“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 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.