Commentary

Rob Roy Kelly, Wood Type Man

Typographica on February 2, 2004

Rob Roy Kelly passed away last month. He was the author of American Wood Type, which Heller tells us was first published in 1977, but many printings I find are from 1964 and ’69. Read Kelly’s writings on wood type and other design subjects at the typographically inclined Rochester Institute of Technology. The University of Texas also has pages on Kelly’s wood type collection.

Thanks to Christian Schwartz for the heads up.

4 Responses to “Rob Roy Kelly, Wood Type Man”

Jim Parkinson says:

02.02.04 at 2:33 pm

I worked at Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, designing greeting card alphabets from 1964 until 1969. When I was there, Rob Roy Kelly was finishing up his wood type book at the Kansas City Art Institute where he was teaching. I met him there and spent time in his office pouring over his collction of wood type specimens. A friend in the Hallmark lettering department, David Noblett, did the paste-ups for the specimens in the American Wood Type book. I’m sure it was published shortly thereafter, making it about 1964-5 or 6. He was a true scholar and a nice person. I’m sorry to hear he’s gone.
Martin Archer says:

02.03.04 at 10:15 pm

Thank goodness for RRK. The work he did collecting specimens and making the American Wood Type book was priceless.
Here’s someone who realized that this wood type stuff was not hokey garbage that had no value, but instead was rare and priceless artifacts of our crafstman ancestors.
Kristin says:

02.05.04 at 6:21 am

Check out this link-a-licious obit at Google Obits:

http://www.googobits.com/2004/02/type_teacher.html
Ty says:

03.31.04 at 4:37 pm

Wood Type at Sound of Design Type Foundry