Saturday, July 3, 2010

Loxley font to support film project



Loxley was one of two type styles drawn and digitized by Jim Rimmer shortly before he died on January 8, 2010. (The other style to be named "Rimmer", will be released at a later date.)

Loxley was designed to be used in a fine press edition of the classic folklore story of "Robin Hood". The town of Loxley, Sheffield is cited as the birthplace of Robin Hood. This project was to be a follow up for Jim's epic edition of Tom Sawyer for which he designed the typeface Hannibal, named after the Missouri town that was the birthplace of Mark Twain.

The style of Loxley is based on early Roman faces, such as the "Subiaco" type of the late 1400s that was also inspirational to Frederick Goudy for his "Franciscan", "Aries" and "Goudy Thirty" type faces. Loxley displays some of Jim's particular left handed calligraphy and is in a similar style to his "Fellowship" and "Alexander Quill" faces, both of which were made in metal and digital formats.

The metal font and book were never realized. As per Jim's wishes, P22 type foundry finished the digital type and all proceeds from the sale of RTF Loxley will be put towards the completion of the documentary "Making Faces".