“A hybrid romanized blackletter design originating in cast metal from Farmer, Little & Co, New York, in 1886. In 1887, H W Caslon acquired the rights to reproduce founts in this country and registered the design as No 78684-5 in three metal sizes. By March 1889, Day & Collins had announced their cutting in wood letter and were supplying Caslon their founts to order. Production of ‘Primitive’ ceased with the closure of Day & Collins shortly following the end of WWI. Its metal equivalent continued a life up until the spring of 1936.” [Wakefield] Appears in the Specimens of Printing Types by Farmer, Little & Co. from 1887. [MacMillan] Shown in their 1889 catalog with a “patent pending” note. [Farmer 1889] Before 1898, Theinhardt (later Berthold) had a version named Alt-Englisch. [Reichardt 2011] Wood type versions also by Page as No. 622 [RRKWTC] and by Roman Scherer as Serie 5377.

A phototype version was included in the Morgan Press Collection by Headliners as MP 427 and shown in the More Morgan catalog (1968). Added to Letraset’s Letragraphica range as Primitive with Stephenson Blake (successor to Caslon) credits. [Letraset 1976] Listed as Laertes. [Typeshop 1973] [Composing Room c.1980] [Phil’s Photo 1985] Also shown with alias Alten Book. [Castcraft 1978] [Face c.1981]

Digitizations include the freebies Primitive by Rick Mueller (1993) and Level Fourteen Druid by Mickey Rossi (2000), as well as the commercial Bluebeard by Patrick Griffin (Canada Type, 2004; used for the sample).