Cheltenham

02-03. American architect Bertram Goodhue originally designed Cheltenham in 1896. Morris Benton, the resident type designer at American Type founders, developed Cheltenham into the first type family. Bertram Goodhue was born in 1869 and died in 1924.

04-05. Cheltenham is sturdy and has short, stubby serifs, a narrow set, and long ascenders and short descenders. Its big asset is different weights, widths, and italics. Cheltenham is classified as a new transitional face. Its thick terminals are neither strictly ball-nor teardrop-shaped. Its bracketed slab serifs- criticized by some as being flat and stubby. Goodhue believed the upper half of letterforms to be more important for character recognition then the lower half; to this end, he lengthened the face’s ascenders and shortened its descenders. His original design showed variation in stroke width but minimal contrast overall.

06. fonts that are from the same classification of Cheltenham are as follows: Baskerville, Times New Roman, Perpetua.

07. What was going on in 1896? The x-ray machine was exhibited for the first time, The opening ceremonies of the 1896 summer Olympics, the first modern Olympic Games are held, The Ford Quadricycle, the first Ford vehicle ever developed, is completed, eventually leading Henry Ford to build the empire that "put America on wheels", Republican William McKinley becomes president in 1896.

08. Another font designed by Bertram Goodhue was Merrymount. But multiple versions of the face were produced: Gloucester, Winchester, and Cheltonian.

09. Cheltenham was carefully scrutinized. The very properties that won its commercial success-legibility, flexibility, and ruggedness-were criticized by influential designers. Bias against it was evident decades after its inception: it as described by the authors of a 1953 publication on typography as “an unattractive type {that} became strangely popular”. Goodhue sold Cheltenham to Mergenthaler Corporation soon after its creation. ATF, the original cutter of the handset version for Cheltenham Press, purchased the design around 1901. Cheltenham was an immediate success when released by ATF in 1903. New leadership at ATF recognized the potential of the typeface and devised marketing strategies to meet commercial demand. Morris Fuller Benton, who is credited with drawing a family of 18 weights and variants between 104 and 1911, developed the design further. Success fostered competition in the printing trade, and in 1904 linotype introduced ten Cheltenham variations plus advertising figures. In spite of the designer’s intention, Cheltenham became popular not as a book type but as a display face in advertising and job printing. This was due to ATF’s expansion of Goodhue’s design into an extensive family. By 1913, the family included Cheltenham Oldstyle, Italic, Condensed, Extra Condensed, Inline, Medium Expanded, and Wide. Each of these variants afforded different degrees of emphasis for headings and displays. In addition to the standard lower and uppercase alphabets, alternate characters were designed for Cheltenham Italic, including 11 capital letters, six lowercase letters, and one ligature (Qu). A significant shift in Cheltenham’s design occurred several decades after its introduction. Internal Typeface Corporation (ITC) commissioned designer Tony Stan to restyle the typeface. Stan was initially commissioned to create an extra bold weight to supplement existing family. In the process, and perhaps in response to contemporary film typesetting technology, he shortened the unusually long ascenders of Goodhue’s Cheltenham Oldstyle and enlarged the X-height. With these modifications came a clear change in overall character of the face. So therefore ITC commissioned to redraw the entire family. In 1978, the ITC Cheltenham family included roman and italic fonts in four weights: light, book, bold, and ultra. ITC Cheltenham Condensed and ITC Cheltenham Condensed Light were also released in the above four weights. Just as Cheltenham had been the first extensive family of metal types in the early-20^th century, it also became one of the largest families available for photographic and electronic typesetting. The most significant characteristic of the ITC Cheltenham series is the enlarged X-height; the subsequent loss in ascender height and expanded counter affects body type, color, and texture. Cheltenham to be used primarily as book type will never be fully realized. As demonstrated in the early part of the 20^th century, its effectiveness may be best realized as display type. Cheltenham has been practical, commonly usage in the face of subjective criticism. Designers in need of a period typeface find advantages in its gentle modulation, sturdy serifs, and playful terminals. Although it is in sharp contrast to contemporary type designs, Cheltenham has personality, flexibility, and proven longevity. Occasionally maligned but never forgotten, it may easily be second century of controversy as well as success.

10. “Cheltenham is a traditional face among traditional printers. It is strong, reliable and can pull a load; it is veritable workhorse in the stable of American alphabets”