The answer was right there on Tom Bodkin’s bookshelf.
The question had been posed to Mr. Bodkin in 2000 by Joseph Lelyveld (1937-2024), then the executive editor of The New York Times: How could the newspaper simplify the headline typography in its main news section? Mr. Lelyveld found the front page especially fussy, confusing and dissonant with its Victorian jumble of styles.
Mr. Bodkin, then an assistant managing editor in charge of design, opened his copy of “American Specimen Book of Type Styles,” by the American Type Founders Company. Published in 1912, the thick catalog still had the authority (and the heft), of an unabridged dictionary. Inside, 86 pages were dedicated to Cheltenham, a typeface that reflected some tenets of the Arts and Crafts movement. It came in a variety of styles: roman, italic, medium, bold, condensed, wide, extended and more.
“My eyes lit up,” Mr. Bodkin recalled in an interview last week. “Wow, look at all the options! And they all work together really nicely, because they’re the same family.”
“I had my answer,” he said. Cheltenham alone could replace a mélange of Bookman, Century, Franklin Gothic, Latin Condensed, News Gothic and Cheltenham Bold Italic, the typeface used to announce, “Titanic Sinks Four Hours After Hitting Iceberg,” on April 16, 1912.
Matthew Carter — “the foremost type designer of his generation,” Mr. Bodkin said — was commissioned to create a modern adaptation of the typeface. Called NYTCheltenham, it originally came in 17 widths and weights.
Mr. Lelyveld retired in 2001. The project stalled. In 2003, the publisher, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., asked Mr. Lelyveld to return temporarily as executive editor. “Joe had one proviso: ‘I want to launch the new design of the front page,’” Mr. Bodkin said. All-Cheltenham news headlines were introduced later that year.
Four more versions were commissioned for digital use in 2012. Ten condensed versions were added for the Opinion section, to maintain a visual distinction from the news sections, in 2020. Mr. Carter is now working on four more versions, as well as characters that will permit “Chelt” headlines in a growing number of languages other than English — Icelandic, for example.
Cheltenham has become the face of The Times. Mr. Bodkin, who is retiring this month as the chief creative officer after 46 years at the company, is leaving behind one source of inspiration, having donated the specimen book to the Museum at The Times.
It hadn’t occurred to him to take the volume home. “It’s too heavy,” Mr. Bodkin said.
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