William Addison Dwiggins
Dwiggins finished his sans serif type – named Metroblack™ – in less than a year. Its originality lay in the retention of oldstyle forms of letters such as a, e and g. This was also its flaw. Mergenthaler’s customers clamored for a face that was closer to the popular Futura®. Dwiggins was asked to design alternate characters for A, G, J, M, N, V, W, a, e, g, v, and w. The revised face was dubbed Metroblack no. 2 and issued in 1931. It became a success.
While he was designing Metroblack Dwiggins was also working on other faces, including a modelled sans serif and a “contemporary” roman. The modelled sans serif was quickly abandoned but the contemporary roman eventually became Electra™ (1935), Dwiggins’ response to Poliphilus™, Goudy™ Old Style and other soft, antiquarian types. It had electricity, sparks, and energy like “metal shavings coming off a lathe”. Its italic, a sloped roman inspired by the theories of Eldorado (1953) and, posthumously, Falcon (1961). The rest remained “experimentals”.
Fig. 1: Paste-up of Metro letters. Undated but probably Spring 1929.
Fig. 2: Lowercase script letters for Pictorial Review typeface 1934. The letters were assembled as paste-ups for headline use.
Fig. 3: Detail of text setting of script typeface for Underwood Typewriter Company 1932.
Fig. 4: Front cover of Clothes, a magazine published by Wm. Filene’s Sons, the Boston department store (1929). Stencil illustration and lettering by William Addison Dwiggins.
While he was designing Metroblack Dwiggins was also working on other faces, including a modelled sans serif and a “contemporary” roman. The modelled sans serif was quickly abandoned but the contemporary roman eventually became Electra™ (1935), Dwiggins’ response to Poliphilus™, Goudy™ Old Style and other soft, antiquarian types. It had electricity, sparks, and energy like “metal shavings coming off a lathe”. Its italic, a sloped roman inspired by the theories of Eldorado (1953) and, posthumously, Falcon (1961). The rest remained “experimentals”.
Fig. 1: Paste-up of Metro letters. Undated but probably Spring 1929.
Fig. 2: Lowercase script letters for Pictorial Review typeface 1934. The letters were assembled as paste-ups for headline use.
Fig. 3: Detail of text setting of script typeface for Underwood Typewriter Company 1932.
Fig. 4: Front cover of Clothes, a magazine published by Wm. Filene’s Sons, the Boston department store (1929). Stencil illustration and lettering by William Addison Dwiggins.
This font feature is an article from Linotype Matrix magazine Vol. 4 No. 2.
Author: Paul Shawn. We would like to thank Roberta Zonghi, Keeper, Rare Books and Manuscripts Department, Boston Public Library for permission to reproduce photographs of items in the 1974 and 2001 Dwiggins Collections. All photos, except those credited, were taken by Paul Shaw.
Author: Paul Shawn. We would like to thank Roberta Zonghi, Keeper, Rare Books and Manuscripts Department, Boston Public Library for permission to reproduce photographs of items in the 1974 and 2001 Dwiggins Collections. All photos, except those credited, were taken by Paul Shaw.
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