(b Bloomington, IL, 8 March 1865; d Marlboro-on-Hudson, NY, 11 May 1947). American typographer, printer and graphic designer. He demonstrated his interest in letter forms when a child, cutting out 3000 in paper. While working as a clerk in Boston, he discovered the Kelmscott Press. In 1895 Goudy founded the Booklet Press, a small printing shop, later renamed the Camelot Press. In 1896 he designed his first type, called Camelot, and in 1899 set up as a freelance designer, producing book designs and advertising lettering. His Village Press printed two books before 1904 when he moved to Hingham, MA, where a further nine books were produced over the next two years. The establishment of the press in New York was followed by a fire (January 1908) in which all Goudy's property was lost. From this point he abandoned general printing in favour of type design. A trip to Europe in 1909 enabled him to study inscriptions. His first two types to achieve serious recognition and success were Kennerley and Forum, an inscriptional titling letter. Between 1916 and 1924 Goudy taught lettering at the Art Students League in New York. He also founded the periodical Ars typographica and wrote books on type design and production. In 1923 he moved to Marlboro-on-Hudson, where he worked at the Village Letter Foundry until it too burnt down in January 1939. He received numerous awards for his work as a type designer. His output was prolific: 122 different types are discussed in his autobiography, many of which were widely used and highly successful in his lifetime (for one of his typefaces see TYPOGRAPHY, fig. 4). The Grolier Club of New York and the American Institute for Graphic Art devoted exhibitions to his work (1923, 1933).

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