Bertha M. Goudy

Bertha Matilda Sprinks Goudy (September 6, 1869 – October 21, 1935) was an American typographer, fine press printer, and co-proprietor with Frederic W. Goudy of the Village Press from 1903 until her death in 1935.

Bertha M. Sprinks Goudy
Born
Bertha Matilda Sprinks

(1869-09-06)September 6, 1869
Jersey City, New Jersey
Died(1935-10-21)October 21, 1935
Marlborough, New York
NationalityAmerican
Known forTypography, Fine printing, Typesetting
Notable work
  • Frankenstein (Limited Editions Club, 1934)
  • Morris, William, Emery Walker. Printing: An Essay (Village Press, 1903)
  • Goudy, Frederic W. The Alphabet (Village Press, 1922)
Spouse(s)Frederic W. Goudy

Early life

Bertha Matilda Sprinks[1] was born September 6, 1869 in Jersey City, New Jersey.[2] She was employed as a bookkeeper in Chicago at the office of the financial broker Richard Coe Allen, where she met Frederic W. Goudy in 1890.[3] They were married on June 2, 1897 in Berwyn, Illinois.[4]

Career
Village Press mark, 1904
F. W. Goudy. Elements of Lettering (1922), typeset by Bertha Goudy

In 1903, the Goudys founded the Village Press with Will Ransom in Oak Park, Illinois. After the first year of operation, Ransom left the partnership. Bertha was the principal typesetter for the next 32 years.[5][6] The Village Press's first production was "Printing," an essay by William Morris and Emery Walker,[7] in keeping with the proprietors' dedication to Morris-style Arts and Crafts aesthetics and philosophy. They moved the press the following year to Hingham, Massachusetts, and in 1906 to New York City. Following a disastrous studio fire in 1908, Frederic Goudy increasingly specialized in type design, and Bertha Goudy took over the business of the press.[8] He wrote and illustrated and she typeset two works now considered classics of lettering design: The Alphabet (Kennerley, 1918) and Elements of Lettering (Kennerley, 1922). The final move of the press was in 1924, to Marlborough-on-Hudson, New York, to a house with an adjacent mill, which the Goudys called Deepdene. Bertha Goudy was widely recognized during this period as the driving force behind the Village Press, and in 1933, Time Magazine called her "the world's ablest woman printer."[9] The American Institute of Graphic Arts recognized her achievements alongside those of her husband's in an exhibition honoring the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of the Village Press in 1933.[10] One of her final and most demanding works was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, for the Limited Editions Club, published in 1934.

Death and tributes

Bertha Goudy suffered a stroke in December 1933, from which she only partially recovered. She died on October 21, 1935.[11]

Following her death, a number of colleagues and friends memorialized Bertha Goudy's contributions to typography. Spearheaded by Edna Beilenson, co-proprietor of the Peter Pauper Press, a group of women active in fine press and book making collaborated to produce a feminist work entitled Bookmaking on the Distaff Side, published in 1937.[12] Beilenson, Jane Grabhorn, Bruce Rogers, and others contributed, and convinced Frederic Goudy to include a memorial to his wife, which he later published separately as Bertha M. Goudy: Recollections by One Who Knew Her Best (Marlboro, NY: The Village Press, 1939), and set in Bertham type. He had named his hundredth typeface, Bertham, in honor of his wife ("Bertha M.").[13][14] Female members of the same group of friends formed the Distaff Press, which later republished selections from Bookmaking on the Distaff Side, along with additional contributions, to produce Bertha S. Goudy: First Lady of Printing in 1958. This "remembrance of the distaff side of the Village Press" was issued as a fine press, limited edition publication, in the spirit of Bertha Goudy's own private press productions, hand-bound and hand-printed.[15]

