Will Bradley, His Chap Book: An account, in the words of the dean of American typographers, of his graphic arts adventures ...Bradley, Will
History
Will Bradley, His Chap Book: An account, in the words of the dean of American typographers, of his graphic arts adventures ...
Bradley, Will
Bradley, Will, 1868-1962; Printers -- United States -- Biography; Printing -- United States -- History
_Collier’s_ had one of the early color presses akin to those used on
newspapers. We decided to use this to print illustrations for a monthly
“Household Number” carrying extra stories. The editorial back-list
showed no fiction suitable for color; the awarding of one thousand
dollars a month for the best story, judgment based upon literary
merit, had resulted in the purchase of nothing but literary fog. Mr.
Collier told Charles Belmont Davis, fiction editor, to order what was
necessary. Charley asked me who could write the type of story needed. I
said, “Gouverneur Morris.” Mr. Morris, then in California, sent a list
of titles accompanied by the request: “Ask Will Bradley to take his
pick.” We chose _The Wife’s Coffin_, a pirate tale. During an editorial
dinner at his home Robert Collier read a letter from his father, then
out of the city, in which P. F. (his father) wrote: “If you continue
printing issues like this last our subscription-book salesmen report
the weekly will sell itself.” Robert said: “Mr. Bradley can make this
kind of a number because he knows the people from whom the salesmen
obtain subscriptions. I don’t, and any similar undertaking by me would
be false and a failure.”
During this period of art editorship, and following the lay-out of a
booklet, _Seven Steps and a Landing_, for Condé Nast, advertising
manager of _Collier’s_, a color-spread for Cluett-Peabody, lay-outs
for the subscription-book department, and pieces of printing for Mr.
Collier’s social activities (also a request from Medill McCormick that
I go to Chicago and supply a new typographic make-up for the _Tribune_;
a suggestion from Mr. Chichester, president of the Century Company,
that if I were ever free he would like to talk with me about taking
the art editorship of _Century_; and from Mr. Schweindler, printer of
_Cosmopolitan_ and other magazines, an expression of the hope that I
could be obtained for laying-out a new publication), Robert Collier
proposed the building of a pent-house studio on the roof near his
father’s office where, relieved of much detail, I could give additional
thought to all branches of the business. This promised too little
excitement, and instead I rented a studio-office on the forty-fifth
floor of the then nearly-finished Metropolitan Tower. At this time
Condé Nast had just purchased _Vogue_, then a small publication showing
few changes from when I had contributed to it in the early Nineties.
In this new environment I handled the art editorship and make-up of
_Metropolitan_, _Century_, _Success_, _Pearson’s_ and the new _National
Weekly_, which was given a format like that of present-day weeklies and
a make-up that included rules. Caslon was used for all headings except
for _Pearson’s_ which, using a specially-drawn character, were lettered
by hand.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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