When new typefaces are released today, we expect them to be a full complement of designs and weights. It wasn’t that long ago, however, that typeface families grew much like your own: a little at a time – over a period of time. Such was the case with the ITC Tiffany™ and ITC Lubalin Graph™ typeface families.

ITC Tiffany and ITC Lubalin Graph were released in 1974. It wasn’t until 1981, however, (in U&lc Volume Eight Number 2) that their italic designs were announced. Why the delay? Because before the advent of design software, typefaces were drawn by hand – a time consuming and labor intensive process. ITC was a relatively small company and undertaking a new typeface design project was a major investment.

Which may beg the question as to why were the italics drawn at all. The answer is “technology.” More and more typesetting was being set digitally in the early 1980s – and it was a relatively easy process to digitally oblique a roman design to serve as a makeshift italic. The result did not look good to a typographer’s eyes, but that didn’t stop people from doing it.

The folks at ITC, however, were typographers – and it pained them to see their typefaces contorted and distorted into faux italic designs. Which is why ITC asked Ed Benguiat to draw new italic designs to complement the roman weights of Herb Lubalin, Tony DiSpigna and Joe Sundwall’s ITC Lubalin Graph and his own ITC Tiffany typeface.

The first “Directory of ITC Typefaces” (a specimen showing of all the typefaces released in the first ten years of the ITC’s existence) was also published in the pages of Volume Eight of U&lc – as was the announcement of the ITC Galliard™ family, a typeface design first released by another company. To find out what company first released Galliard – and to see what else was in the journal’s pages – click the PDFs below to download Volume Eight of U&lc.

Low Resolution:

Volume 8–1 (Low Res).pdf (22.0 MB)

Volume 8–2 (Low Res).pdf (17.0 MB)

Volume 8–3 (Low Res).pdf (15.2 MB)

Volume 8–4 (Low Res).pdf (14.7 MB)

High Resolution:

Volume 8–1.pdf (103.0 MB)

Volume 8–2.pdf (78.2 MB)

Volume 8–3.pdf (73.1 MB)

Volume 8–4.pdf (70.5 MB)

Ed Gottschall, the editor of U&lc in the late 1970s and early 1980s, loved technology. Although he wore a suit and tie to work everyday, he was a certifiable geek. He also had a lot to be geeky about. During his tenure as editor, the manner in which typographic content was set, output, stored and managed was going through dramatic changes. To celebrate and explore this abundance of communications technology, Gottschall prepared his “Vision ’80s” supplement to U&lc in Volume Seven Number Two.

“Vision ’80s” was a major undertaking that pumped the journal up from 80 to 180 pages. In the supplement, Gottschall presented a cornucopia of technological developments for creating textual content – and predicted its future. In several instances his predictions were right on target; in others, not so much. “Vision ’80s” was a report on the state of the art of creating content – and Gottschall was a great reporter. Reporting and predicting, however, are two very different things. Still, “Vision ’80s” is an excellent view into the future of yesterday.

Along with technology, Gottschall was also interested in the calligraphic arts. Volume Seven Number One, contains a call for entries for a calligraphy competition with the winning entries to be shown in the pages of U&lc – and in an exhibition at the ITC Gallery. While the ITC Gallery is long gone, the winning entries can be seen in Volume Seven Number Four.

ITC also announced four new typeface families in Volume Seven of U&lc. The first weights of the ITC Franklin Gothic™ family were announced in the first issue; which was followed by the ITC Fenice™, ITC Century™ and ITC Isbell™ families.

Click the PDFs below to download Volume Seven of U&lc.

Low Resolution:

Volume 7–1 (Low Res).pdf (15.9 MB)

Volume 7–2 (Low Res).pdf (35.6 MB)

Volume 7–3 (Low Res).pdf (15.9 MB)

Volume 7–4 (Low Res).pdf (18.1 MB)

High Resolution:

Volume 7–1.pdf (70.4 MB)

Volume 7–2.pdf (157.1 MB)

Volume 7–3.pdf (73.7 MB)

Volume 7–4.pdf (85.9 MB)

ITC was hitting its stride in the late 1970s. It was releasing a wide range of distinctive typefaces and U&lc had grown into a significantly influential journal – and not just about type and typography.

By the late 1970s, U&lc had a circulation of over 250,00 subscribers. ITC liked to think that there was also a significant “pass-along” readership, but most people tended to horde their issues – fearing that, if they got outside of their sight, they would be gone forever.

