Johann Christian Bauer

Johann Christian Bauer (b. 1802 – d. 1867) was a German type designer, punchcutter, and founder of the Bauer Type Foundry. Bauer was born in Hanau and began working as a punch-cutter in 1827. He ran a type foundry in Frankfurt am Main, Germany for three years with Christian Nies, before founding the Bauersche Gießerei in 1837. From 1837 to 1847 he worked for the firm of P.A. Wilson in Edinburgh, where he could study punch-cutting and type founding, as Great Britain was at that time in the forefront of the industry. While still in Edinburgh, he founded the firm of Bauer, Furgusson et Huie, though upon his return to Germany in 1847 the foundry was re-named Englishe Schfiftschneiderei unt Gravieranstalt (English Typecutting and Engraving Works). A prolific craftsman, Bauer cut more than 10,000 punches with his own hands, though few of his designs are in use today as they are typical of the excesses of pre-Arts and Crafts Movement nineteenth century design. By the end of his life, the Bauer foundry was a worldwide concern.

Fonts Designed by Johann Christian Bauer

All faces cast by the Bauer Type Foundry.

• Fette Fraktur (1850)
• Roman Extra Bold (1850)
• Verdi (1851, revived 1957)

References

• Jaspert, W. Pincus, W. Turner Berry and A.F. Johnson. The Encyclopedia of Type Faces. Blandford Press Lts.: 1953, 1983. ISBN 0-7137-1347-X.
• Friedl, Ott, and Stein, Typography: an Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques Throughout History. Black Dog & Levinthal Publishers: 1998. ISBN 1-57912-023-7.
• Macmillsn, Niel, An A-Z of Type Designers, Yale University Press, 2006.