The Rob Roy Kelly American Wood Type Collection : a history and catalog - Shields, David (Austin, TX : University of Texas Press, 2022)
The Rob Roy Kelly Wood Type Collection is a comprehensive collection of wood type manufactured and used for printing in nineteenth-century America. Comprising nearly 150 typefaces of various sizes and styles, it was amassed by noted design educator and historian Rob Roy Kelly starting in 1957 and is now held by the University of Texas. Although Kelly himself published a 1969 book on wood type and nineteenth-century typographic history, there has been little written about the creation of the wood type forms, the collection, or Kelly. In this book, David Shields rigorously updates and expands upon Kelly’s historical information about the types, clarifying the collection’s exact composition and providing a better understanding of the stylistic development of wood type forms during the nineteenth century. Using rich materials from the period, Shields provides a stunning visual context that complements the textual history of each typeface. He also highlights the non-typographic material in the collection—such as borders, rules, ornaments, and image cuts—that have not been previously examined. Featuring over 300 color illustrations, this written history and catalog is bound to spark renewed interest in the collection and its broader typographic period.
Intro -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- I. An Introduction -- II. Rob Roy Kelly-"Midwestern Pluralist and Pragmatist" -- Stephen O. Saxe, "Reflections on American Wood Type 1828-1900" -- Tracy Honn, "Rob Roy Kelly, a Remembrance" -- The Collection after Kelly -- III. A Time Line of American Manufacturers -- Production Methods -- Planing Patterns -- Manufacturer's Stamps in Collection -- Hand-List of Known American Wood Type Specimen Catalogs to 1901 -- IV. Classification System -- Style Descriptions -- V. Type Specimens -- Type Specimens from Other Collections and Three Unaccounted Faces -- Borders, Ornaments, and Cuts -- Adobe Wood Type, Adobe Originals, 1988-1994 -- Appendix A. Hand List of 1964 Folio -- Appendix B. Bibliography of Kelly Texts and Collected Papers -- Appendix C. Bibliography of Kelly's Donations, with Current Locations -- Appendix D. Rob Roy Kelly's Teaching Appointments -- Reference Bibliography -- Index.
Description based on print version record.
Keywords: Kelly, Rob Roy, -- 1925-2004; Wood types (Printing) -- 19th century -- United States -- Catalogs