A type foundry is a

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

that designs or distributes

typeface A typeface (or font family) is a design of Letter (alphabet), letters, Numerical digit, numbers and other symbols, to be used in printing or for electronic display. Most typefaces include variations in size (e.g., 24 point), weight (e.g., light, ...

s. Before digital typography, type foundries manufactured and sold

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

and wood typefaces for hand typesetting, and matrices for line-casting machines like the Linotype and Monotype, for letterpress printers. Today's digital type foundries accumulate and distribute typefaces (typically as digitized fonts) created by

type 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 ...

s, who may either be freelancers operating their own independent foundry, or employed by a foundry. Type foundries may also provide custom type design services.

England

In England, type foundries began in 1476, when William Caxton introduced the

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...

, importing at least some of the type that he used in printing. Until William Caslon (1692–1766), English type generally had a poor reputation so the best type was imported from Holland. Only after Caslon had established his Caslon foundry in Chiswell Street, did the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

become a major centre for the industry, until the end of the 20th century when famous metal-based printing districts such as

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...

came to the close of their era. The industry was particularly important in Victorian times, when education became available to all due to the new school boards, and firms such as Charles Reed & Sons, the printer and type founders were in their heyday. The St Bride Printing Library in the City of London encourages wider public interest in the history of type founding for the printed book and newspaper.

Modern corporations

* Apple Inc. * Google LLC * Letraset * Monotype Imaging ** Ascender Corporation, a subsidiary of Monotype Imaging ** Bitstream, a subsidiary of Monotype Imaging ** FontFont, a subsidiary of Monotype Imaging, located in Germany ** International Typeface Corporation (ITC), a subsidiary of Monotype Imaging ** Linotype GmbH, a subsidiary of Monotype Imaging, located in Germany ** URW Type Foundry, a subsidiary of Monotype Imaging, located in Germany ** Hoefler & Co. (H&Co), a subsidiary of Monotype Imaging, located in New York City

Large form

* Berthold Type Foundry * Elsner+Flake * Emigre * Font Bureau * House Industries * Neufville Typefoundry ( Fundición Tipográfica Neufville)

Independent

* Blambot * Chank Diesel * Comicraft * Dalton Maag * Darden Studio * Larabie Fonts/Typodermic * Mark Simonson Studio *

Parachute A parachute is a device designed to slow an object's descent through an atmosphere by creating Drag (physics), drag or aerodynamic Lift (force), lift. It is primarily used to safely support people exiting aircraft at height, but also serves va ...

* P22 Type Foundry * Sandoll Communications * Scriptorium Fonts * Typofonderie / formerly * Typotheque

Defunct

* American Type Founders * Barnhart Brothers & Spindler * Bauer Type * Binny & Ronaldson * Caslon Type Foundry * Charles Reed & Sons * Deberny & Peignot * Grafotechna * Inland Type Foundry * Louis Pouchée * Stephenson Blake * VEB Typoart

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Type Foundry Publishing