William Dana Orcutt

• Comment: References provided demonstrate the notability of others, the subjects of those articles specifically, but not the subject of this wikipedia article. Sources where Orcutt is the primary subject are needed to demonstrate notability here. RadioFan (talk) 00:51, 12 March 2013 (UTC)

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William Dana Orcutt
Portrait of William Dana Orcutt published in the Minneapolis Journal, April 9, 1904
Born	West Lebanon, New Hampshire
Died	Boston
Occupation	Book designer, author
Nationality	American

William Dana Orcutt (1870-1953) was an American book designer, typeface designer, historian, and author.

Biography

William Dana Orcutt was an important book and typeface designer in Boston, a important printmaking and bookmaking center, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Orcutt graduated from Harvard University in 1892 , and subsequently worked for John Wilson, proprietor of The University Press of Cambridge, Massachusetts (a forerunner of the Harvard University Press). Through his role at the University Press, Orcutt made contact with prominent authors such as Mary Baker Eddy, whose books he continued to publish throughout her career. Along with several other important designers and printers such as Daniel Berkeley Updike and Bruce Rogers (typographer), Orcutt helped found the Boston Society of Printers in 1905. Orcutt was elected the first president of the Society, an organization inspired by the principles of the Arts and Crafts movement.

Includes William Dana Orcutt's initials as the book designer for the press

In 1910, Orcutt left the University Press to join The Plimpton Press in Norwood, Massachusetts . Orcutt published several works on book making and book arts and remained active in professional societies related to printing and typography.

Typefaces

Typefaces designed by Orcutt include Humanistic, which was cast for the University Press in Cambridge, Massachusetts by the American Type Founders Company, French Round Face, and Suburban French . The Humanistic typeface was designed for a special limited printing of a book on Petrarch, titled The triumphs of Francesco Petrarch, Florentine poet laureate published in 1906 — the type is so-named because the book series for which it was designed was the Humanistic series. This typeface was adapted by the British foundry Stephenson Blake as Verona in 1948.

Books

Orcutt authored books in a variety of genres ranging from novels to historical fiction, biography, and writing advice.

• William Dana Orcutt (1912). The Writer's Desk Book: Being a Reference Volume Upon Questions of ... Frederick A. StokesCompany.
• William Dana Orcutt (1917). Burrows of Michigan and the Republican Party: A Biography and a History. Longmans, Green and Co.
• William Dana Orcutt (1923). The manual of linotype typography, prepared to aid users and producers of printing in securing greater unity and real beauty in the printed page;. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Mergenthaler linotype Co.
• William Dana Orcutt (1926). In quest of the perfect book : reminiscences & reflections of a bookman. Boston: Little, Brown.
• William Dana Orcutt (1930). The magic of the book; more reminiscences and adventures of a bookman. Boston: Little, Brown & Co.
• William Dana Orcutt (1945). From my library walls; a kaleidoscope of memories,. New York; Toronto: Longmans, Green and Co., inc.
• William Dana Orcutt (1950). Mary Baker Eddy and her books. Boston: Christian Science Pub. Society.

References

Category:American typographers Category:1870 births Category:1953 deaths Category:Printers