Graphic designers and art directors were the journal’s target audience. (This was before there were creative directors.) While graphic designers and art directors specified what typefaces were to be used in their projects, they also determined what photographs and illustrations might be used in those same projects.

As a result, illustrators and photographers were eager to have their work displayed in the pages of U&lc. And the editors of the journal obliged. The four issues of Volume Six showcased the work of no less than a dozen different illustrators and photographers. Some, like Jim Spanfeller and William Bramhall, became regulars in the journal. Others like, Frances Jetter and Janet Beller, received their first major exposure – while others, like Joan Hall and Richard Haas, were seasoned professionals.

Four diverse new ITC® typeface families were also announced in the pages of Volume Six. The ITC Clearface® family, a revival of an early American Type Founders design, was announced in the first issue. This was followed by the ITC Zapf Chancery® design, which went on to become one of the first commercial typefaces in the Apple operating system. The distinctive ITC Benguiat Gothic™ family was announced in the September issue and the ITC Novarese™ series by Italian designer Aldo Novarese (who also designed the Eurostile® family) finished out the year.

Click the PDFs below to download Volume Six of U&lc.

Low Resolution:

Volume 6–1 (Low Res).pdf (15.4 MB)

Volume 6–2 (Low Res).pdf (14.8 MB)

Volume 6–3 (Low Res).pdf (14.5 MB)

Volume 6–4 (Low Res).pdf (17.4 MB)

High Resolution:

Volume 6–1.pdf (75.1 MB)

Volume 6–2.pdf (71.5 MB)

Volume 6–3.pdf (72.9 MB)

Volume 6–4.pdf (78.9 MB)

U&lc began its fifth year of publication in 1978 and was fully established as a unique source of great typographic design, harbinger of new typefaces, cornucopia of information about typography and its practitioners – and the occasional prediction about the future of our craft. Graphic designers would eagerly await the next issue and devour the contents when it arrived.

At the time, I was working for a large company, and the issues were delivered in bulk. As soon as one person discovered the box of issues in the mailroom, all work stopped as we rushed to gather a copy. (The word spread as fast as any email today.)

In 1960 Herb Lubalin created a series inserts about U.S. culture for the German design magazine, Der Druckspiegel. Then, as now, music was an important part of designer’s lives. Radios (sans ear buds) and even phonographs were important fixtures most design studios. In U&lc, Volume Five, No. 1, Lubalin recreated this award-winning design, “Come Home to Jazz,” using ITC typefaces. The designs, although over 30 years old, are still electrifying.

Volume Five, No. 2 predicted a new job title and career opportunity for graphic designers. The opportunity came to fruition – not so much the job title.

The ITC Zapf Dingbats® suite of characters was one of the many designs announced in the pages of Volume Five. Today, ITC Zapf Dingbats is the staple for bullets, boxes, stars, pointing hands, and the like. In 1978, it was a groundbreaking accomplishment – and the first time that a large suite of these characters were drawn with consistent design traits and organized in a logical way.

Readers were also treated to a 3000-year “Brief History of Typography” – in four pages.

Volume Five, No. 4 features one of my all-time favorite articles. Titled “My Favorite 5, 6, 7, and 9 Letter Words.” Herb Lubalin, who was almost as concerned with the look of a word as he was with its meaning, picked his favorites (graphically speaking) from the English language, listed them and transformed many into wonderful graphic images set in the ITC Benguiat® typeface.

Click the PDFs below to enjoy the above articles and features – plus lots more.

Low Resolution:

Volume 5–1 (Low Res).pdf (15.4 MB)

Volume 5–2 (Low Res).pdf (12.1 MB)

Volume 5–3 (Low Res).pdf (13.5 MB)

Volume 5–4 (Low Res).pdf (12.8 MB)

High Resolution:

Volume 5–1.pdf (78.9 MB)

Volume 5–2.pdf (63.0 MB)

Volume 5–3.pdf (65.2 MB)

Volume 5–4.pdf (62.5 MB)

The advertisements in the old issues of U&lc can be great fun to look at. They provide glimpses into the typesetting technologies, type trends, and design fashions of the time. The advertisements, however, can also be great sources of typographic history – as in the case of the ITC Galliard® typestyle.

The availability of the Galliard typeface family was announced In the pages of U&lc, Volume Four No. 4 – except that it is not ITC Galliard. The announcement is in a Linotype advertisement. Galliard was originally a Linotype typeface.

