National Type Foundry (Chicago)

1. Overview

[By 1894] - 1895. Chicago. Its history is still imperfectly known. Its materials were acquired by the Crescent Type Foundry (Chicago).

It originated the typefaces " Shepard Script," " Alfereta," and " Iroquois," all of which were later offered by other foundries as their own.

It is distinct from, and to the best of my knowledge entirely unrelated to, the National Type Foundry (Bridgeport (CT), 1920s), National Type Foundry (Pittsburgh (PA), 1930s), National Type Company (Jackson (MI), 1930s), and the National Type Founders (Akron (OH), 1940s-1950s).

2. History

The origins of the National Type Foundry (Chicago) are obscure. One trade note from the Inland Printer in 1901, recounting the employment history of one Louis Schauppner, claims that Schauppner went into business for himself (as L. Schauppner & Co., q.v.) in 1881 and then after five years terminated this business and "joined forces with the National Type Foundry, on Monroe Street, a firm started with excellent prospects, which had but a short existence." {Inland 1901} If accepted, this would put the National Type Foundry in business by at least 1886. But I have as yet been able to discover no evidence for its existence before its first typeface showing in 1894, so this date of ca. 1886 must at present be discounted.

(Schauppner did have a history with type foundries, having been earlier at the Conner and Illinois foundries. After the National, he held positions with ATF, the Bruce, and Inland foundries, and later held a stake in the firm which became the Western Type Foundry.)

Moving forward to dates nearer to the first actual evidence of the National Type Foundry (Chicago), a search through the advertisements, trade notes, business notices, and the business directories (the latter a presumably paid advertising section) for Vol. 12 of The Inland Printer (Oct. 1893 - March 1894) failed to turn up any mention of the National Type Foundry. Neither can I find any mention of them in Vol. 13 in any "regular" ad, trade note, business notice, or the business directories, despite the presence of an insert showing their borders in No. 4 (July 1894) and the presence of at least two "minor" typefoundries ( John Graham and the Standard) in the Business Directories.

The earliest record of this foundry is an advertisement showing a specimen of the typeface Shepard Script which appeared in the June 1894 issue of The Inland Printer {Inland 1894, June)} (For reprints of this and other specimens, see the next section.) It did not specify the sizes shown (there were three), but promised the complete series in the next issue.

This is an interesting showing because not only is the face named "Shepard Script" but the showing is in the form of a trade card for the Henry O. Shepard Co. The Shepard Company was of course the publisher of The Inland Printer itself (and a commercial printing firm). Whether there was in fact any link between the Shepard Company and the National Type Foundry is unknown. This showing lists Wm. P. Fisher as "Manager" and an address of 188 Monroe Street, Chicago. I have as yet been unable to discover anything further about this William P. Fisher.

Aside: The closeness of their addresses (NTF at 188 Monroe, Shepard at 212-214 Monroe) is not significant. In the 1890s Monroe Street in Chicago was still the heart of the printing district, which had not yet migrated slightly further south to what is now called the "printer's row" historical district. Neither is it necessarily significant that 188 Monroe was later the address of the Chicago branch of the Inland Type Foundry (of St. Louis). 188 Monroe was a multi-tenant building. (It burned in 1909, prior to the street renumbering of the Loop.)

In July of 1894, no advertisement appeared in The Inland Printer, but in the "Recent Type Designs" column a note appeared which indicated a delay in the completion of the Shepard Script series, together with a brief showing of a Fleur de Lis Border. {Inland 1894, July)}

Their advertisements in the July 1894 issue of The Inland Printer concentrate on further border designs, but also show for the first time examples of the faces Alfereta and Iroquois (in an insert following p. 456). The "Recent Type Designs" column comments briefly upon these, giving the sizes cut. It also says that "This foundry has just cast a new letter called the 'Iroquois' ..." It makes no mention of Alfereta.

The last showing of which I am presently aware from this foundry appeared in the October 1894 issue of The Inland Printer It was a double-sided insert (after p. 68) giving showings of the Alfereta series (in 18, 24, and 30 pt, with the claim that 12 and 36 pt were in preparation) and the Iroquois series (shown in 18, 20, 24, and 36 pt, with 6, 8, 10, 12, 42 and 48 pt in preparation). {Inland 1894, October)}

In the December 1894 issue of The Inland Printer R. Coupland Harding mentions Iroquois, "Alfreta" [sic], and the No. 3 (Fleur de Lis) border. Harding's acount is most significant here because he includes the National as one of "two new names on the roll of American typefoundries" - this suggests that a date of 1894 (not 1886) is more nearly correct for its beginning. {Inland 1894, December)}

After this, at least in The Inland Printer, things go silent for over half a year. Then in the July 1895 issue, in the "Chicago Notes" column, there appears a note that the Crescent Type Foundry has recently been formed (at a different address than that given for the National, 358 Dearborn Street) and that "They have purchased the plant of the National Type Foundry and will manufacture all the faces made by that company, besides adding new things from time to time." Only the typeface Iroquois is mentioned by name. {Inland 1895, July)} The note is worth viewing in its entirety:

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3. Types

Shepard Script, preliminary showing in The Inland Printer, Vol. 13, No. 3 (June 1894): 260. {Inland 1894, June)}:

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(Here is the image above as a PDF, in case that should scale better for you: inland-printer-v013-n3-1894-06-hathi-mdp-39015086781518-p0260-national-type-foundry-shepard-script-jpg.pdf )

