American Type Founders
1934

BOOK OF
AMERICAN
TYPES

Copyright, 1934, by
American Type Founders Sales Corporation
300 Communipaw Avenue
Jersey City, N.J.

This is a 207-page, hardbound book published by ATF in 1934.  The book features "Standard Faces," and only shows a small sampling of monograms and decorative caps.  (The text states that decorative material will be handled in a later copy.)

BOOK of
AMERICAN
TYPES

Standard Faces

AMERICAN TYPE FOUNDERS
SALES CORPORATION
Printed in U.S.A.

DURING THE last decade there has been a period of experimental effort in typography the influence of which at times has carried us a long way from the traditional past.  Older rigid notions of classifications limiting a type face to certain definite kinds of use have been largely discarded.  Script types that once were confined to stationery and society printing are now appearing even in newspaper advertisements in daring association with bold-face letters.
THIS PERIOD of Search for a new style of expression in type has been one of intense activity in type founding.  New series have been added to those shown in our former catalogues and the range of many of the others increased by the addition of one or more new sizes.  This has meant the cutting of many thousands of matricies, increasing the total number of series that have been currently offered to more than six hundred.
WITH THE increasing demand for new designs and the shifting of interest from many older ones, it has been necessary to reappraise our entire line to keep the number of type faces within reasonable manufacturing limits.  Many of the older standard series continue to show steady sales attesting to the soundness of their design and their usefulness in general printing.  There are many others of less common needs which have a place that nothing else will fill.  Their inherent beauty requires their retention on the basis of intrinsic merit alone.  Something over two hundred designs have been selected and are shown on the pages of this catalog.  In this group are ideal faces for every practical use in modern printing.
WHERE THOUSANDS of items are involved, the carrying of adequate stocks presents a complex problem to any manufacturer.  Every effort will be made to keep at each of our countrywide Branches adequate stocks of the designs shown on the following pages.  Older faces not shown in this book will continue to be available but possibly will require slightly longer time for delivery as stocks of them at Branches when exhausted may not be renewed.
NO TYPE specimen book can ever be complete in the strictest sense.  As the printing proceeds, new designs enter the early stages of preparation.  Alphabets from leading artists and from our own pre-eminent staff of designers are being continually studied in the effort to anticipate style trends.  Designing of new type faces has a strong promotional value for the printer as well as the type founder because the enormous use of printed matter of every kind requires variety of style.  If a printer of today is to retain his clients he must be able to develop typographically the ideas of the artist and layout man.
DECORATIVE MATERIAL will be treated in a later book.  This catalogue shows only type faces and very little effort has been made to show the use of the type in display.  This book is intended as an exhibit of type styles father than as a suggestion of how to use them.  Supplementary specimens will be issued from time to time showing individual types and suitable combinations.  This will permit greater latitude in layout and kinds of display than if they were confined to the limitations of a book page.  Change is inherent in progress and every effort will be made to have these separate specimens reflect the most recent trends while at all times maintaining the highest typographic standards.