Dale Guild

I don’t think it has been posted even though many people are aware of the situation concerning the Dale Guild. Theo Rehak sold his foundry, which was a reduced version of American Type Founders, to Micah Currier and Dan Morris. Micah subsequently purchased Dan’s interest in the business but continued to operate as the Dale Guild in Theo’s building. In April of 2013, Micah announced that the Dale Guild was going on a “hiatus” as he was moving it to his original home in Salt Lake City. In the process, he sold several Barth casters he considered redundant to Patrick Goossens of Antwerp, who came to New Jersey to see the machines packed for shipping. The type foundry then sat in a container in SLC as Micah pondered his next move.

And the next move happened when he sold the balance of the foundry to Patrick in the summer of 2014 who then shipped the container to Antwerp where the Dale Guild has become part of Patrick’s impressive collection of printing and type founding equipment. Patrick has operating Monotype equipment and many of his antique presses are operational, but the potential for new castings of ATF type are in doubt, especially for commercial casting. A number of people in the U.S. hold ATF matrices and we have tapped into those sources in the past to offer some ATF faces, like Garamond, through NA Graphics. I hold the bulk of the ATF Bulmer matrices as an example.

It is unfortunate that we have lost what was available when the Dale Guild was operational. But to undertake a foundry on a commercial basis is a daunting proposal and lacking a solid customer base, it can be a questionable business proposition. A number of us have worked at saving the Dale Guild and people like Dan Morris have invested far more into the effort than he ever got back.

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Thanks very much for this update, Fritz.

I had purchased type from the Dale Guild in the past, and was hopeful that it might resurrect. Yes, I can imagine that undertaking a foundry as a business would be daunting in the least. I join you and others who, nonetheless, are very saddened at the loss of what was available when the Guild was in operation.

Best,
Emily
Emily Hancock
St Brigid Press
Afton, VA
stbrigidpress.net