February 20, 2000

An unusual collection of fonts with an unusual story...

The name Cobb Shinn goes back to the turn of the 
century. There are many sites on the net for post card
collectors which feature some of his illustrations on
humorous cards of the 1900's-1920's. 

By the early 1950's, the Cobb Shinn Company of 
Indianapolis, Indiana offered for sale to printers and 
advertisers stock cuts and electrotypes of both 
illustrations and photographs. For a nominal fee, you
were supplied with the cut and therefor the license to
use it in all forms of print media. This was the
predecessor to today's modern clip art CD-Rom libraries.

I came into possession of a sales catalog from circa
1950-51, with many images printed on glossy paper. There
was no copyright notice on any of the pages, just a 
disclaimer advising that unauthorized use was 
prohibited.

Having recognized many of the images as those found in 
a Dover Clip Art Book, as well as a Formatt Clip Art
Book, I contacted both of the publishers about copyright 
information on the artwork.

To the best of their knowledge, they alleged the art
was now in the public domain. Obviously, Cobb Shinn has
been out of business for quite some time. In fact, years
ago, I had purchased a small clip art collection (from 
an older woman running a small company her late husband
started) which also had some of the Cobb Shinn art.

A web search yielded no current results showing any
successor to the original company, and I have not been 
able to verify any current assignment of rights to the
artwork.

With this in mind, I scanned and created these fonts of
Cobb Shinn Stock Cuts. They are offered from this page 
as Freeware, with no restriction attached to them.

NOTE TO ANYONE THINKING OF OFFERING THESE FONTS AT 
THEIR ARCHIVE SITE: Do so AT YOUR OWN RISK. You accept 
any and all liability (express or implied) for any 
actions which may result from a third party proving 
legitimate ownership to the artwork contained herein, 
and seeking any remedy or action against you for posting
said fonts.