Selected bibliography
  • Morris, William, Emery Walker. Printing: An Essay. Park Ridge, Ill.: The Village Press, 1903.
  • Goudy, Frederic W. Bertha M. Goudy: Recollections by One Who Knew Her Best. Marlboro, NY: The Village Press, 1939.
  • Rogers, Bruce, Mabel H. Dwiggins, Alice G. Lochhead, Paul A. Bennett, George Macy, Frederic W. Goudy, Peter Beilenson, Mae B. Dunning, Jane B. Grabhorn, Joseph Blumenthal, Emily Connor, and John Anderson. Bertha S. Goudy: First Lady of Printing. Distaff Press, 1958.
  • Rogers, Bruce, ed. Bookmaking on the Distaff Side. New York: Distaff Side, 1937.

References
  1. Bruckner, D. J. R; Goudy, Frederic W (1990-01-01). Frederic Goudy. New York: Documents of American Design : H.N. Abrams. pp. 44. ISBN 0810910357.
  2. New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957. Port of Arrival: New York, New York. Ship Name: Caronia. Year: 1929; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Microfilm Roll: Roll 4533; Line: 10; Page Number: 192. Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897. Microfilm Publication M237, 675 rolls. NAI: 6256867. Records of the U.S. Customs Service, Record Group 36. National Archives at Washington, D.C.
  3. Bruckner, D.J.R (1990-01-01). Frederic Goudy. New York: Harry N. Abrams. pp. 43–44. ISBN 0810910357.
  4. Goudy, Frederic W (1939-01-01). Bertha M. Goudy; recollections by one who knew her best. Marlboro, N.Y.: The Village Press. p. 17. OCLC 5529367.
  5. Bruckner, D.J.R (1990-01-01). Frederic Goudy. New York: Harry N. Abrams. pp. 51. ISBN 0810910357.
  6. "Bertha Goudy Dies; Virtuoso In Typography: Compositor and Husband, Frederic Goudy, Operated Fine-Edition Village Press Started as Bookkeeper Difficult 'Frankenstein' Job Brought on Breakdown". New York Herald Tribune. October 22, 1935. p. 16.
  7. Morris, William; Walker, Emery; Rogers, Bruce; Goudy, Frederic W; Ransom, Will; Frederic W. Goudy Collection (Library of Congress); Pforzheimer Bruce Rogers Collection (Library of Congress); Village Press (1903-01-01). Printing: an essay. OCLC 5529280.
  8. Bruckner, D.J.R (1990-01-01). Frederic Goudy. New York: Harry N. Abrams. pp. 51–56. ISBN 0810910357.
  9. "Type Couple". Time. 22 (19): 46. 6 November 1933 – via Academic Search Premier.
  10. American Institute of Graphic Arts. The Village Press: a Retrospective Exhibition, 1903-1933. [The Exhibition Held ... At the New York Museum of Science & Industry, October 23 to November 19, 1933, Commemorates the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Founding of the Village Press. New York]: The Institute, 1933.
  11. Goudy, Frederic W (1939-01-01). Bertha M. Goudy. Recollections by one who knew her best. Marlboro, N.Y.: Village Press. pp. 32–33. OCLC 504760211.
  12. Rogers, Bruce; Distaff Side; Frederic W. Goudy Collection (Library of Congress); Pforzheimer Bruce Rogers Collection (Library of Congress) (1937-01-01). Bookmaking on the Distaff Side. [New York]: [Distaff Side]. OCLC 3121374.
  13. Goudy, Frederic W (1939-01-01). Bertha M. Goudy. Recollections by one who knew her best. Marlboro, N.Y. p. 6. OCLC 504760211.
  14. Tracy, Walter. Letters of Credit. pp. 149–150.
  15. Distaff Side; Rogers, Bruce; Dwiggins, Mabel H; Lochhead, Alice Goudy; Bennett, Paul A; Macy, George; Goudy, Frederic W; Beilenson, Peter; Dunning, Mae Bradford (1958-01-01). Bertha S. Goudy: first lady of printing. OCLC 2421941.
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