{"id":123,"date":"2025-05-09T16:58:21","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T21:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sherwinbeach.com\/press\/?post_type=product&p=123"},"modified":"2026-02-08T16:16:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T22:16:15","slug":"morris-fuller-benton","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/sherwinbeach.com\/press\/shop\/morris-fuller-benton\/","title":{"rendered":"Searching for Morris Fuller Benton"},"content":{"rendered":"

Searching for Morris Fuller Benton: Discovering the Designer Through His Typefaces<\/em><\/h2>\n

by Juliet Shen<\/h3>\n

with a foreword by Roger Black, frontispiece wood engraving by Carl Montford, and dozens of typographic specimens from Europe and North America<\/h3>\n

Morris Fuller Benton is the most prolific type designer of the hot metal era, but unlike Frederic Goudy, Bruce Rogers, or William Dwiggins–whose ideas about type design are well documented–Benton wrote nothing about his own work, nor was it the subject of analysis by others.<\/p>\n

Juliet Shen has made a meticulous study of his work, including a new enumeration of designs appropriately attributed to him. She gained access to papers from the ATF library, now housed at Columbia University. Shen places Benton in the context of American life at the turn of the 20th Century, when branding, advertising, and marketing were first becoming major factors in the economy. She compares his typefaces to similar ones from the same period, discovering the elements which he found important. The book contains additional research not in Shen\u2019s original masters dissertation version.<\/p>\n

As Roger Black says in the introduction, “Benton’s lean, driving, consistent style took over American printing in the pre-war era, and remains the bedrock of American typography.”<\/p>\n

The book is designed by Robert McCamant, set in Benton\u2019s Cloister Oldstyle typeface cast by the Dale Guild Type Foundry from ATF matrices, and hand typeset by Art Larson and Rose Wisotzky at Horton Tank Graphics. It is printed on Mohawk Superfine, with letterpress by Michael Russem of Kat Ran Press, and offset illustrations and captions by Capitol Offset. Trisha Hammer has designed and executed the binding. 58 pp, 7\u00bd x 10\u00bc inches. Edition of 75.<\/p>\n

Published January 1, 2012.<\/p>\n

From the book\u2019s colophon:<\/p>\n

\u2026 edition limited to 75. The body type is Cloister Oldstyle cast by the Dale Guild Type foundry from ATF matrices. Text subheads are Monootype Franklin Gothic 107, cast by Ed Rayher. The type was set at Horton Tank Graphics by Art Larson, assisted by Rose Wisotzky. Michael Russem of Kat Ran Press printed the text. Illustrations and captions were printed by Capitol Offset. The book was designed by Robert McCamant and bound by Trisha Hammer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Copies are signed by Juliet Shen and Robert McCamant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Juliet Shen, with a foreword by Roger Black, frontispiece wood engraving by Carl Montford, and dozens of typographic specimens from Europe and North America<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":125,"template":"","meta":{"content-type":""},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[17],"product_tag":[32],"class_list":["post-123","product","type-product","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","product_cat-books","product_tag-typeset-by-hand","first","outofstock","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"yoast_head":"\nSearching for Morris Fuller Benton - Juliet Shen - Roger Black - Carl Montford (fine press book)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discovering the Designer Through His Typefaces. 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