Samuel Winfield "Tommy" Thompson (1906–1967) was an American

calligrapher Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an exp ...

graphic artist A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming l ...

and typeface designer. He was born Blue Point, New York. In 1944 he became the first designer to earn royalties for a type design, from Photo Lettering Inc. for his Thompson Quill Script. Previously, designers had worked in house for foundries or had sold the rights to their faces outright. He maintained a studio in Norwalk,

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

and was the author of several books on type and lettering.

Typefaces

Thompson designed all of these foundry types: * Post Headletter (1943,

Monotype Monotyping is a type of printmaking made by drawing or painting on a smooth, non-absorbent surface. The surface, or matrix, was historically a copper etching plate, but in contemporary work it can vary from zinc or glass to acrylic glass. The ...

), privately cast for the

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

. * Collier Heading (1946,

), privately cast for

Collier's Magazine } ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Colli ...

. * Mademoiselle (1953, Baltimore Type Foundry), matrices cut by Herman Schnorr. Originally cast for Mademoiselle Magazine, but later offered for general sale. * Baltimore Script (1955, Baltimore Type Foundry), matrices cut by George Battee. * Additional weights of Futura for Intertype (1950s). * Thompson Quill Script (1953,

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 percent of all type manufactured in the United States at the time. De Vinne, Theodore Low, ''The Practice of Typogr ...

), this was also made available for

phototypesetting Phototypesetting is a method of Typesetting, setting type which uses photography to make columns of Sort (typesetting), type on a scroll of photographic paper. It has been made obsolete by the popularity of the personal computer and desktop publ ...

by Photo Lettering Inc. In addition, he prepared a version of Baskerville for the ATF Typesetter; this was the first 7-unit typeface for the machine, which previously used 5-unit typefaces similar to those used by the Justowriter on which it was built.Underwood, Richard G., ''Production and Manufacturing Problems of American University Presses,'' Association of American University Presses, 1960. (Later, in 1964, the ATF Typesetter Model B-8, offered an 18-increment system allowing further improved typesetting.)

Books

* ''The script letter; its form, construction and application,'' New York, The Studio Publications Inc., 1939. * ''The ABC Of Our Alphabet'', 1945. * ''How to render roman letter forms. A pattern for understanding and drawing roman letters and other styles of lettering and type faces related to them,'' New York, American Studio Books, 1946. * ''Basic layout design; a pattern for understanding the basic motifs in design and how to apply them to graphic art problems,'' New York, Studio Publications, in association with Crowell, c. 1950.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Tommy American typographers and type designers 1906 births 1967 deaths People from Blue Point, New York