Aaron Burns, President and one of the founders of International Typeface Corporation, was one of many who immediately fell in love with the new Linotype design. Burns also knew that the Galliard family would be a powerful addition to the ITC typeface library and tried, on several occasions, to convince Linotype management that Galliard would get more exposure – and would ultimately be more successful – if it was released as an ITC design. Each time, the request was politely declined. Seven years later, In 1981, however, Linotype capitulated and gave ITC exclusive rights to Galliard.

That’s how Galliard became ITC Galliard. You’ll have to read the ad in Volume Four No. 4 to find out how Galliard became a Linotype typeface.

In addition to the great graphics that pepper the pages, three new ITC typeface families were announced in the Volume Four issues. Two of the issues are also devoted to “Vision 77” a three-day conference, sponsored by ITC, that explored the then new and merging technologies of word processing and typesetting. This is worth a read to find out what predictions came true – and what did not.

U&lc Volume Four also kicked-off the “Pro.Files: The Great Graphic Innovators” series of articles. These focused on the important graphic designers who profoundly influenced the direction of visual communication from the turn of the last century to the present. Well, until U&lc stopped running the series.

Click the PDFs below to find out lots more.

Low Resolution:

Volume 4–1 (Low Res).pdf (13.4 MB)

Volume 4–2 (Low Res).pdf (12.9 MB)

Volume 4–3 (Low Res).pdf (18.3 MB)

Volume 4–4 (Low Res).pdf (18.5 MB)

High Resolution:

Volume 4–1.pdf (62.6 MB)

Volume 4–2.pdf (65.5 MB)

Volume 4–3.pdf (91.0 MB)

Volume 4–4.pdf (92.9 MB)

Editorial note: For ease of access we have made an index page containing links to the previous U&lc releases which can be found here.

After a 10-year hiatus, Hermann Zapf began designing typefaces again in 1976 – and the first were announced in volume three of U&lc.

The Palatino®, Optima®, and Melior® typefaces are just some of the designs Zapf created early in his career. These typefaces were designed for Linotype at a time when type foundries chose not to cross-license their designs. Since his designs were – and still are – a vital component of any well-planned typographic offering, Linotype’s competition commonly produced virtual clones of Zapf’s typefaces to provide to their customers. After seeing this happen time and again, Zapf concluded that it was not intelligent – or profitable – to continue his career designing typefaces for others to plagiarize. In the mid-1960s, Zapf stopped designing commercial typefaces. Over a decade passed before a new typeface of his was released.

Zapf’s re-emergence into type design began when Aaron Burns founded International Typeface Corporation in 1971. The company was built on the principle that it would license typeface designs on a non-exclusive basis to any company that agreed to a relatively basic and straightforward business relationship. Three years later, on a cool October morning, Zapf visited Burns in his New York office. At their meeting, Burns was able to convince Zapf of the soundness of ITC’s business philosophy.

Upon returning home to Germany, Zapf wrote to Burns of his intention to design a new text typeface – which he would offer to ITC. In Zapf’s words, “The system worked out by ITC is the only way to get better conditions for type designers. So I will… carefully prepare my alphabet proposal for my new relationship with ITC…. The design will be a blending of Melior, Bodoni, and Walbaum as a special text face to which we may later add swash characters for display.” The blended design eventually became the ITC Zapf Book™ typeface family, which was released in the spring of 1976. The relationship with ITC continued, with Zapf designing the ITC Zapf International™ and ITC Zapf Chancery™ typefaces in 1976 and1978 and creating the ITC Zapf Dingbats® suite of characters in 1979.

Click below, and you will be rewarded with downloadable files of the third volume of U&lc where you can read about Herman Zapf’s then new typeface releases – and feast on all the other great typographic treasures.

Enjoy!

Low Resolution:

Volume 3–1 (Low Res).pdf (13.2 MB)

Volume 3–2 (Low Res).pdf (16.0 MB)

Volume 3–3 (Low Res).pdf (12.0 MB)

Volume 3–4 (Low Res).pdf (12.3 MB)

High Resolution:

Volume 3–1.pdf (57.5 MB)

Volume 3–2.pdf (69.9 MB)

Volume 3–3.pdf (53.7 MB)

Volume 3–4.pdf (59.0 MB)

Editorial note: For ease of access we have made an index page containing links to the previous U&lc releases which can be found here.

Two assassination attempts were made on U.S. President Ford in 1975. He survived both. The construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline also began in 1975 and The Rocky Horror Picture Show was released in American theatres. In the same year, the name “Micro-soft”  (for microcomputer software) was used by Bill Gates in a letter to Paul Allen.

U&lc also began its second year of publication in 1975. The Volume No. 2 issues are chock full of terrific examples of illustration, calligraphy, handlettering and, of course, typeface design.

