We had a case of type long identified as MacKellar, Smiths, and Jordan, which was, of course the foundry, not the font. After finding an 1891 Specimen book on the Internet Archive, we were able to identify it as Recherche, which interestingly enough means “rare, exotic, or obscure” or by another source “studied refinement or elegance”. Either way a fitting name.
The name is used much later for a script family that is nothing like the original. This one was, according to Fonts In Use, designed by Julius Herriet Sr. likely in the 1850’s for the Johnson type foundry which operated until 1867 under the names Johnson & Smith and then L. Johnson & Co. It was reorganized by employees Thomas MacKellar, John and Richard Smith, and Peter Jordan. [Annenberg, Type Foundries of America, 1974]
We have a fairly generous 2/3 size case of 18 point in good condition.
