Alfred F. Johnson

Alfred Forbes Johnson, MC (November 1884 – 27 March 1972) was an English academic librarian, bibliographer, curator, and expert in typography.

He was educated at Nottingham Grammar School and read Classics at the University of Manchester, where he took a first-class degree, played for the university football team, and met his wife, Sarah Elizabeth Jackson.

[1] In World War I he joined the Artists Rifles and was commissioned from there as a lieutenant in the artillery.

[5] Johnson made a major contribution towards the dating and attribution of early printed books from their typography which led him to a wider interest in typefaces and design.

This culminated in the publication of The Encyclopaedia of Typefaces, produced in collaboration with W Turner Berry and W P Jaspert in 1953.