Borders (Nos. 6, 7, 8, 9, plus two-color Fleur-de-Lis) with 18 and 30 point Alfereta. From The Inland Printer, Vol. 13, No. 5 (August 1894): [insert after p. 456, recto]. {Inland 1894, August)}:

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Borders (Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) with 30 point Iroquois. From The Inland Printer, Vol. 13, No. 5 (August 1894): [insert after p. 456, verso]. {Inland 1894, August)}:

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(Here is a PDF format version of the two images above (the recto and verso of a single page insert), in case PDF scales better for you than PNG: inland-printer-v013-n5-1894-08-hathi-mdp-39015086781518-insert-after-p0456-recto-national-type-foundry-borders-jpg.pdf )

Alfereta series, in 18, 24, and 30 point (12 and 36 point in preparation). From The Inland Printer, Vol. 14, No. 1 (October 1894): [insert after p. 68, recto]. {Inland 1894, October)}:

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Iroquois series, in 18, 20, 24, and 26 point (6, 8, 10, 12, 42, and 48 point in preparation). From The Inland Printer, Vol. 14, No. 1 (October 1894): [insert after p. 68, verso]. {Inland 1894, October)}:

[click image to view larger]

(Here is a PDF format version of the two images above (the recto and verso of a single page insert), in case PDF scales better for you than PNG: inland-printer-v014-n1-1894-10-hathi-mdp-39015086781369-after-p0068-a-national-type-foundry-alfereta-and-iroquois-extract-as-jpg.pdf )

4. Parallel Discoveries

This Notebook came out of research in the second half of October 2014 to trace background information for my acquisition of the only surviving 60pt Barth Type Caster. The need to establish the meanings of ATF consituent foundry letter and numeric designations (for understanding Barth molds) led to a need to reconstruct the early history of ATF as it consolidated its foundries. This led in turn to the question of the status of the Crescent Type Foundry (Chicago), which led of course back to the National.

After conducting this research, as I was writing it up, I discovered that Anna of the Type Heritage Project had run across the same specimens of Alfereta from The Inland Printer (curiously, she does not mention either Iroquois or Shepard Script) only a couple of weeks earlier. She published this discover on the Type Heritage Project's forum on October 5, although I was not aware of it until after my near-simultaneous rediscovery. See http://forums.typeheritage.com/topic/alfereta/

5. Notes

Note: Lasko lists a "National Type Foundry," and he claims that it is the one in Bridgeport, CT. ( {Lasko 1980}, p. 12.) But he doesn't mention any other of the five distinct foundries which incorporated the word "National" into their name, so until further evidence emerges (such as a piece of National Type Foundry (Chicago) cast Iroquois or Alfereta with a pinmark on it), there will remain some uncertainty.

6. Bibliography

{Inland 1894, June} ["Trade Notes" column] The Inland Printer. Vol. 13, No. 3 (June, 1894): 260.

Digitized by Google from the University of Michigan copy and available via The Hathi Trust. Hathi ID: mdp.39015086781518. Here is an extract in PDF format of the complete page:

[click image to read]

{Inland 1894, July} ["Recent Type Designs" column] The Inland Printer. Vol. 13, No. 4 (July, 1894): 366.

Digitized by Google from the University of Michigan copy and available via The Hathi Trust. Hathi ID: mdp.39015086781518. Here is an extract in PDF format of the complete page:

[click image to read]

{Inland 1894, August} [Specimen insert, and note in the "Recent Type Designs" column] The Inland Printer. Vol. 13, No. 5 (August, 1894): insert following p. 456, ["Recent Type Designs" on] 457.

Digitized by Google from the University of Michigan copy and available via The Hathi Trust. Hathi ID: mdp.39015086781518. Here is an extract in PDF format of the two page insert (recto and verso of a single sheet) plus p. 457:

[click image to read]

{Inland 1894, October} [Specimen insert] The Inland Printer. Vol. 14, No. 1 (October, 1894): insert following p. 68.

Here is an extract in PDF format of the two page insert (recto and verso of a single sheet):

[click image to read]

{Inland 1894, December} Harding, R. Coupland. "Review of Type Designs." The Inland Printer. Vol. 14, No. 3 (December, 1894): 254.

Digitized by Google from the University of Michigan copy and available via The Hathi Trust. Hathi ID: mdp.39015086781369. Here is an extract in PDF format of the page:

[click image to read]

{Inland 1895, July} [In the "Chicago Notes" column] The Inland Printer. Vol. 15, No. 4 (July, 1895): 409.

Digitized by Google from the University of Minnesota copy and available via The Hathi Trust. Hathi ID: umn.31951001898742j. Here is an extract in PDF format of the two pages comprising the "Chicago Notes" column; the item in question is on the second of these, p. 409.

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{Inland 1901} ["Trade Notes" column] The Inland Printer. Vol. 26, No. 6 (March 1901): 984-985.

Digitized by Google from the University of Minnesota copy and available via The Hathi Trust. Hathi ID: umn.31951001898751i. Here is an extract in PDF format of the "Trade Notes" column.

[click image to read]

{Lasko 1980} Lasko, David J. "Pinmarks, Nicks, and Grooves: Some Notes on the History of American Typefounding." Festina Lente, Vol. 1, No. 1 (February 1980): 3-21.