![Pacific Victoria Italic, Inland Printer December 1898 | by The Type Heritage Project [THP]](http://live.staticflickr.com/7412/11846188196_dff1f13091.jpg)
Pacific Victoria Italic, Inland Printer December 1898
In 1881, Gustav F. Schroeder [1861-1899+] was a 20-year-old apprentice at a German engraving company learning to produce such ordinary objects as dies, stamps and numbering wheels.
One day, US German immigrant Carl Schraubstadter of Central TF (St. Louis) happened to visit Schroeder's employer on a trip to his homeland. Some Rare Thing between them clicked... Schraubstadter convinced Schroeder to engrave type in what was then the US "frontier."
Schraubstadter was a very smart businessman, and hiring Schroeder may have been the smartest thing he ever did! The next year, he and his partner, James A. St. John, did another very smart thing: They hired Nicholas J. Werner [1858-1899+] to produce commercial specimens of their wares.¹
The creative fireworks between these two young men soon produced some of the most spectacular and best-selling display types of all time. In 1889, they partnered as Schroeder & Werner.
During the next two years, they designed and cut caps-only Victoria Italic and six other faces for Central (their best client!). In the meantime, they accepted commissions from Barnhart Brothers & Spindler and Boston TF (by then owned by Central TF).
In 1891, Schroeder moved to Mill Valley, a suburb of San Francisco. Werner continued self employment until 1895, when he was recruited by three of Schraubstadter's sons to join Inland TF, which they established after Central and Boston TFs were sold to ATF. ATF continued showing Victoria Italic until c1912.
In California, Schroeder produced a dual-case Victoria Italic for the ATF-independent Pacific States TF (San Francisco) in 1898.² An ad in the Inland Printer dated December 1898 (pictured above) names Inland TF as the distributor "east of the Rockies."
This letterpress typeface has not been digitally archived for posterity. A partner of The Type Heritage Project [THP] has expressed interest in doing so.
____
¹Loy, W.E. (1898–1900): Designers and Engravers of Type. In The Inland Printer December 1898 (Schroeder) and August 1899 (Werner).
²Mullen, R.A. (2005): Recasting A Craft|St. Louis Typefounders Respond To Industrialization, page 144. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.
More about Schroeder: forums.typeheritage.com/topic/gf-schroeder/
More about Victoria Italic: forums.typeheritage.com/topic/victoria-italic
More about THP Revival Projects: forums.typeheritage.com/status/
More cool undigitized fonts: forums.typeheritage.com/undigitized/
Pacific Victoria Italic, Inland Printer December 1898
In 1881, Gustav F. Schroeder [1861-1899+] was a 20-year-old apprentice at a German engraving company learning to produce such ordinary objects as dies, stamps and numbering wheels.
One day, US German immigrant Carl Schraubstadter of Central TF (St. Louis) happened to visit Schroeder's employer on a trip to his homeland. Some Rare Thing between them clicked... Schraubstadter convinced Schroeder to engrave type in what was then the US "frontier."
Schraubstadter was a very smart businessman, and hiring Schroeder may have been the smartest thing he ever did! The next year, he and his partner, James A. St. John, did another very smart thing: They hired Nicholas J. Werner [1858-1899+] to produce commercial specimens of their wares.¹
The creative fireworks between these two young men soon produced some of the most spectacular and best-selling display types of all time. In 1889, they partnered as Schroeder & Werner.
During the next two years, they designed and cut caps-only Victoria Italic and six other faces for Central (their best client!). In the meantime, they accepted commissions from Barnhart Brothers & Spindler and Boston TF (by then owned by Central TF).
In 1891, Schroeder moved to Mill Valley, a suburb of San Francisco. Werner continued self employment until 1895, when he was recruited by three of Schraubstadter's sons to join Inland TF, which they established after Central and Boston TFs were sold to ATF. ATF continued showing Victoria Italic until c1912.
In California, Schroeder produced a dual-case Victoria Italic for the ATF-independent Pacific States TF (San Francisco) in 1898.² An ad in the Inland Printer dated December 1898 (pictured above) names Inland TF as the distributor "east of the Rockies."
This letterpress typeface has not been digitally archived for posterity. A partner of The Type Heritage Project [THP] has expressed interest in doing so.
____
¹Loy, W.E. (1898–1900): Designers and Engravers of Type. In The Inland Printer December 1898 (Schroeder) and August 1899 (Werner).
²Mullen, R.A. (2005): Recasting A Craft|St. Louis Typefounders Respond To Industrialization, page 144. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.
More about Schroeder: forums.typeheritage.com/topic/gf-schroeder/
More about Victoria Italic: forums.typeheritage.com/topic/victoria-italic
More about THP Revival Projects: forums.typeheritage.com/status/
More cool undigitized fonts: forums.typeheritage.com/undigitized/