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 of the past. From the 1920s Morison became an influential adviser to the British

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 ...

, advising them on type design. His strong aesthetic sense was a force within the company, which starting shortly before his joining became increasingly known for commissioning popular, historically influenced designs that revived some of the best typefaces of the past, with particular attention to the middle period of printing from the Renaissance to the late eighteenth century, and creating and licensing several new type designs that would become popular. Original typefaces commissioned under Morison's involvement included

Times New Roman Times New Roman is a serif typeface. It was commissioned by the British newspaper ''The Times'' in 1931 and conceived by Stanley Morison, the artistic adviser to the British branch of the printing equipment company Monotype, in collaboration w ...

Gill Sans Gill Sans is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Eric Gill and released by the British branch of Monotype from 1928 onwards. Gill Sans is based on Edward Johnston's 1916 "Underground Alphabet", the corporate font of London Undergro ...

and Perpetua, while revivals of older designs included

Bembo Bembo is a serif typeface created by the British branch of the Monotype Corporation in 1928–1929 and most commonly used for body text. It is a member of the " old-style" of serif fonts, with its regular or roman style based on a design cut ar ...

, Ehrhardt and

Bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inte ...

. Times New Roman, the development of which Morison led to the point that he felt he could consider it his own design, has become one of the most used typefaces of all time. Becoming closely connected to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' newspaper as an advisor on printing, he became part of its management and the editor of the ''

Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to '' The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'' after the war, and late in life joined the editorial board of ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...

''.

Early life and career

Stanley Morison was born on 6 May 1889, at

Wanstead Wanstead () is a town in East London, England, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It borders South Woodford to the north, Redbridge to the east and Forest Gate to the south, with Leytonstone and Walthamstow to the west. It is located 8 mi ...

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

, but spent most of his childhood and early adult years (1896–1912) in London at the family home in Fairfax Road, Harringay. He was self-taught, having left school after his father abandoned his family. In 1913 Morison became an editorial assistant on '' The Imprint'' magazine. On the imposition of

conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to Ancient history, antiquity and it continues in some countries to th ...

in 1916 during

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, he was a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to objec ...

, and was imprisoned. Like his friend

Eric Gill Arthur Eric Rowton Gill, (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the '' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as ″the greatest artist-cr ...

, Morison was a convert to Catholicism, distancing him from many of his later colleagues. Morison married Mabel Williamson, a teacher, in 1916; the marriage was an unhappy one and Morison rapidly separated from his wife. In 1918 he became design supervisor at the Pelican Press, which published material critical of the war. He moved on to a similar position at the

Cloister Press A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against ...

. In 1922, he was a founder-member of the Fleuron Society dedicated to typographic matters (a fleuron being a typographic flower or ornament). He edited the society's journal, '' The Fleuron'', from 1925 to 1930. The quality of the publication's artwork and printing was considered exceptional. From 1923 to 1925, he was also a staff editor/writer for the ''

Penrose Annual ''The Penrose Annual'' was a London-based review of graphic arts, printed nearly annually from 1895 to 1982. ''Penrose'' began in 1895 as ''Process Work Yearbook – Penrose's Annual.'' Lund Humphries has printed the publication since 1897 and ...

,'' a graphic arts journal.

With the Monotype Corporation

From 1923 to 1967, Morison was a typographic consultant for the

. In the 1920s and 1930s, his work at Monotype included research and adaptation of historical typefaces, including the revival of the

and

types. He pioneered the great expansion of the company's range of typefaces, and hugely influenced the field of typography to the present day. At Monotype, Morison obtained rights to typefaces by leading artists of the time including Bruce Rogers, Jan van Krimpen and Berthold Wolpe. Aesthetically, Morison disliked the excessive historicity of Victorian romantic fine printing, with its interest in reviving

blackletter Blackletter (sometimes black letter), also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule, or Textura, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 until the 17th century. It continued to be commonly used for the Danish, Norwe ...

and the appearance of medieval manuscripts, but preferred a more restrained style of printing that nonetheless also rejected the harshly industrial appearance of the "batteries of bold, bad faces" of the nineteenth century. In 1927, the British Monotype Corporation hired

Beatrice Warde Beatrice Lamberton Warde (September 20, 1900 – September 16, 1969, née Beatrice Becker) was a twentieth-century writer and scholar of typography. As a marketing manager for the British Monotype Corporation, she was influential in the deve ...

– quickly named the company's Publicity Manager – and has been credited with spreading Morison's typographic influences through her own writings. Morison and Warde helped edit Monotype's newsletter, the ''Monotype Recorder'', which promoted Monotype equipment and provided tips for users, showcased examples of high-quality printing and included articles on printing history, several by Morison's collaborator Alfred F. Johnson, a curator 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 ...

