This brief biography of the man called Dean of American Designers
by _The Saturday Evening Post_ and Dean of American Art Editors by
_Publishers’ Weekly_, is amplified from its earlier compilation and
printing as a Typophile keepsake in 1948. It was first distributed at a
birthday luncheon held in New York, for Mr. Bradley’s eightieth.
1868 Born in Boston, July 10, son of a cartoonist
on a Lynn daily newspaper.
1874 First finger in the “pi”--on being presented
a box of characters brought
home by his father for a small printing
press Will bought with his own savings
as a delivery boy.
1877 Moves to Ishpeming, a mining town in
northern Michigan.
1880 A job (with a salary of $3 a week) as a
printer’s devil, with the _Iron Agitator_
(later _Iron Ore_).
1885 Foreman with _Iron Ore_ at a man’s
wages, $15 a week.
1886 To Chicago--and an art department
apprenticeship with Rand McNally--sweeping,
dusting, running errands,
grinding tempera ... at $3 a week.
1887 With Knight & Leonard, Chicago’s
leading fine printers, as a full-fledged
designer at a salary of $21, and then
$24 a week.
1889 Free-lancing in Chicago; studio in the
Caxton Building.
1890 To Geneva, Ill., and first recognition
through covers for _Harper’s Weekly_;
posters for Stone & Kimball’s _Chap
Book_; cover designs for the _Inland
Printer_ (perhaps the first magazine
covers ever to be changed monthly).
1890 The creation of a widely copied type
face named “Bradley” by ATF.
1893 An exhibition at the Chicago World’s
Fair.
1895 To Springfield, Mass., the launching of
his Wayside Press, “At the Sign of the
Dandelion,” and plans for publication
of _Bradley: His Book_ ... his love for
Caslon and the beginning of a new Caslon
era as a result.
1895 The initial Bradley-designed paper
sample book for Strathmore.
1896 Exhibits at Boston Arts and Crafts;
Colonial typography attracts national
attention.
1897 Caslon types on Strathmore Deckle
Edge Papers prove successful; Bradley’s
plant is expanded and moved to a loft
in the Strathmore mill at Mittineague.
1898 Merges business with University Press,
Boston. Opens design and art service in
New York; specialty, bicycle catalogs.
1900 Mr. Bok, editor of _Ladies’ Home Journal_,
commissions a series of eight full
pages of house interiors for the _Journal_.
A roman and italic face, used later for
_Peter Poodle, Toy Maker to the King_,
is designed for American Type Founders.
While recovering from illness,
_Castle Perilous_ is written, later serialized
in _Collier’s_ with Bradley illustrations.
1902 _Collier’s Weekly_ appears with Bradley
cover (July 4).
1903 Heads campaign of type display and
publicity for American Type Founders.
1904 Writing and designing _Chap Books_ for
American Type Founders; setting typographic
style for decades.
1906 Writes and illustrates _Peter Poodle,
Toymaker to the King_ for Dodd Mead.
1907 Art Editor of _Collier’s_. Introduces new
technique in coordinating make-up, art
direction and typography. Holiday
number becomes collectors’ item.
1910-15 Simultaneous art editorship of _Good
Housekeeping_, _Metropolitan_, _Success_,
_Pearson’s_, _National Post_. Revises typographic
make-up of _Christian Science
Monitor_ ... beginning of a series of
stories later published as _Wonderbox
Stories_.
1915-17 Art supervision of motion picture
serials for William Randolph Hearst,
including _Patria_, starring Irene Castle.
1918-20 Writing and directing motion pictures
independently. Production of
_Moongold_, a Pierrot pantomime shot
against black velvet, using properties
but no sets, shown at the Criterion
Theater in Times Square, New York.
1920 Back to Mr. Hearst as art and typography
supervisor for Hearst magazines,
newspapers, motion pictures, and the
introduction, in _Cosmopolitan_, of many
typographic innovations.
1923 Writes _Spoils_, a play in free verse for
_Hearst’s International_.
1926 Restyles _Delineator_ and Sunday magazine
section of New York _Herald Tribune_
(not _This Week_).
1927 Harper & Bros. publish _Launcelot and
the Ladies_.
1930 Final, but far from inactive, retirement.
1931 Serves on AIGA “Fifty Books of the
Year” jury; delivers address at exhibition
opening, New York Public Library.
1950 Rounce and Coffin Club of Los Angeles
award, October 28, for “Distinguished
Contributions to Fine Printing,” at preview
of Huntington Library exhibition,
“Will Bradley: His Work.”
1953 New type ornaments (used at chapter-openings
in the present book) designed
for American Type Founders.
1954 Completion of a new paper specimen in
Strathmore’s Distinguished Designers
Series, almost sixty years after his first
sample book for Strathmore. Introduced
at University Club luncheon in
New York, March 25.
1954 Award of gold medal by the American
Institute of Graphic Arts at Annual
meeting, May 19.
“I have never known any guide other than what to me happened to look
right.”--w. b.