“Designed by Morris F. Benton and issued by ATF in 1910. One
story says that it was drawn in the early 1900s and sent to the
foundry without a name […], but that further work on it was
continually pushed aside, until it became known as ‘that old hobo’
[…] The working name was Adface. Hobo was
also cut by Intertype in three sizes. Light Hobo was
[…] released by ATF in 1915” [McGrew
1993].
Peter Zelchenko
offers a different and compelling explanation for the origin of
the design and the name, suggesting it was inspired by a
Russian tobacco poster with the word НОВО, the Cyrillic
spelling of Novo (“New”), which also featured an ‘О’
that’s strikingly similar to Hobo’s ‘O’ [Zelchenko
2014].
Hamilton cut both weights in wood [1938
specimen].
Adopted by Intertype for machine typesetting [1958
specimen].
Photo-Lettering offered Hobo in four weights plus
seven
variations (c. 1967), incl.
Outline, Outline Shade, Bas Relief, Contour, and Handtooled styles
[PLINC
One Liner 1971]. More…
“Designed by Morris F. Benton and issued by ATF in 1910. One story says that it was drawn in the early 1900s and sent to the foundry without a name […], but that further work on it was continually pushed aside, until it became known as ‘that old hobo’ […] The working name was Adface. Hobo was also cut by Intertype in three sizes. Light Hobo was […] released by ATF in 1915” [McGrew 1993].
Peter Zelchenko offers a different and compelling explanation for the origin of the design and the name, suggesting it was inspired by a Russian tobacco poster with the word НОВО, the Cyrillic spelling of Novo (“New”), which also featured an ‘О’ that’s strikingly similar to Hobo’s ‘O’ [Zelchenko 2014].
Hamilton cut both weights in wood [1938 specimen].
Adopted by Intertype for machine typesetting [1958 specimen].
Photo-Lettering offered Hobo in four weights plus seven variations (c. 1967), incl. Outline, Outline Shade, Bas Relief, Contour, and Handtooled styles [PLINC One Liner 1971]. Headliners’ version also spanned four weights plus Outline and Shadow styles (some with descenders) [1977 specimen]. Also adopted by VGC [VGC 1972] and others.
There are numerous digitizations, by Linotype/Adobe (1987–2002, based on the ITC version?), Bitstream (1990–1993, extended by Tilde), The Font Company, and URW++/Elsner+Flake. URW’s version (1994) is the only one to feature more than one style (Regular, Bold, Initials, Outline, Relief).
James Edmondson’s Hobeaux (2015) is a homage and extension.
