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Caledonia (typeface)
Encyclopedia
Caledonia is a transitional serif typeface
designed by William Addison Dwiggins
in 1938 for the Mergenthaler Linotype Company.
Dwiggins chose the name Caledonia, the Roman name for Scotland, to express the face's basis on the early nineteenth century Scotch Roman
typeface however, though Dwiggins began with the thought of copying the classical Scotch Romans, eventually he drew more inspiration from the Bulmer
design of William Martin. The face has a more vertical stress than an old style garalde faces, with mostly unbracketed horizontal serifs. The G is open and the R has a curved tail. the t is unbracketed. Italic characters p and q have no foot serif. The character set, as drawn by Dwiggins was wide, including ranging (old style) figures, lining figures, and small capitals in the text and bold weights. A Greek version of the face is available. Caledonia ranks with Times New Roman as one of the most used book text faces.
with foundry type only made later, and then only in Germany. The following variants were designed by Dwiggins and released by Linotype:
Linotype also made 36 point matrices for Caledonia Bold Condensed, but it is doubtful that Dwiggins had anything to do with their design. The face was sold by Linotype in England under the same name, and in Germany as Cornelia.
era, and it was sold then under the following names:
and Linotype
.
Typeface
In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
designed by William Addison Dwiggins
William Addison Dwiggins
William Addison Dwiggins was a U.S. type designer, calligrapher, and book designer...
in 1938 for the Mergenthaler Linotype Company.
Dwiggins chose the name Caledonia, the Roman name for Scotland, to express the face's basis on the early nineteenth century Scotch Roman
Scotch Roman
Scotch Roman refers to a class of typefaces popular in the early nineteenth century, particularly in the United States and to a lesser extent the United Kingdom...
typeface however, though Dwiggins began with the thought of copying the classical Scotch Romans, eventually he drew more inspiration from the Bulmer
Bulmer (typeface)
Bulmer is the name of transitional serif typeface originally designed by William Martin in 1792 for the Shakespeare Press. The types were used for printing the Boydell Shakespeare folio edition....
design of William Martin. The face has a more vertical stress than an old style garalde faces, with mostly unbracketed horizontal serifs. The G is open and the R has a curved tail. the t is unbracketed. Italic characters p and q have no foot serif. The character set, as drawn by Dwiggins was wide, including ranging (old style) figures, lining figures, and small capitals in the text and bold weights. A Greek version of the face is available. Caledonia ranks with Times New Roman as one of the most used book text faces.
Machine Composition
Caledonia made initially for machine compositionHot metal typesetting
In printing and typography, hot metal typesetting refers to 19th-century technologies for typesetting text in letterpress printing. This method injects molten type metal into a mold that has the shape of one or more glyphs...
with foundry type only made later, and then only in Germany. The following variants were designed by Dwiggins and released by Linotype:
- Caledonia + Italic (1938)
- Caledonia Bold + Bold Italic (1940)
Linotype also made 36 point matrices for Caledonia Bold Condensed, but it is doubtful that Dwiggins had anything to do with their design. The face was sold by Linotype in England under the same name, and in Germany as Cornelia.
Foundry Type
Cornelia, as it was called there, proved so popular in Germany, that the Stempel Foundry cast is as foundry type.Cold Type Copies
Caledonia’s popularity as a text face continued right through the cold typePhototypesetting
Phototypesetting was a method of setting type, rendered obsolete with the popularity of the personal computer and desktop publishing software, that uses a photographic process to generate columns of type on a scroll of photographic paper...
era, and it was sold then under the following names:
- Caledonia — Mergenthaler, Monotype
- Caledo — Alphatype
- Highland — AutologicInformation International, Inc.Information International, Inc., commonly referred to as Triple-I or III, was an early computer technology company; Founded by Edward Fredkin in 1962 in Maynard, Massachusetts. It then moved to Santa Monica, Culver City, and Los Angeles California. Triple-I merged with Autologic, Inc. in 1996...
, DymoDYMOThe DYMO routing protocol is successor to the popular Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector Routing protocol and shares many of its benefits. It is, however, slightly easier to implement and designed with future enhancements in mind....
, Star/Photon, VarityperItekItek Corporation was a US defense contractor that initially specialized in the field of camera systems for spy satellites. In the early 1960s they built a conglomerate in a fashion similar to LTV or Litton, during which time they developed the first CAD system and explored optical disk technology... - Balmoral — AutologicInformation International, Inc.Information International, Inc., commonly referred to as Triple-I or III, was an early computer technology company; Founded by Edward Fredkin in 1962 in Maynard, Massachusetts. It then moved to Santa Monica, Culver City, and Los Angeles California. Triple-I merged with Autologic, Inc. in 1996...
, Berthold, HarrisHarris CorporationHarris Corporation is a Florida-based international communications equipment company that produces wireless equipment, electronic systems, and both terrestrial and spaceborne antennas for use in the government, defense, and commercial sectors. It is also the largest private-sector employer in...
, , VarityperItekItek Corporation was a US defense contractor that initially specialized in the field of camera systems for spy satellites. In the early 1960s they built a conglomerate in a fashion similar to LTV or Litton, during which time they developed the first CAD system and explored optical disk technology...
. - California — CompugraphicCompugraphicCompugraphic Corporation was an American producer of typesetting systems and phototypesetting equipment, based, at the time of the Agfa merger, in Wilmington, Massachusetts, just a few miles from where it was founded...
- CaledonStar — Star/Photon
- Edinburgh — Graphic Systems Inc.Singer CorporationSinger Corporation is a manufacturer of sewing machines, first established as I.M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac Merritt Singer with New York lawyer Edward Clark. Best known for its sewing machines, it was renamed Singer Manufacturing Company in 1865, then The Singer Company in 1963. It is...
- Laurel — HarrisHarris CorporationHarris Corporation is a Florida-based international communications equipment company that produces wireless equipment, electronic systems, and both terrestrial and spaceborne antennas for use in the government, defense, and commercial sectors. It is also the largest private-sector employer in...
, MGD Graphic Systems - Calderon — ScangraphicScangraphicScangraphic is a division of Dr. Böger Duplomat Apparate GmbH & Co.KG, based in Wedel near Hamburg, Germany. It was founded by Bernd Holthusen and Knut Schmiedl....
- Gael — Information International Inc.
Digital Copies
A digital version, called New Caledonia, available in four weights: text, semibold, bold, and black, each with small capitals, was released in 1982. Digital copies are made by AdobeAdobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
and Linotype
Linotype
The Mergenthaler Linotype Company is a corporation founded in the United States in 1886 to market the linecaster invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler...
.