Typeface Designed in Memory of Mordecai Richler
		About Mordecai Richler
		About the Type/About Nick Shinn
		A Short History of Related Fonts

TYPEFACE DESIGNED IN MEMORY OF MORDECAI RICHLER

This morning in Toronto at a gathering of friends and media it was announced that a typeface has been commissioned and designed in memory of Mordecai Richler, the esteemed Canadian author of books including The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, St. Urbain’s Horseman, Solomon Gursky Was Here, and Barney’s Version. Mordecai Richler passed away on July 3^rd of this year.

The font was jointly commissioned by The Giller Prize and Random House of Canada in consultation with the Richler family. The tribute is unique. Never before has a font been commissioned by a Canadian cultural institution from a Canadian designer in honour of a Canadian and while several fonts bear the names of famous books or authors, those associations were made post-facto. Commissioning a font as a tribute to a contemporary writer is unprecedented in recorded type history.

The font will become the official typeface of The Giller Prize and will be used by Random House of Canada to set Richler’s last book, Dispatches from the Sporting Life, to be published in spring 2002.

Mordecai Richler was associated with The Giller Prize throughout its eight-year history, as an early advisor to founder Jack Rabinovitch, as a two-time juror, a member of the Advisory Board, and, in 1997, as a winner for Barney’s Version. Mordecai Richler was also a long-time friend of Jack Rabinovitch and his late wife Doris Giller. Jack Rabinovitch credits Richler for a large part of the Prize’s rise to prominence. "Mordecai’s many roles with the Prize gave the Giller credibility – even in its first years as the new kid on the block – and throughout its history to date, he made an unparalleled contribution to its growth and success." At the announcement, Rabinovitch described his friend as "one of kind" and referred to the typeface as "a gift to the Richler family." "I consider," he said, "that they have granted us permission to use the font, but it belongs to them."

Knopf Canada, with trade paperback imprint Vintage Canada, divisions of Random House of Canada, has been the publisher of Mordecai Richler’s most recent books over the last ten years, including Barney’s Version, On Snooker, and the forthcoming Dispatches. At the announcement Louise Dennys, Executive Vice President of Random House of Canada and Executive Publisher of Knopf Canada, spoke about the strength and beauty of the font and remarked on how fitting it is for typesetting Richler’s own writing. "The Richler font is both timeless and of its time – just like its namesake. It is also a classic font that has a pride of place alongside the shortlist of classic book faces like Garamond, Perpetua, Fournier, Electra, Janson, and Baskerville and, we are certain, will eventually be widely and well used. Decades from now a reader will pick up a book by an author we’ve yet to know and it will be set in Richler."

The font was created by Canadian type designer Nick Shinn. At the announcement he described the font as a classic book typeface, comfortable and subtle enough to be read for 300 pages yet with strong, unique, and modern characteristics. The letters "M" and "R" are most distinctive and serve to identify the font. In addition to full sets of letters and punctuation marks in roman, bold, italic, and small caps, the font also has a set of "dingbats" or associated icons reminiscent of its namesake, including reading glasses, a cigar, a rose, a pen, and a glass of scotch.

Kelly Duffin, Vice President, Director of Marketing at Random House of Canada and, independently, Senior Administrator of The Giller Prize, conceived of the idea, contributed to the commission, and managed the development process along with Scott Richardson, Creative Director of Random House of Canada. "The genesis of the idea," said Kelly Duffin, "came from a desire to allow all of us who were fortunate enough to know and work with Mordecai to embed a tribute to him in his own books and in the Prize that he helped to create."

Florence Richler, Mordecai’s widow, and their daughter Martha Richler, a cartoonist with a background in art history, served as family advisors to the project. Mordecai and Florence’s son Noah Richler, a writer with the National Post, spoke at the announcement on behalf of the family.

For the time being the font will be available to The Giller Prize, Random House of Canada, the Richler family and others only with the permission of those three parties. Although it is not downloadable, the font can be viewed at www.randomhouse.ca/richler. Ultimately, the Richler font will be published and more widely released.

Mordecai Richler is the author of ten novels – including Barney’s Version (1997), Solomon Gursky Was Here (1989), Cocksure (1968), and The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1959) – as well as numerous screenplays, essays, children’s books, and several works of non-fiction. His most recent book is On Snooker. A selection of essays, Dispatches from the Sporting Life, that was completed

PHOTO: JILLIAN EDELSTEIN

(Random House of Canada Limited books by Mordecai Richler)

ABOUT THE TYPE

The Richler typeface was commissioned in memory of Mordecai Richler and created by Canadian type designer Nick Shinn. It is an original face, full of personality in the details, yet smooth in the composite effect. Up close, each letter is a study in thematic style, with a subtle, firmly crafted, slightly offbeat quality that mocks both artful pretension and mindless conformity.

Richler is an open, evenly spaced book face designed for sustained reading at text size, in the mass. At display size – for titling and signage – it is animated by fine details, which are derived from the seminal influence of the broad pen on the classic types.

Taking its cue from the ingenious post-modern tour de force that is Barney’s Version, the Richler typeface fuses present-day structure with traditional skill: its metrics (especially the mechanical rhythm of vertical strokes) are derived from the ‘technical’ sans serifs such as DIN, that are the dominant trend in contemporary typography.

click above image to view font...

ABOUT NICK SHINN

Nick Shinn has lived and worked in Toronto for 25 years. He is a design consultant, publishes his type designs, writes for Graphic Exchange magazine, and teaches at York University. He has designed 17 typeface families, the most popular of which is Fontesque. His Walburn and Brown typefaces appear daily in The Globe and Mail.

A SHORT HISTORY OF RELATED FONTS

FONTS NAMED AFTER LITERARY FIGURES

CANADIAN FONTS