. Through Daniel Berkeley Updike, the leading figure in American printing of the time with whom he carried an extensive correspondence, he became aware of an obscure late-eighteenth century type known as

in the archives of Sheffield type foundry

Stephenson Blake Stephenson Blake is an engineering company based in Sheffield, England. The company was active from the early 19th century as a type founder, remaining until the 1990s as the last active type foundry in Britain, since when it has diversified in ...

, and arranged for Monotype to license and recreate it. While not all his projects at Monotype were successful and his position was insecure at the start of his tenure, his commission of

and even more so

both proved extremely financially successful for Monotype. Both remain among the most-used typefaces of all time. Morison became friends with Brooke Crutchley, printer to the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, one of Monotype's best customers, and his archives went to Cambridge after his death. Late in life, for Crutchley he wrote the book '' A Tally of Types'', an assessment of the typefaces created by Monotype that were used in Cambridge. Despite its limited scope and some oversights, it is considered one of the landmark books on twentieth-century printing. As a writer for the ''Fleuron'' he was known for promoting the radical idea that

italics In typography, italic type is a cursive font based on a stylised form of calligraphic handwriting. Owing to the influence from calligraphy, italics normally slant slightly to the right. Italics are a way to emphasise key points in a printed t ...

in book printing were too disruptive to the flow of text, and should be phased out. While this influenced some contemporary type designers such as van Krimpen and Dwiggins at Linotype, Morison rapidly came to concede that the idea was misguided, and late in life commented that Times New Roman included an italic that "owed more to

Didot Didot may refer to: * Didot family, family of French printers, punch-cutters and publishers that flourished mainly in the 18th century * Didot (typeface), a group of serif typefaces * the Didot Point (typography) In typography, the point is the ...

than dogma."

Times New Roman

Morison was also typographical consultant to ''

'' newspaper from 1929 to 1960; and in 1931, having criticised the paper for the poor quality of its printing, he was commissioned by the newspaper to produce a new, easy-to-read typeface for the publication. ''

,'' the typeface which Morison developed with graphic artist

Victor Lardent Victor Lardent (1905–1968) was a British advertising designer and draftsman at ''The Times'' in London. He created the typeface Times New Roman under the artistic direction of Stanley Morison in 1931, which is commonly used in Microsoft Word. Ca ...

, was first used by the newspaper in 1932 and was issued commercially by Monotype in 1933. Morison edited the ''History of the Times'' from 1935 to 1952, and was editor of ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'' between 1945 and 1948.

Later career

In 1960, Morison was elected a

Royal Designer for Industry Royal Designer for Industry is a distinction established by the British Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in 1936, to encourage a high standard of industrial design and enhance the status of designers. It is awarded to people who have achieved "sustained ...

. He was a member of the editorial board of ''

'' from 1961 until his death in 1967. He was offered a

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the ...

in 1953 and the CBE in 1962, but declined both. Morison died in London on 11 October 1967.

Selected publications

* ''On Type Faces, Examples of the use of type for the printing of books: with an introductory essay & notes by Stanley Morison'', The Medici Society of Seven, Grafton St, London, & The Fleuron, Westminster, 1923 * ''Four centuries of Fine Printing; Two Hundred and Seventy-two Examples of the Work of Presses Established Between 1465 and 1924'', 1924 * ''Type Designs of the Past and Present'', 1926 * ''English newspaper: Some account of the physical development of journals printed in London between 1622 & the present day'', 1932 * ''First Principles of Typography'', 1936 * ''A List of Type Specimens'', with: Harry Carter, Ellic Howe, 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. ...

, 1942 * ''English Prayer Books'', 1943; revised edition 1945; revised and enlarged edition 1949; digital reprint 2009 * ''A Tally of Types'', 1953 * ''Calligraphy 1535–1885: A collection of seventy-two writing-books and specimens from the Italian, French, Low Countries and Spanish schools'', 1962 * ''On Type Designs Past and Present: A Brief Introduction'', 1962 * ''The Typographic Book, 1450–1935: A Study of Fine Typography Through Five Centuries'', 1963 * ''Letter Forms, typographic and scriptorial: Two essays on their classification, history and bibliography'', 1968 * ''Politics and Script'', 1972 * ''Selected Essays on the History of Letter-Forms in Manuscript and Print'', Vol. 1 & 2, 1980.

Notes and references

Notes

Explanatory footnotes

Citation footnotes

General references

* James Moran, ''Stanley Morison: His Typographic Achievement'' * Nicolas Barker, ''Stanley Morison'' (authorised biography) (Note: Barker had to write the biography rapidly, resulting in a release with numerous misprints and errors, listed in an errata section of the ''Times Literary Supplement'' shortly afterwards.)

External links

published by th
Old School Press
and
picture of Morison
at ''Typolis''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morison, Stanley 1889 births 1967 deaths British anti–World War I activists English typographers and type designers Fleuron Society members English conscientious objectors English designers People from Wanstead People from Harringay Converts to Roman Catholicism Historians of printing AIGA medalists