[Dair, Carl]

Cartier; First proof of | Cartier | roman & italic | the first Canadian type for text composition - designed by Carl Dair to mark the Centenary of Canadian Confederation. [with parallel full title in French]

Toronto: Cape & Company Limited, [1966]. Tall quarto, 34.2 x 21 cm. In full dark grey cloth over boards, with the title stamped in silver to the spine. The text-block consists of a single unsewn gathering; the gathering is secured in place by a red string, which is affixed to the inside of the case at the head and foot of the spine and runs vertically along the gutter of the gathering’s middle spread. Unpaginated [pp. 8 on double-leaves]. A barrier sheet of Japanese paper is laid loose over the page printed with the type specimen. The case, owing to its design and structure, is slightly cocked. The pages are darkened slightly along the fore-edges; else, fine. Printed on watermarked Howard Smith Byronic paper. In addition to the type specimen, there are prefatory remarks on Cartier by Douglas Lochhead along with acknowledgements and notes on the design of the type by Carl Dair in both English and French. From an edition of 250 copies. The present copy is unnumbered. Item #353

“Cartier, the distinctive new type-face designed in Canada by Carl Dair is an event of great moment, almost unique in our history. This design is, in fact, Canada’s first text type created for the twenty-six letter alphabet. Not since 1841 at Norway House when James Evans fashioned his Cree syllabic symbols has Canada developed its own original type. Here is legibility, invention, style, and beauty from the mind and hand of a great Canadian talent. Carl Dair has spent ten years designing Cartier. His work constitutes a centennial gift to all Canadians, indeed, to all people, for all time.” — Douglas Lochhead

“In designing this face, I had no desire to unnecessarily add to the already ample variety of fine types, nor to seek novelty for its own sake. However, I did feel that certain recent technological changes in typesetting invoke a design response.

To notice these changes & some of their obvious implications for type design:

1/ The development of photo-typesetting now means that the old form determinants of punch or pattern, matrix & mould, have yielded to a direct relationship between the hand of the designer & the lens of the camera without any mechanical intervention. New kinetic forms are therefore possible, with pages as vital as the manuscript page.

2/ Since the combination of typesetting on film and printing by photo-offset eliminates the contact of inked metal type with paper, the designer is freed from concern about small counters or fine joins of strokes filling with ink, or undue wear in the corners or serifs. Only legibility & good proportion need concern the designer.

3/ The use of the standard typewriter keyboard on the newest typesetting equipment offers both advantages & disadvantages. Fewer characters are available, & all characters must be designed to fit into a unit system. On the other hand, the ability to back-space one unit at a time permits a range of ligatures & sensitive spacing that is impractical on type-casting machines.

William Morris once said the ‘Letters should be designed by artists, not engineers.’ Lest it seem that I have been overly concerned with designing to exploit the new typesetting technology, let me say that there has been one underlying design objective in the development of Cartier since its conception over ten years ago.
It has long been a theory of mine that the strengthening of the base line of each letter would contribute to the appearance & legibility of text, a theory derived from a study of certain letters used by Anton Miscomini [sic.] in a page printed in 1482. In Cartier, it is put to the test; time alone will be the infallible judge of whether the conception & the effort has validity.” — Carl Dair.

Price: $200.00