Body-text fonts, pt. 15: Golden Cockerel
A chicken loitered in neighbors’ front yards this weekend. Then it crossed the road, got into our back yard, and stayed for two days.
Karin posted a notice to an online bulletin board. “No one will claim that bird,” one of her colleagues told her. “It’s a gamecock.”
Karin called the Dept. of Animal Control. She gave our address. The van drove down our street. It didn’t stop. Karin called again. The van came back. This time, it stopped in front of our house.
I went outside. “Are you here for the chicken?” I said.
“No,” said the officer, “I just thought I’d visit.”
Crickets.
“Sorry,” she said. “Yes, I’m here for the chicken.”
We went out back and cornered the chicken. The officer caught it with a net and put it into a pet carrier. “Its wings have been clipped,” she said.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
In honor of this chicken, my typeface of the month is Golden Cockerel, digitized by ITC and originally designed by the brilliant but evil (and ubiquitous) Eric Gill. I don’t think I have any books that use Golden Cockerel for body text rather than display text. It’d have to be a “precious” book indeed. Like this one, or this one:
I take it back: Text Publishing, the Australian company, sets some unglamorous books in Golden Cockerel.
Other typefaces by Gill will be acknowledged in due course.
Karin posted a notice to an online bulletin board. “No one will claim that bird,” one of her colleagues told her. “It’s a gamecock.”
Karin called the Dept. of Animal Control. She gave our address. The van drove down our street. It didn’t stop. Karin called again. The van came back. This time, it stopped in front of our house.
I went outside. “Are you here for the chicken?” I said.
“No,” said the officer, “I just thought I’d visit.”
Crickets.
“Sorry,” she said. “Yes, I’m here for the chicken.”
We went out back and cornered the chicken. The officer caught it with a net and put it into a pet carrier. “Its wings have been clipped,” she said.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
In honor of this chicken, my typeface of the month is Golden Cockerel, digitized by ITC and originally designed by the brilliant but evil (and ubiquitous) Eric Gill. I don’t think I have any books that use Golden Cockerel for body text rather than display text. It’d have to be a “precious” book indeed. Like this one, or this one:
I take it back: Text Publishing, the Australian company, sets some unglamorous books in Golden Cockerel.
Other typefaces by Gill will be acknowledged in due course.