Melure – type specimen, Les Usherwood, 1964

The first Latin typeface known to have been designed in Canada was Melure, created in 1964 by Toronto lettering artist Les Usherwood. Working at Art and Design Studio (ADS), Usherwood developed the five-weight display alphabet over two years of evenings and weekends before licensing it to Headliners International in New York. The italic weights were likely developed later at Headliners using photographic manipulation.

Finding a high-quality print of Melure proved difficult until Albert Macchiusi – formerly of Typsettra – unearthed a copy he had found while working there. Though the print is missing several characters, including the lowercase, it remains in excellent condition and is unusually well documented, bearing both a date and stamp.

While clearly modeled on Hermann Zapf’s Melior (released in 1952), Melure introduced larger, more expressive serifs with a looser, more casual tone. The crossbar on the ‘S’ sits just below centre – echoing the relaxed style that was then in vogue. Importantly, Melior was designed as a text face, while Melure was intended as a hand-lettered display alphabet for advertising headlines. At the time, such headlines were typically executed by lettering artists rather than typesetters – even though many lettering studios, like Headliners, were closely tied to major typesetting houses.

Cooper & Beatty, for instance, held the Canadian franchise for Headliners, the very firm that released Melure. Shortly after its release, Zapf filed a lawsuit against Headliners, accusing them of plagiarism. While Melure would have been regarded within the trade as a “similar to, but different” design, Zapf took exception to the final line of the marketing copy: “Ask for Melure. Melior is now old-fashioned.” Though he had little interest in financial compensation, Zapf found the line insulting – particularly because Melior was then just a little over a decade old. The suit was one of the earliest signs that the type community was becoming more protective of intellectual property, and that the loose copying of letterforms – a long-standing tradition in both type and lettering – was coming under increased scrutiny. Although the case didn’t go to court, Melure was quietly removed from the Headliners library.

For Usherwood, the affair was likely disheartening, but it also provided hard-won insight into the evolving relationship between lettering, type design, and intellectual property. Just four years later, he and fellow ADS designer Dave Thomason would open Typsettra, the Toronto studio that would become a major force in Canadian advertising typography. Typsettra would go on to design and market some of the first Canadian typefaces to achieve international distribution. – Rod McDonald

Artifact Text

[From Headliners 1965 catalogue]

We call it Melure.

Now you can specify Melior to fit areas, not just lines.

Now you can get all sizes in five different weights, three proportions, matching italics and open face.

Now you can keep the clean, precise look of Melior in tight display headings.

For Melure is unique.

It’s a new, completely redesigned alphabet by a top artist to fit all the special needs of process-lettering.

See for yourself in our new eight-page folder.

Call any of the 21 Headliners offices throughout the U.S.

Or write us here in New York at 216 E. 45th St., N.Y. 17.

Ask for Melure.

Melior is now old-fashioned.

L.P. Usherwood/Les Usherwood, the creator of Melure, is an excellent example of the outstanding lettering designers called upon by Headliners to create new and more flexible alphabets to meet today’s need for distinctive headings. Les worked on Melure for 2 years with the basic idea in mind of creating a new and more flexible version of the popular type face Melior. Determined to develop broader uses for this excellent letter form, he completely redrew all of the alphabet without destroying its distinctive charm, expanded its range to five weights and an open face. Then through the magic of Headliners camera techniques completed the series with new and interesting proportions and matching italics. Born in England in 1932, Les studied at the Beckenham School of Art in London, [Kent] and came to Canada in 1957. He now makes Toronto his home. We welcome Les Usherwood to our select list of lettering designers and hope this is the first of many new alphabets for Headliners.

Please insert Melure at the end of the “Square Serif” section.

Headliners show alternate characters for; a g j k t y J R