Chicago Type Foundry

Yes. The foundry had a previous history under a number of names and would require a very lengthly explanation. When the name became Marder, Luse & Company, it traded as the Chicago Type Foundry until it was absorbed into ATF in 1892.

For a lenghtly and complete explanation of the history of this foundry, see Typefoundries of America and their Catalogs, by Maurice Annenberg.

Foolproof -

If CTF was absorbed by ATF in 1892, What’s the story on the Castcraft / “Type Founders of Chicago” I bought new European-cast (I think) type from back in the ‘70’s?

I think I got some 10/12 Palatino from them around 1979. I don’t think it was ATF -but was a perfect match to the Palatino I had in a case I bought at the auction of a large hot-metal type house in NYC in 1975

They referred to it as “12-point small*, btw, rather than 10/12…

I think I still have some fonts (sorts) from ToC packages - or at least kept the labels around some place.

Thanks
- Alan

Ah, yes. The Kreiter Brothers’ Castcraft Industries Inc. did indeed bill themselves as Typefounders of Chicago. Not the Chicago Type Foundry, but Typefounders of Chicago. Not exactly sure when David started the business, but my best guess is it was probably in the 1950’s. His brothers continued the business after his death.

They imported some type directly from Europe. They also cast type in Chicago on Kusterman casters (from Germany). In essence, you were pretty much getting good hard foundry type from them. Part of the typefounders of Chicago was the Neon Type Division. Castcraft bought the Neon Type Foundry (formerly in Pittsburgh) in 1959. They cast several faces and prefaced the name of each face (that they cast) with the word “Neon”. The faces were American Uncial, Libra, Libra Light, Torino, Torino Italic, Palatino, Palatino Italic and Palatino Semi-Bold. So, for instance, they sold Palatino as “Neon Palatino.”

The type stock has all been sold off in recent years, as well as the casters, so they are no longer a supplier of handset type, although they continue to operate several other businesses. They were very diversified and did mat cleaning (for Linotype and Intertype) and had an operation that produced rub-down type transfer sheets. Quite the enterpreneurs. They also made type films for photocasters.

I have many happy memories of visiting Manny and Boomie on trips to Chicago and raiding the shelves of the foundrytype warehouse on the third floor. Those were the days!!!!!!

The reason for that 10/12 Palatino is that it is a Didot size type on an Anglo-American point size body. Other sizes can fall into a large/small version as well, like 24 large and 24 small.
It also happens in some Monotype faces which are Didot sized, like Spectrum.

Foolproof & Imp -

Thanks for these explanations. They certainly do match my memory. Yes, the Palatino was indeed labled “Neon Palatino” and the Didot face size on the 12-point body is exactly what I have. I now recall that I also bought My Libra from them as well - and, it, too, came in two sizes on 18 point bodies.

What I found particularly interesting was the reference to the German Kusterman casters. That’s a name I’ve been wanting to know for years. Now I know of two good casters - Kusterman from Germany & Barth from ATF - that make/made the type I enjoy handling the most.

Are there other names I should know?

90% of my 400+ cases are filled with ATF or older American-cast type, but, after being convinced to give the Thompson caster more respect from Rich Hopkins, I also now use some Thompson cast type - from Bill Reiss’ Quaker City Type Foundry. This type sets and prints well - and Bill is a joy to talk to and to deal with, but that type simply does not “feel” the same as the Barth (and now that I know), Kusterman cast type I enjoy handling so much.

When I hit the lottery, or find that wealthy client willing to spring or some quality type for his or her project, or sell one of my spare Vandercooks, I hope to be able to afford some of Theo Rehak’s Barth-cast fonts from the Dale Guild Type Foundry. For now, I am simply satisfying myself with the occasional new Dale Guild dingbats that Alan Waring lists on eBay…. ;)