Doves Type

99% Invisible

A deep dive into the legendary Doves Type and the dramatic fallout between its creators, Thomas Cobden-Sanderson and Emery Walker, whose fri

Key takeaways

Doves Type was a revolutionary typeface designed to embody beauty through simplicity, influencing modern typography.

Main topics

Doves Type design
Artistic collaboration and betrayal

Notable quotes

"To a perfect friend, an imperfect souvenir."

Conclusion

The story of Doves Type is a poignant reminder that even the most beau

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) This is 99 % Invisible. I'm Roman Mars. Here at 99PI, we do stories about all kinds of things. Stories about architecture, about transit, about history, even the occasional sports story. But one kind of story that always elicits a huge response from a very vocal constituency are stories about type. You guys love stories about fonts and typefaces. So a couple months ago, I was having dinner with Helen Zaltzman and her husband and collaborator Martin Ostwick. And she told me about a story they developed for a live stage show about an epic feud over a typeface of all things. And I knew I had to get that story on the show. Speaker 2 (0:45) We're talking about two people who set up an artisanal printing press, which was kind of unusual at the time. They were very groundbreaking in their way. And it was also... Not really something that people did if they didn't already have money. Speaker 1 (1:00) You might recognize Helen's voice if you, like me, are a listener to The Illusionist or Answer Me This. But this piece is an adaptation of an Illusionist live show that Helen and Martin did called Souvenirs. Here it is. Speaker 2 (1:19) This is the story of the friendship of Thomas Cobden-Sanderson and Emery Walker, and of the implosion of that friendship. We know the impact of what they said to each other, but we don't know their exact words, so Thomas will be performed by the Glockenspiel, and Emery by violin. Speaker 2 (1:45) Two friends brought together and driven apart by type. Yes, type as in printed lettering. I'm the narrator, Helen Zaltzman, and this is our orchestra and chorus, Martin Austwick. Speaker 4 (1:58) Type means the design, the way that letters look, and the little bits of metal that print words in Speaker 2 (2:09) a book. Speaker 2 (2:14) We find Thomas and Emery in London, in the district of Hammersmith, where their houses were and their workplaces. We don't know exactly how they first met in the late 1880s. Perhaps in your favourite local pub, The Doves. In a tightly packed bar, you could have bumped into each other. Speaker 4 (2:31) Sorry. That's alright. Speaker 2 (2:35) Maybe one of you bought the other a drink. You shared a joke. Speaker 2 (2:42) Did all the getting to know you chat. Where did you grow up? Where'd you get a good price on moustache wax these days? Who's your favourite Spice Girl? The same one. However it happened, sometime, somewhere, your friendship was born. Speaker 4 (3:03) Friendship never ends. The Spice Girls taught us so. We'll beat each other's right or die until it's time to go. Speaker 2 (3:16) You two ran in the same circles because you shared two major interests, socialist politics and printing. A friend describes you, Thomas, as a seeker all his life. You dealt with depression and often life was hard for you because you really felt things so keenly. You had been a lawyer. But you became a bookbinder after your wife, Annie, complained that your interests were too abstract. You took to bookbinding very quickly, Thomas, and were brilliant at it, the best in the biz. In 1893, you set up your own bookbindery, the Doves Bindery, named after your favourite pub, which was two doors along from the bindery. Emery, you had had a difficult childhood. You grew up in poverty and you'd had to leave school aged 13 after your father was blinded by an accident at work, so you needed to earn money for the family. You didn't have much, but you did have some books and you loved them. This led you to a career in typography and in 1886, Emery, you also founded a photo engraving company capable of unprecedentedly good reproductions of photographs and illustrations, magical for the time. the cuttingest of cutting edges. Both of you, Emery and Thomas, were big deals in the art and craft of making books. And once you found each other, you encouraged each other. In the best friendships you do amplify one another. Shine a light in the mirror, double the light. Thomas once sent Emery