Solus (typeface)

Solus is a serif typeface that was designed by English sculptor and stonemason Eric Gill for the British Monotype Corporation and released in 1929.[1][2][3][4][5]

Eric Gill's artwork for the capitals of Solus, showing an alternative 'M' at bottom right similar to that of Gill Sans.

Solus has a structure of straight, regular serifs reminiscent of slab-serif typefaces of the nineteenth century, but with a reduced build giving an impression of crispness.[6] Along with these characteristics, Solus bears the distinct personality of Gill's characteristic preferences in letterforms, such as the pointed end to the top left of the letter 'a'.[7][8][9] James Mosley describes Solus as "essentially a mechanistic type — a ‘light Egyptian’", a conclusion also reached by editor Robert Harling in his book on Gill's work.[10][lower-alpha 1]

Solus was not particularly popular during the metal type period, which Harling suggests was because it was too similar to Gill's pre-existing Perpetua, not having an italic and having little appeal in display use, unlike more aggressive slab serif designs.[12] Gill's Joanna, designed some years later in a similar style but with an italic, has become much more popular.[10]

Solus has not been digitised by Monotype; an unofficial revival has been made by the company K-Type.[10][13] Financier, by Kris Sowersby, is a respected revival loosely influenced by Solus, Perpetua and Joanna.[14][15] Its optical size designed for small-size text is influenced by Solus and Joanna more while its display size more recalls Perpetua.[16][17]

References
  1. Fiona MacCarthy (16 June 2011). Eric Gill. Faber & Faber. pp. 292–3. ISBN 978-0-571-26582-4.
  2. Allan Haley (15 September 1992). Typographic Milestones. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 91–8. ISBN 978-0-471-28894-7.
  3. Jason Tselentis; Allan Haley; Richard Poulin; Tony Seddon; Gerry Leonidas; Ina Saltz; Kathryn Henderson; Tyler Alterman (1 February 2012). Typography, Referenced: A Comprehensive Visual Guide to the Language, History, and Practice of Typography. Rockport Publishers. p. 89. ISBN 978-1-61058-205-6.
  4. Mosley, James. "Eric Gill's Perpetua Type". Fine Print.
  5. "Eric Gill's Solus Type". The London Mercury. 1935.
  6. Brewer, Roy (1973). Eric Gill: The Man Who Loved Letters. Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Littlefield. pp. 70–71. ISBN 9780874711486.
  7. Sandford, Christopher (1982). "A Note on the Golden Cockerel Type". Matrix. 2: 23–26.
  8. Mosley, James. "Eric Gill's R: the Italian connection". Type Foundry. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  9. Mosley, James. "Eric Gill and the Cockerel Press". Upper & Lower Case. International Typeface Corporation. Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 7 October 2016.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  10. Bates, Keith. "The Non Solus Story". K-Type. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  11. Tracy, Walter. Letters of Credit. p. 82.
  12. Harling, Robert (1975). The Letter Forms and Type Designs of Eric Gill (1st U.S. ed.). Westerham, Kent: Eva Svensson. pp. 51–58. ISBN 0-903696-04-5. see also Harling's The Type Designs of Eric Gill in Alphabet and Image, 1948
  13. Bates, Keith. "Non-Solus: 2012 Update". K-Type. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  14. "Financier Typeface Family « TDC TOKYO ENG".
  15. "Best Awards - Klim Type Foundry and The Financial Times. / Financier Typeface Family". Archived from the original on 2015-10-19.
  16. "Financier: a new typeface family for the Financial Times - Creative Review". 3 November 2014.
  17. "A New Font is Giving the Financial Times a Smart, Luxurious Update". 27 September 2016.
  1. Walter Tracy in contrast commented: "it is hard to accept the suggestion that the egyptian form was in Eric Gill's mind...[Solus] is really no more than a Perpetua-like roman unhappily fitted with a thickened version of the serifs of Monotype Bodoni 135, recommended to Gill by Stanley Morison."[11]
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