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2019 DECEMBER
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Richard Austin 1768–1830 GB
Born in London, RIchard Austin trained as a wood-engraver with Thomas Bewick. In 1788 he joined the British Letter Foundry of publisher John Bell as a punch-cutter. Influenced by Bell’s enthusiasm for contemporary French types, Austin, a skillful cutter, produced a very sharply serifed letter which Stanley Morison was to call the first English modern face. the type retains some old-style characteristics and should more properly be called a late transitional. Austin went on to cut true moderns and later, in 1819, after starting a foundry of his own, he outlined the dangers of such designs being taken to extremes.
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Bell MT In 1931 Monotype made this facsimile of the typeface cut originally for John Bell by Richard Austin in 1788, using as a basis the matrices in the possession of Stephenson Blake & Co. Used in Bell’s newspaper, “The Oracle,” it was regarded by Stanley Morison as the first English Modern face. Although inspired by French punchcutters of the time, with a vertical stress and fine hairlines, the face is less severe than the French models and is now classified as Transitional. Essentially a text face, Bell can be used for books, magazines, long articles etc.