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Charles Pont Collection relating to Frederic Goudy

An inventory of the collection at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: MRC
Date: 17 Feb 2017



Biographical History

Charles Ernest Pont (1898-1971) was a French-born Swiss-American watercolor and oil painter, etcher, engraver, magazine/book illustrator, lecturer, and writer. He was also a Baptist minister.

Frederic W. Goudy (1865-1947) was an American printer and prolific type designer of more than 120 fonts, among them Copperplate Gothic, Kennerley, and Goudy Old Style.


Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Charles Pont Collection relating to Frederic Goudy consists of book dummies, printing plates, metal type, and assorted miscellany relating to American printer and type designer Frederic Goudy, collected by artist and author Charles E. Pont. The material was cataloged by Pont's daughter Joan after his death.

Book dummies consist of dummies for two books by Charles Pont, F.W.G.: Some Letters by Goudy and Ships and Such. Dummies include penciled sketches, page layouts, and photographs. Neither appear to have ever been published.

Most of the Printing plates are by Frederic Goudy and feature his type, though the precise typefaces are not known. The bulk are metal and mounted on wooden blocks, though there is one woodblock. Plates include blocks of text, alphabet samples, stylized capital letters, and various lines of text. Of particular interest is one which is a reproduction of a letter from Goudy, with his signature. There are also two plates by Pont, both illustrations, perhaps intended as illustrations for his book. For ease of identification and to ensure they are replaced in their correct location, each plate has been assigned a unique number corresponding to a numbered space in the box.

Type contains a complete set of Bertham, Goudy's 100th font, named after his wife Bertha. There are also several packets of unidentified type, including letters, decorations and so on. The original groupings have been retained. However, the original packaging (a mix of decaying/damaged cardboard boxes and plastic bags) had no identifying information, so the typeface(s) represented are unknown.

A few Miscellaneous items complete the collection: an advertisement from Pont's Blue Dolphin Press for prints from the two illustrations mentioned above, a charred piece of wood from Goudy's Mill after one of the two fires that destroyed much of his work, a packet of "furniture" (thin pieces of wood used to hold a block of type together as a unit) and a thin sheet of paper with proofs of a few of the plates in the collection.


Arrangement of the Collection

Alphabetical by type or topic.


Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.


Related Material

See also the Frederic W. Goudy Collection and the David M. Norton Collection relating to Frederic Goudy.


Subject Headings

Persons

Goudy, Frederic W. (Frederic William), 1865-1947.
Pont, Charles E. (Charles Ernest), 1898-1971.

Subjects

Graphic design (Typography) -- United States.
Printing -- United States -- History.
Type and type-founding -- History.
Type designers -- United States.

Genres and Forms

Dummies (printed matter)
Photographs.
Printing plates.
Type specimens (documents)
Typefaces (Type forms)

Occupations

Printers.
Type designers.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Charles Pont Collection relating to Frederic Goudy,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Purchase, 2014.


Table of Contents

Book dummies

Printing plates

Type

Miscellaneous


Inventory