Agate Type

sanborn typography

Sanborn fire insurance maps are not only a fantastic source for diagrams of obscure Negro league and semipro baseball parks (e.g., the various parks used by the St. Louis Giants between 1906 and 1921)—they also boast beautiful and meticulous typography and design.  BibliOdyssey has posted the title pages of a number of Sanborn maps from between 1880 and 1920:

Sanborn's fire insurance enterprise produced not only excellent and detailed urban maps, but they also maintained an elegant aesthetic in the headings and legends on the maps themselves, and in the title pages of the (larger) city volumes. The ornamental flair is diverse - I don't think any of the examples above repeat type styles - and lends an air of individuality and refinement to each of the towns surveyed.

the ABCs of baseball

In 1923 The Sporting News used stylized drop caps to lead off its articles.  Mark Aubrey decided to track down as many different letters as he could; he’s got 21 so far.  (Good luck finding an “X”.)

forays into an alternate universe

The graphic designer Jimmy Nutini has re-conceptualized NFL jerseys as football (soccer) shirts.  If the American Soccer League had succeeded in the 1920s, maybe this is the world we’d live in.