a note written in a discarded bookbinding. It said, To a perfect friend, an imperfect souvenir. These words transform a piece of rubbish into an object with value. Souvenir is French for memory, and therefore all souvenirs must be imperfect. Speaker 4 (5:13) We don't need reminders, because you're always near. Speaker 2 (5:21) Really near, because Emery lived at No. 3 Hammersmith Terrace, and in 1897, Thomas and his family moved into No. 7 down the street. And half a mile east along the River Thames, Emery rented his business premises from Thomas, who worked at his bindery next door. So, your work and domestic lives were very close. Even that wasn't close enough. You went on family holidays together at neighbouring cottages. And even that wasn't close enough. After at least a decade of friendship, in 1899, you decided to take your relationship to the next level. You set up a printing press together. The Doves Press. Speaker 4 (6:08) We'll be each other's ride or die until it's time to go. We can carve them in stone. We can cast them in steel. What lasts longer than the world is the way they make you Speaker 2 (6:27) feel. Speaker 2 (6:31) The Dove's Press was born. Thomas, you had all this passion for type design, what you called the book beautiful, but you didn't really know anything about printing. And for that, you needed Emery, who knew all about how to set up and run a printing press. A few years earlier, Emery, you'd set up a press with none other than William Morris, and you helped him design his own typefaces. William Morris asked you to be his business partner, and you actually turned him down because you thought he would have been too controlling. Speaker 2 (7:02) But when Thomas asked you to be his partner, you said yes. Emery, you couldn't afford to contribute financially to the business. And Thomas, you didn't have any money of your own, but your wife Annie was from a wealthy family, so she lent you money to start up the business. £1,600, equivalent in today's money to about £250,000. Speaker 2 (7:28) I know, Thomas, you were so excited. You wrote a letter to your teenage son, Dickie, about how you'd cleared out the attic at your bindery to fill with print equipment and you couldn't wait to sit on a high stool next to your great friend, Emery, both printing your hearts out. Were you excited too, Emery? Ah, nobody had asked you if you wanted to sit on a high stool printing. It's okay though, the two of you have the jewel in the Doves Press's crown, your own in-house typeface, Doves Type. Doves Type was based on a typeface designed by French printer Nicholas Jensen in Venice in the late 1400s, but Thomas and Emery wanted their type to look to the future, not to the past. The ornate printing styles of the time Thomas found unreadable. Dove's press books were to be beautiful in themselves, without illustrations, without ornamentation. The letters should not be more beautiful than the literature they were forming. Speaker 4 (8:25) We can carve them in stone, we can cast them in steel. What lasts longer than the words is the way they make you feel. Speaker 2 (8:38) The Dove's type was lauded Speaker 4 (8:40) at the time as... Speaker 2 (8:41) Wow, Speaker 4 (8:51) people were really horny for type back then. Speaker 2 (8:54) And the Doves Press began printing books that were received as aesthetically revelatory, with their undecorated white margins and text in plain black 16-point Doves type, enlivened with graceful but unostentatious red letters, hand-drawn by the calligrapher Edward Johnston, who went on later to design the iconic typeface of the London transport system. The Doves Press was a huge influence on typography and book design. When the Doves Press printed Bibles, critics said, Ooh, even if you've already got a Bible, you have to try these Doves Press Bibles. I don't know, man, they're just so much more, mmm, Speaker 4 (9:32) Bible-y than the other Bibles. Speaker 2 (9:35) These Doves Press Bibles now sell for £45,000. Speaker 2 (9:40) Thomas and Emery brought complementary skills to the Doves Press. Thomas, perfectionism. Emery, pragmatism. Thomas is all about the art of printing and Emery is all about the business. So it should have been a great success. But Thomas is all about the art of printing and Emery is all about the business. Things started to go sour almost immediately. Who knows exactly what they said? Furious rouse or... Speaker 2 (10:13) giving each other the cold shoulder. Thomas and Emery, you were not on the same page. All