Thomas Maitland Cleland

Thomas Maitland Cleland (1880, Brooklyn, New York – 1964, Danbury, Connecticut) was an American book designer, painter, illustrator, and type designer.

Education and career

Cleland studied at the Artisan Institute before working as a book designer for the Caslon Press and Merrymount Press. Founded the Cornhill Press in Boston. Magazine work included being art director for McClure's Magazine (1907/8), and illustrations and typography for Wesvaco Paper Corporation's in-house magazine (1925) and Fortune.[1] Associated with American Type Founders for most of the early twentieth century.

When the Caslon Press folded, Cleland acquired a small foot-powered press and some fonts and launched his own printing shop from a room he constructed in his father's basement. He managed to produce two small books along with small job printing projects. His work caught the notice of printing enthusiasts in Boston, who persuaded him to move his operation there and launch the Cornhill Press.[2]

Typefaces

Della Robbia (1903, ATF) later cast by Lanston Monotype (1915), Deberny & Peignot (1917) and Intertype, and cast as Westminster Oldstyle by Stephenson Blake (1907), and as Firenze by Typefoundry Amsterdam.[3]
Della Robbia Light (1913, ATF) was cut by Morris Fuller Benton and copied by Damon & Peat as Armstrong. [4]
Della Robbia Initials (Intertype) are not related at all.[5]
Garamond No. 3 + Italic (1917, ATF) in collaboration with Morris Fuller Benton
Swash letters for Caslon Oldstyle Italic No. 471 (1920, ATF)
Swash letters for Garamond No. 3 + Italic (1922, ATF)

References

Rollins, Carl Purlington American Type Designers and Their Work. in Print, V. 4, #1.
Jaspert, W. Pincus, W. Turner Berry and A.F. Johnson, The Encyclopedia of Type Faces, Blandford Press Lts., 1983, ISBN 0-7137-1347-X.
MacGrew, Mac, American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century, Oak Knoll Books, New Castle Delaware, 1993, ISBN 0-938768-34-4.
Friedl, Ott, and Stein, Typography: an Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques Throughout History. Black Dog & Levinthal Publishers: 1998. ISBN 1-57912-023-7.
The decorative work of T.M. Cleland : a record and review / with a biographical and critical introduction by Alfred E. Hamill, and a portrait lithograph by Rockwell Kent, Pynson Printers, New York, 1929.

Friedl, Ott, and Stein, p. 170.
Meggs, Philip B. "An Eminent Pre-Modernist: The Curious Case Of T.M. Cleland." Print 49.2 (1995): 72. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Oct. 2013.
MacGrew, Mac, American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century, Oak Knoll Books, New Castle Delaware, 1993, ISBN 0-938768-34-4, pp. 116 + 117, and Jaspert, W. Pincus, W. Turner Berry and A.F. Johnson, The Encyclopedia of Type Faces, Blandford Press Lts., 1983, ISBN 0-7137-1347-X, p. 240.
Jaspert (p. 240) says this was copied as Canterbury by Lanston Monotype, but McGrew (p. 117) has no mention of this, nor does his list of Monotype Series Numbers (pp. 363-365) have any listing for any Canterbury.

MacGrew, American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century, pp. 116 + 117.