18 Facts About Edward Johnston

Edward Johnston, CBE was a British craftsman who is regarded, with Rudolf Koch, as the father of modern calligraphy, in the particular form of the broad-edged pen as a writing tool.

Edward Johnston is best known as the designer of Johnston, a sans-serif typeface that was used throughout the London Underground system until the 1980s.

Edward Johnston redesigned the famous roundel symbol used throughout the system.

Edward Johnston was educated at home, and enjoyed mathematics, technology, and creating illuminated manuscripts.

Edward Johnston's mother died in 1891, and he began to work for an uncle.

Edward Johnston spent some time studying medicine at Edinburgh University but did not complete the course.

Lethaby advised him to study manuscripts at the British Museum, which encouraged Edward Johnston to make his letters using a broad edged pen.

Lethaby engaged Edward Johnston to teach lettering, and he started teaching at the Central School in Southampton Row, London, in September 1899, where he influenced the typeface designer and sculptor Eric Gill.

Edward Johnston started a second book in the 1920s but it was unfinished at his death.

In 1913, Frank Pick commissioned him to design a typeface for London Underground, and the simple and clear sans-serif Edward Johnston typeface was the result.

In 1913, Edward Johnston was one of the editors of The Imprint, a periodical for the printing industry.

Edward Johnston has been credited for reviving the art of modern penmanship and lettering single-handedly through his books and teachings.

Edward Johnston devised the simply crafted round calligraphic handwriting style, written with a broad pen, known today as the foundational hand.

Edward Johnston influenced a generation of British typographers and calligraphers, including Graily Hewitt, Irene Wellington, Harold Curwen and Stanley Morison, Alfred Fairbank, Florence Kingsford Cockerell, and Eric Gill.

Edward Johnston influenced the transition from Gothic to Roman letters in Germany, and Anna Simons was a student.

Edward Johnston created a blackletter-influenced design for a 1929 German edition of Hamlet.

Edward Johnston met Greta Grieg, a Scottish schoolmistress, in 1900, and they were married in 1903.

Edward Johnston died at home in Ditchling, and is buried in St Margaret's churchyard.