The Bruce Rogers Collection

Bruce Rogers (1870-1957).

Bruce Rogers was born in Linnwood, Indiana (now part of Lafayette) in 1870, and later graduated from Purdue University (B.S. 1890). He and his fellow classmate, John T. McCutcheon, both worked on the student newspaper (the Exponent) and the yearbook (the Debris).

Rogers achieved international prominence early in his career in the field of typography. Garnering a considerable reputation, especially among book collectors, he was a respected spokesman and commentator on book design. Purdue University later awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters in 1932.

Although Bruce Rogers designed over 500 books in his lifetime, he did not particularly enjoy the process of actual production. "The real pleasure of making a new book is over when the plan is decided and the actual work begins. From that time on there is merely the drudgery of manufacturing it." In his book Centaur Types, published in 1949, he described the procedures used in developing modern typefaces, particularly those he based upon characters found in Nicolas Jenson's Eusebius (1470).

The Bruce Rogers Collection contains books which designed by Rogers, or books by other authors using Rogers' designs.