Will Ransom

Will Ransom (1878 – May 24, 1955) was an American graphic designer, letterer, typeface designer, and the foremost bibliographer of private presses.

Youth and early career "Printing" by William Morris, as reprinted by the Village Press, run by Will Ransom and Frederic Goudy, c. 1903 Born in St. Louis, Michigan, Ransom grew up in Snohomish, Washington, and began his career as a reporter, bookkeeper, and printer's devil for several papers in the Northwest.

Long interested in design, and having printed several art books on his own, Ransom was persuaded in 1903 to study at Frank Holmes’ School of Illustration. There, he joined a group of young designers including Oswald Cooper, W.A. Dwiggins, and Frederic Goudy.

Later that year, Ransom and Goudy founded the Village Press in Park Ridge, Illinois. After an unprofitable year of operation, Ransom ceded sole proprietorship to Goudy, and for the next nine years, took work as a bookkeeper.

In 1911, he married Helen Ruhman, a piano teacher. They had one child, a daughter, Frances Rose.

Books Private Presses and Their Books, R.R. Bowker, N.Y.C., 1929 The First Days of the Village Press: Extracts from the Diary of Will Ransom, Press of the Woolly Whale, N.Y.C., 1937

Typefaces Parsons series This font featured unique alternate characters that Ransom wished designers to use sparingly. However, as the font proved hugely popular, these letters were used indiscriminately and with bad taste. Ransom was so disgusted with this misuse of his font that he all but refused to design any more faces. Parsons (1917, Barnhart Brothers & Spindler (BB&S), later American Type Founders (ATF)) Parsons Bold (1918, BB&S, later ATF) Parsons Italic (1918, BB&S, later ATF) Parsons Swash Initials were designed for BB&S by Sidney Gaunt, not Ransom Several series of Border Units (1920 - 1922, BB&S) Clearcut Shaded Capitals, sometimes called Ransom Shaded Initials (1924, BB&S, later ATF), capitals only, font does not include an X or Z.