Michael Harvey was an engineering draughtsman until Eric Gill’s Autobiography inspired him to become a lettercutter.

From 1955 until 1961 he assisted Reynolds Stone carving inscriptions. In 1990 he carved the great frieze of artists’ names and other inscriptions in the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. From 1957 he designed book jackets for leading publishers in England and Holland. In the mid ’sixties his first typeface, Zephyr, was launched by the Ludlow company in Chicago, and in 1990 the Monotype Corporation brought out his first type family, Ellington, followed by a sans serif version, Strayhorn. He has designed five fonts for Adobe Systems: Studz, Andreas, Mezz, Conga Brava and Moonglow. In 2001 he joined forces with Andy Benedek to form Fine Fonts, a digital foundry.

Teaching, lecturing and writing have been other aspects of his work. He taught part-time in English art colleges since 1961 and until 2001 a course, Letterforms, at the University of Reading. He has published six books on the lettering arts, and has exhibited widely. In 1991 he was appointed to the Royal Mint Advisory Committee, which, under Prince Philip’s chairmanship considered designs for new coins and medals.

He was awarded an MBE for services to art in 2001.

Michael Harvey was an engineering draughtsman until Eric Gill’s Autobiography inspired him to become a lettercutter.