and wood engraving illustrations for Daniel Berkeley Updike's Merrymount Pre ...
for ''
Walden'', Edward A. Wilson for ''
Two Years Before the Mast'',
W.A. Dwiggins
William Addison Dwiggins (June 19, 1880 – December 25, 1956), was an American type designer, calligrapher, and book designer. He attained prominence as an illustrator and commercial artist, and he brought to the designing of type and books s ...
, and
Rockwell Kent for ''
Moby Dick''. These books were highly regarded for their printing craftsmanship. He further gained recognition for articles on the craft of printing in ''American Printer'', ''Inland Printer'', ''
Publishers Weekly'', and ''
The Colophon
''The Colophon'', subtitled ''A Book Collectors' Quarterly'' or ''A quarterly for booklovers,'' was a limited edition quarterly periodical begun late in 1929 and continuing in various guises until 1950. It was the brainchild of Elmer Adler (1884– ...
.''
He was an instructor at
Northwestern University from 1927 to 1929 and 1931 to 1934.
Kittredge was a founding member of the Society of Typographic Arts and the Chicago Art Directors Club.
He was awarded the
AIGA medal in 1939.
Ruzicka wrote for ''News-Letter'' of his acceptance of the medal saying Kittredge's work was modern due to its "sparsely ornamented simplicity, dignified use of materials,
ndfitness to purpose."
Kittredge died July 26, 1945.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kittredge, William
American designers
People from Chicago
1891 births
1945 deaths
20th-century American male writers
People from Lowell, Massachusetts
Northwestern University faculty
AIGA medalists