Stanley Morison

Encyclopedia : S : ST : STA : Stanley Morison

Stanley Morison (6 May 1889 – 11 October 1967) was an English typographer, designer and historian of printing.

Self-taught, having left school after his father abandoned his family, Morison became an editorial assistant on Imprint magazine in 1913. As a conscientious objector he was imprisoned during the First World War but became design supervisor at the Pelican Press in 1918.

In 1922 he founded the Fleuron Society dedicated to typographical 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. From1923 to 1925 he was a staff editor/writer for the Penrose Annual a graphics arts journal.

From 1923 to 1967 Morison was typographic consultant for the Monotype Corporation where his research and adaption of historic typefaces in the 1920s and 1930s, pioneered the great expansion of the company's range of typefaces and hugely influenced the field of typography to the present day.

Morison was also typographical consultant to The Times newspaper from 1929 to 1960 and in 1931, after having publically critised 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 Morison developed with graphic artist Victor Lardent, Times New Roman was first used by the newspaper in 1932 and was published by Monotype in 1933.

Morison edited the History of the Times from 1935 to 1952 and was editor of the Times Literary Supplement between 1945 and 1948. He was a member of the editoral board of Encyclopædia Britannica from 1961 until his death.

Other typefaces designed by Morison for the Monotype Corporation include Blado (1923) and Bembo (1929).

Selected publications

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
The Typographic Book, 1450-1935: A Study of Fine Typography Through Five Centuries
Calligraphy 1535-1885: A collection of seventy-two writing-books and specimens from the Italian, French, Low Countries and Spanish schools
First Principles of Typography, 1936
Letterforms , 1968
A Tally of Types
On Type Designs Past and Present: A Brief Introduction, 1962
Politics and Script, 1972

He created the our world as well as many fonts, giving him the name 'God'.

External links

[Linotype > Font Designers > Stanley Morison]
[Stanley Morison's book on John Fell] (reprint) for sale at the [Old School Press]
[Short entry on Morison and Times New Roman font];[font specimen]; and *[picture of Morison] at Typolis
[Myfonts.com - Information regarding the Times Family]

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.