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1930s works progress administration plaque
Posted by brett jordan in
21 Sep 2009 — 12:41am
21 Sep 2009 — 12:41am
Found on a bridge in Maine, built by the WPA as part of Roosevelt's 'New deal'.
had a look around the web, but there doesn't seem to have been a 'standard' typeface
this one is lovely, does anyone know its origins?
all the best
brett
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21 Sep 2009 — 12:47pm
Back in Ye Olden Tymes, when people did hand lettering, there was an abundance of instructional books for aspiring artists, and there was a lot of "borrowing" among the various authors. The earliest "probable influence" I can find in my collection is an undated (but probably early 30s) version of "abc of Lettering" by Carl Holmes. This is called a "moderne" style and, with the exception of the truncation of the bottom strokes on the 3 and 5, the letterforms pretty much match an alphabet on page 21.
22 Sep 2009 — 12:31am
thank you old nick, thank you very much indeed
brett
22 Sep 2009 — 12:37am
i've ordered the book via amazon.co.uk... however, if you had a scan/photo of p21, that would be fantastic!
brett
22 Sep 2009 — 12:52am
actually, scratch that, found p21 on the interweb :-)
http://opera78.livejournal.com/163068.html
22 Sep 2009 — 8:45am
The book shown is a different edition (there were SEVERAL over the course of thirty or more years). The alphabet I was referring to is on page 36 of this edition.
22 Sep 2009 — 10:21am
ok... thanks oldnick... i was wondering :-)