Goudy Old Style
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| Category | Serif |
|---|---|
| Classification | Old-style |
| Designer(s) | Frederic W. Goudy |
| Foundry | American Type Founders |
| Date released | 1915 |
| Re-issuing foundries |
Lanston Monotype Intertype Ludlow |
Goudy Old Style (also known as just Goudy) is a classic old-style serif typeface originally created by Frederic W. Goudy for American Type Founders (ATF) in 1915.
Suitable for both text and display applications, Goudy Old Style is a graceful, balanced design with a few eccentricities, including the upward-curved ear on the g and the diamond shape of the dots of the i, j, and the points found in the period, colon and exclamation point, and the sharply canted hyphen. The uppercase italic Q has a strong calligraphic quality. Generally classified as a Garalde (sometimes called Aldine) face, certain of its attributes—most notably the gently curved, rounded serifs of certain glyphs—suggest a Venetian influence. The design is relatively light in colour, and has been described as particularly suitable for titles and headings.
Several variants, designed by several designers, were released in the ensuing years (all faces ATF unless otherwise specified). By Goudy:
By others:
The face was an instant best seller, prompting ATF to issue a special 124-page specimen book of the series in 1927. The descenders of Goudy Old Style were kept short at ATF's insistence to allow tight line setting on their common line system, which irritated Goudy. In addition, he sold the design to ATF for fifteen-hundred dollars and received no royalty on the type, causing his relationship with the foundry to deteriorate.
Over time, because graphic designers came to see the face as more suitable for display, the bold became the most enduringly popular of the family.
In his 1946 autobiography, Goudy wrote that:
I had at some time or other copied a few letters of classic form from a portrait painting - I have always said "by Hans Holbein" but later search has never brought these particular pattern letters to light. [Goudy does not say which.] Anyway, I decided that I would attempt to complete an alphabet of capitals along the lines of the letters I had copied. Then came the difficult task of designing a lower-case in perfect harmony.
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