# Type foundry > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Type_foundry > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Type_foundry.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_foundry > Source revision: 1302669258 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Company that designs typefaces (fonts) This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this article, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new article, as appropriate. (March 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Type foundry" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message) The German coat of arms for a type-founders' guild (or "*Schriftgießer*" in German) A **type foundry** is a [company](/source/Company) that [designs](/source/Type_design) or distributes [typefaces](/source/Typeface). Before [digital typography](/source/Digital_typography), type foundries manufactured and sold [metal](/source/Metal_type) and [wood](/source/Wood_type) typefaces for hand [typesetting](/source/Typesetting), and [matrices](/source/Matrix_(printing)) for line-casting machines like the [Linotype](/source/Linotype_machine) and [Monotype](/source/Monotype_System), for [letterpress](/source/Letterpress_printing) printers. Today's [digital type](/source/Typeface) foundries accumulate and distribute typefaces (typically as [digitized fonts](/source/Computer_font)) created by [type designers](/source/Type_designer), who may either be [freelancers](/source/Freelancer) operating their own independent foundry, or employed by a foundry. Type foundries may also provide custom type design services. ## England In England, type foundries began in 1476, when [William Caxton](/source/William_Caxton) introduced the [printing press](/source/Printing_press), importing at least some of the type that he used in printing.[1] Until [William Caslon](/source/William_Caslon) (1692–1766), English type generally had a poor reputation so the best type was imported from [Holland](/source/Holland).[1] Only after Caslon had established his [Caslon foundry](/source/Caslon_foundry) in [Chiswell Street](/source/Chiswell_Street), did the [City of London](/source/City_of_London) become a major centre for the industry, until the end of the 20th century when famous metal-based printing districts such as [Fleet Street](/source/Fleet_Street) came to the close of their era. The industry was particularly important in [Victorian times](/source/Victorian_era), when education became available to all due to the new school boards, and firms such as [Charles Reed & Sons](/source/Charles_Reed_(British_politician)), the printer and type founders were in their heyday. The [St Bride Printing Library](/source/St_Bride_Printing_Library) in the City of London encourages wider public interest in the history of type founding for the printed book and newspaper. ## Modern corporations - [Apple Inc.](/source/Apple_Inc.) - [Google LLC](/source/Google_LLC) - [Letraset](/source/Letraset) - [Monotype Imaging](/source/Monotype_Imaging) - [Ascender Corporation](/source/Ascender_Corporation), a subsidiary of Monotype Imaging - [Bitstream](/source/Bitstream_Inc.), a subsidiary of Monotype Imaging - [FontFont](/source/FontFont), a subsidiary of Monotype Imaging, located in Germany - [International Typeface Corporation](/source/International_Typeface_Corporation) (ITC), a subsidiary of Monotype Imaging - [Linotype GmbH](/source/Mergenthaler_Linotype_Company), a subsidiary of Monotype Imaging, located in Germany - [URW Type Foundry](/source/URW%2B%2B), a subsidiary of Monotype Imaging, located in Germany - [Hoefler & Co.](/source/Hoefler_%26_Co.) (H&Co), a subsidiary of Monotype Imaging,[2] located in New York City See also the categories [Type foundries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Type_foundries) and [Commercial type foundries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Commercial_type_foundries) ## Large form - [Berthold Type Foundry](/source/Berthold_Type_Foundry) - [Elsner+Flake](/source/Elsner%2BFlake) - [Emigre](/source/Emigre_(type_foundry)) - [Font Bureau](/source/Font_Bureau) - [House Industries](/source/House_Industries) - [Neufville Typefoundry](/source/Neufville_Typefoundry) ([Fundición Tipográfica Neufville](/source/Fundici%C3%B3n_Tipogr%C3%A1fica_Neufville)) See also the categories [Type foundries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Type_foundries) and [Commercial type foundries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Commercial_type_foundries) ## Independent - [Blambot](/source/Blambot) - [Chank