Joseph Blumenthal (printer)

Joseph Blumenthal (b. 4 October 1897, New York City - d. 11 July 1990, West Cornwell, Connecticut) was an American printer, teacher, and designer of books and printing types. After working in the printing industry for some time, Blumenthal and A. G. Hoffman of the Marchbank Press founded the Spiral Press in 1926. Due to the economic depression, Blumenthal suspended operation of the press in 1930 and took an extended trip to Europe where he designed the typeface Spiral whose punches were hand-cut by Louis Hoell Returning from Europe a few years later, Blumenthal re-opened the Spiral Press, which he ran until 1971. After retiring from printing, he wrote and organized expositions.

Typefaces

• Spiral (1930, Bauer)
• Emerson (1936, English Monotype)
• Emerson Italic (1936, English Monotype)

Publications

• "Art of the Printed Book," New York, 1973
• "Typographic Years, a Printer's Journey Through Half a Century 1925 - 1975," New York, 1982

References

• Rollins, Carl Purlington American Type Designers and Their Work. in Print (magazine), V. 4, #1.
• 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.