The first issue published in 1975, featured the work of Lou Dorfsman, the designer who oversaw almost every aspect of the advertising and corporate identity for the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) in his forty years with the network. Highlighted was his “Gastrotypographicalassemblage,” the icon he conceived for the CBS cafeteria. Commonly referred to as “the wall,” the typographic construction was – at 33 feet in length and 8 feet in height – enormous. More than 1,450 letters converged to create the experience. It was a mélange of food-related words and objects – and a perfectly orchestrated typographic collage of appetite.

ITC announced six new typefaces in 1975, the ITC Newtext™, ITC Bauhaus™ and ITC Bookman™ families. (The latter has recently been updated as OpenType™ Pro fonts with all the alternate and swash characters of the original.) Also announced in the issues were the special ITC Cheltenham™, ITC Century™ and ITC Garamond™ designs.

Why is the latter trio of designs special? Because they were not intended to be the “free-standing” typeface families that they are today. Each was released in just Book and Ultra weights with complementary italic designs. They were intended to be used as display counterparts to the existing text versions of the Cheltenham, Century and Garamond designs from other type foundries. It wasn’t until later that ITC, under pressure from graphic designers requesting more designs, developed the additional weights and proportions for these typeface families.

The last issue in the Volume No. 2 series, proclaimed the winners of the first annual Upper and Lowercase International Typographics Competition. Today, this provides a peek at the best typography of 35 years ago.

Click below, and you will be rewarded with downloadable files of the second volume of U&lc.

Enjoy!

Low Resolution:

Volume 2–1 (Low Res).pdf (10.2 MB)

Volume 2–2 (Low Res).pdf (9.5 MB)

Volume 2–3 (Low Res).pdf (11.7 MB)

Volume 2–4 (Low Res).pdf (12.9 MB)

High Resolution:

Volume 2–1.pdf (45.5 MB)

Volume 2–2.pdf (47.5 MB)

Volume 2–3.pdf (49.7 MB)

Volume 2–4.pdf (59.7 MB)

Richard Nixon became embroiled in the Watergate scandal in 1974, which caused him to become the only U.S. President to resign the office. In that same year the first handheld cellular phone call was made, “The Godfather, Part II” won best movie of the year at the Academy Awards, and Secretariat became the first horse in over 25 years to win U.S. horseracing’s triple crown.

ITC also began publishing U&lc, The International Journal of Typographics in 1974. Herb Lubalin was the editorial and art director of the first issue and his seminal design set the stage for future issues of trend setting and award winning editorial creations.

The modest 24-page first issue declared, “U&lc will provide a panoramic window, a showcase for the world of graphic arts – a clearing house for the international exchange of ideas and information.”

And, indeed, it did.

Over the 26 years that it was published, U&lc gathered a following of thousands of avid readers that eagerly anticipated each issue. It became the most important typographic publication of its time.

While a couple of years lacked a full complement, U&lc was published quarterly, in its – large format – tabloid size, until the fall of 1999. Early publications were limited to black and white, and color was introduced in 1988.

Even though U&lc ceased publication over 10 years ago, we continue to receive weekly requests for back issues and reprints of specific articles. Unfortunately, because we have a limited supply of the hardcopy issues, we have been unable to fulfill these requests.

Thanks to technology, this has changed. Over this summer, we had a complete set of the publication scanned as high and low resolution files. Today, we are happy to announce that we will be making these scans available as downloadable Adobe® Acrobat® PDF documents – and the files will be searchable.

Every month, we will make one volume (a year’s worth of publications) available through the Fonts.com blog. There are, however, a couple of caveats. First, the files are big – as in “way big.” The low-resolution files can be as big as 18 MB and the high-resolution files are downright huge at over 85 MB in some cases. Second, they are not perfect. The original documents were sometimes faded, cracked or torn. That combined with a semi-automated scanning process (over 9,000 pages scaned) resulted in some unavoidable “character” traits. The final caveat is that the above plan could change depending on audience interest level (or lack thereof). So, if you love it, let us know.

Click below the links below, and you will be rewarded with the first volume of U&lc. Enjoy.

Low Resolution:

Volume 1–1 (Low Res).pdf (5.1 MB)

Volume 1–2 (Low Res).pdf (10.2 MB)

Volume 1–3 (Low Res).pdf (10.3 MB)

High Resolution:

Volume 1–1.pdf (21.4 MB)

Volume 1–2.pdf (42.7 MB)

Volume 1–3.pdf (46.1 MB)