JOHNSTON, EDWARD

born Feb. 11, 1872, Uruguay died Nov. 26, 1944, Ditchling, Sussex, Eng. British teacher of calligraphy who had a widespread influence on 20th-century typography and calligraphy, particularly in England and Germany. He has been called the father of the modern revival of lettering. The son of a Scottish military officer, Johnston was brought to England as a child and received his early education at home. After graduating in medicine from the University of Edinburgh (1898) he went to London, where, instead of practicing his profession, he began to accept writing commissions. His teaching career began in 1899, when W.R. Lethaby, an English architect and educator, asked him to take charge of writing and lettering classes at the London Central School of Arts and Crafts. He taught there until 1913, and beginning in 1901 he also taught at the Royal College of Art, South Kensington. Through Lethaby, Johnston met Sydney Cockerell, who had been associated with William Morris' Kelmscott Press. Cockerell directed his attention to the manuscripts in the British Museum, and, encouraged by Cockerell, he rediscovered techniques for making and using reeds and quills. Johnston's outstanding and highly influential Writing and Illuminating, and Lettering (1906), containing clear and practical information on writing procedures, was followed by Manuscript and Inscription Letters (1909). Commissioned by the London Underground Railway to execute a new alphabet for its signs and publicity, he finished in 1916 a sans serif design that was a notable success and is considered the first modern sans serif face, the precursor of many such types. Johnston's teaching was notable in conveying the fundamental principle that writing and printing are interdependent. Among his students who later became well-known calligraphers and designers of letters were Anna Simons, T.J. Cobden-Sanderson, Eric Gill, Graily Hewitt, and Percy Smith.