Designed by Morris Fuller Benton at ATF
in 1931–35, starting with Stymie Bold as a redesign of
Rockwell Antique which in turn was a 1931 reissue of
Litho Antique (1910).
“Stymie Light and Medium and their
Italics were also drawn by Benton in 1931 […]
Stymie Bold Italic followed a bit later. Elongated
Ascenders and Descenders for Stymie Light,
Medium, and Bold are a whimsical idea
borrowed from the Parsons series. […] “Monotype exercised its
option to copy ATF faces soon after the introduction of these faces
– too soon, in fact, because they copied Rockwell
[Antique] and in some literature called it Stymie
Bold, and there has been confusion between the two faces
ever since […] The actual Stymie Bold was duplicated
by Monotype about 1936. But Monotype also did its part in expanding
the family; Sol Hess designed Stymie Extrabold in
1934, a year before Morris Benton drew Stymie Black.
These heavy versions differ slightly from each other and from the
lighter faces […] Sol Hess and Monotype also produced Stymie
Light Condensed, Medium Condensed, and
Extrabold Condensed, in 1935 and 1936. Gerry Powell
[at ATF] drew the last major member of the family in 1937, with
Stymie Bold Condensed […] Trials of a medium condensed
version at ATF were abandoned in favor of Tower.” [McGrew 1993]
Some styles were also cast by Kobundo as Alexandria and by Simmelkiær as Blackburn [Reichardt 2011].
More…
Designed by Morris Fuller Benton at ATF in 1931–35, starting with Stymie Bold as a redesign of Rockwell Antique which in turn was a 1931 reissue of Litho Antique (1910).
“Stymie Light and Medium and their Italics were also drawn by Benton in 1931 […] Stymie Bold Italic followed a bit later. Elongated Ascenders and Descenders for Stymie Light, Medium, and Bold are a whimsical idea borrowed from the Parsons series. […] “Monotype exercised its option to copy ATF faces soon after the introduction of these faces – too soon, in fact, because they copied Rockwell [Antique] and in some literature called it Stymie Bold, and there has been confusion between the two faces ever since […] The actual Stymie Bold was duplicated by Monotype about 1936. But Monotype also did its part in expanding the family; Sol Hess designed Stymie Extrabold in 1934, a year before Morris Benton drew Stymie Black. These heavy versions differ slightly from each other and from the lighter faces […] Sol Hess and Monotype also produced Stymie Light Condensed, Medium Condensed, and Extrabold Condensed, in 1935 and 1936. Gerry Powell [at ATF] drew the last major member of the family in 1937, with Stymie Bold Condensed […] Trials of a medium condensed version at ATF were abandoned in favor of Tower.” [McGrew 1993]
Some styles were also cast by Kobundo as Alexandria and by Simmelkiær as Blackburn [Reichardt 2011].
L&C Stymie Hairline is an extralight extension by Lubalin & Carnase (ITC, 1972). Stymie Black Italic is related only in name.
Various digitizations; by Linotype/URW/Elsner+Flake (4 weights plus 2 condensed styles, URW additionally offers small caps and display caps variants), Bitstream (4 weights plus 3 italic and 1 condensed styles), Scangraphic (4 weights plus 4 italic, 1 condensed, and 1 Bold Headline styles). Stymie Extra Bold (Jordan Davies, Wooden Type Fonts, 2019) is a digitization of Monotype’s Extrabold. See also the custom NYT Stymie by Carter & Cone.