Diesel](/source/Chank_Diesel) - [Comicraft](/source/Comicraft) - [Dalton Maag](/source/Dalton_Maag) - [Darden Studio](/source/Darden_Studio) - [Larabie Fonts](/source/Larabie_Fonts)/Typodermic - [Mark Simonson](/source/Mark_Simonson) Studio - [Parachute](/source/Parachute_Typefoundry) - [P22 Type Foundry](/source/P22_Type_Foundry) - [Sandoll Communications](/source/Sandoll_Communications) - [Scriptorium Fonts](/source/Scriptorium_Fonts) - [Typofonderie](/source/Typofonderie) / formerly *Porchez Typofonderie* - [Typotheque](/source/Typotheque) See also the categories [Type foundries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Type_foundries) and [Independent type foundries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Independent_type_foundries) ## Defunct - [American Type Founders](/source/American_Type_Founders) - [Barnhart Brothers & Spindler](/source/Barnhart_Brothers_%26_Spindler) - [Bauer Type](/source/Bauer_Type_Foundry) - [Binny & Ronaldson](/source/Binny_%26_Ronaldson) - [Caslon Type Foundry](/source/Caslon_Type_Foundry) - [Charles Reed & Sons](/source/Charles_Reed_(British_politician)) - [Deberny & Peignot](/source/Deberny_%26_Peignot) - [Grafotechna](/source/Grafotechna) - [Inland Type Foundry](/source/Inland_Type_Foundry) - [Louis Pouchée](/source/Louis_Pouch%C3%A9e) - [Stephenson Blake](/source/Stephenson_Blake) - [VEB Typoart](/source/VEB_Typoart) ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-BHOnline_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-BHOnline_1-1) ["Industries: Printing | British History Online"](https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol2/pp197-200#p21). *british-history.ac.uk*. Retrieved 2019-06-20. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Monotype Announces the Acquisition of Iconic Type Foundry Hoefler&Co"](https://www.monotype.com/company/news/monotype-announces-acquisition-iconic-type-foundry-hoeflerco). *Monotype*. 2021-09-15. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20211105204257/https://www.monotype.com/company/news/monotype-announces-acquisition-iconic-type-foundry-hoeflerco) from the original on 2021-11-05. Retrieved 2021-11-05. Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Type foundries](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Type_foundries). v t e Typography Page Canons of page construction Column Even working Margin Page numbering Paper size Pagination Pull quote Recto and verso Intentionally blank page Paragraph Alignment Leading Line length River Runaround Widows and orphans runt Character Typeface anatomy Counter Diacritics Dingbat Glyph Ink trap Ligature Rotation Subscript and superscript Swash Text figures Tittle Capitalization All caps Camel case Initial Letter case Small caps Snake case Title case Visual distinction Blackboard bold Bold Color printing Italics Oblique Underline Whitespace Horizontal aspects Figure space Kerning Letter spacing Pitch Sentence spacing Thin space Word spacing Vertical aspects Ascender Baseline Body height Cap height Descender Mean line Overshoot x-height Typeface classifications Roman type Serif Antiqua Didone slab serif Sans-serif Blackletter type Bastarda Fraktur Rotunda Schwabacher Gaelic type Insular Uncial Specialist Record type Display typeface script fat face reverse-contrast Punctuation (List) Bullet Dash Hanging punctuation Hyphen minus sign Interpunct Space Vertical bar Typesetting Etaoin shrdlu Font computer monospaced Font catalog For position only Letterpress Lorem ipsum Microprinting Microtypography Movable type Pangram Phototypesetting Punchcutting Reversing type Sort Type color Type design Typeface list Typographic units Agate Cicero Em En Metric units Pica Point traditional point-size names Twip Digital typography Character encoding Hinting Text shaping Rasterization Typographic features Web typography Bézier curves Desktop publishing Typography in other writing systems Arabic Cyrillic PT Fonts East Asian Thai National Fonts Related articles Penmanship Handwriting Handwriting script Calligraphy Lettering Style guide Type design Type foundry History of Western typography Intellectual property protection of typefaces Technical lettering Vox-ATypI classification Related template Punctuation and other typographic symbols Category Authority control databases: National Czech Republic --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Type foundry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_foundry) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_foundry?action=history)). 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