Franklin Gothic commands attention but doesn't overpower the page. The American Wood Type (AWT) version pays homage to the original metal Franklin Gothic drawn by Morris Fuller Benton for American Type Founders. We're proud to add Franklin Gothic to our catalog.

The AWT patterns for Franklin Gothic are well made, but could've been better in terms of proper typographic design and physical quality. From a typographic perspective, many of the counters were out of proportion to the stroke weight. The pattern edges were rough and inconsistent. The pantograph faithfully reproduces the pattern, so if edges are rough those imperfections are perfectly transferred to the wood type. We didn't discover this until we made a 4A font ourselves. The decision was made to redraw and remake the patterns.

Because the original patterns are type high, we proofed each letter with carbon paper and scanned the letters. Finding the delicate balance of being faithful to the original patterns while improving the typography of each letterform was challenging but not impossible. A local vendor laser cuts the patterns out of 1/8" birch plywood, and we nail the patterns to 3/4" birch plywood.

Production Note: we cut all fonts to order. A typical delivery is 2 to 4 months after placing an order.