Jackson Burke

Jackson Burke (1908 – 1975) was an American type and book designer. 

Life and career

Burke was born in 1908 in San Francisco, California. He attended the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon and the University of California at Berkeley, California. He also served in the Navy during second World War.

In 1946 Burke designed books for the Stanford University Press. After studying at the University of California, Berkeley, he succeeded C.H. Griffith as Director of Typographic Development at Mergenthaler Linotype from 1949 until 1963, where he designed several type faces.

He was also responsible for a number of other achievements at Mergenthaler-Linotype including:

• development of fonts for Native American languages
• development of the TeleTypesetting System (TTS) for magazine use
• development and implementation of the first phase of Linotype Group's photocomposition library

Burke was a former commodore of the Hobe Sound Yacht Club and a member of the New York Yacht Club and the Champagne Island Yacht Club of St. Paul. 

In 1955, Burke married Mary Griggs Burke (1916-2012), a well-known American art collector.

Burke died on May 30, 1975, at his home on Centre Island, Oyster Bay, Long Island, after a long illness. At the time of his death, he was a member of the committee on printing of Yale University Press. The memorial service was held on June 11, 1975, at Japan House, 333 East 47th Street, New York.

With his wife Mary Griggs Burke (1916–2012), Burke was also recognized as a noted collector of Japanese art. By the time of Mary's death, the collection had become the largest private collection of Japanese art outside Japan. The couple did not have children, and on her death in 2012 their collection was divided between the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Type Faces

• Trade Gothic series (Linotype), considered by some to be a knock-off of Morris Fuller Benton's News Gothic.
  • Trade Gothic Condensed + Bold (1948)
  • Trade Gothic Extra Condensed + Bold (1948)
  • Trade Gothic + Bold (1955)
  • Trade Gothic Extended + Bold (1959)
  • Trade Gothic Light + Italic (1962)
• Majestic + Bold (1955, Linotype), some sources credit this face to Burke, while others simply list it as being created by "staff designers".
• Aurora + Italic (1960, Linotype), only made in 8.5 point.