Eric Gill Biography - Infos for Sellers and Buyers

Eric Gill

Brighton 1882 - London 1940

Eric Gill was both a typographer and sculptor, who first became famous for the typefaces he designed: Perpetua (1929-30), Gill Sans (1927-30), and Joanna (1930-31). Eric Gill attended art college in Chichester before studying under Edward Johnston at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London. A devout Christian, Eric Gill converted to Catholicism in 1913.
Between 1913 and 1918 Eric Gill produced fourteen reliefs with scenes for the Stations of the Cross for Westminster Cathedral in London. In 1918 Eric Gill co-founded the Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic, a religious community of craftsmen. In 1920 Eric Gill co-founded the Society of Wood Engravers.
From 1924 Eric Gill designed book layouts and most of his typeface designs date from around 1930. From 1928 Eric Gill had his own printing press at Speen, Buckinghamshire. He received commissions from bibliophile publishers, including Golden Cockerel Press, Cranach-Presse in Weimar, Leipzig publishers Faber & Faber, J.M. Dent & Sons, and the Limited Editions Club (established in 1929).
Eric Gill executed numerous book illustrations, woodcuts, graphics, and watercolors, which are mainly devotional in content.