After doing this for so many years, one would think my fascination with the old history of writing would have mellowed out by now. The truth is that alongside being a calligraphy history buff, I'm a pop technology freak. Maybe even keener on the tech thing, since I just can't seem to get enough new gadgets. And after working with type technologies for so many years, I'm starting to think that writing and design technologies as we now know them, being about 2.5 post-computer generations, keep becoming more and more detached from what the very old humanity arts/tasks they essentially want to facilitate. In a world where command-z is a frequently used key combination, it’s difficult to justify expecting a Morris-made book or a Zaner-drawn sentence, but accidental artistic “mutations” become welcome, marketable features. When fluid pens were introduced, their liquid saturation influenced type design to a great extent almost overnight an influence professional designers tend to play down. Now round stroke endings are a common sight, and the saturation is so clean and measured, unlike any liquid-paper relationship possible in reality. Some designers even illustrate their work by overlaying perfect circles at stroke ends, in order to illustrate how “geometric” their work was. Because if it’s measured with precise geometry, it’s got to be meaningful design. And once in a while, by a total freak accident, the now-cherished mutations prove to have existed long before the technology that caused them. Rolling Pen was cued by just such a thing: A rounded, circular, roll-flowing calligraphy from the late nineteenth century seemingly one of those experimental takes on what inspired Business Penmanship, another font of mine. Looking at it now it certainly seems to be friendlier, more legible, and maybe even more practical and easier to execute than the standard business penmanship of those days, but I guess friendliness and simplicity were at odds with the stiff manner business liked to present itself back then, so that kind of thing remained buried in the professional penman’s oddities drawer. It would be quite a few years before all this curviness and rounding were thought of as symbolic of graceful movement, which brought such a flow closer to the idea of fine art. Even though in this case the accidental mutation just happens to not be a mutation after all, the whole technology-transforms-application argument still applies here. I'm almost sure “business” will be the last thing on people’s minds when they use this font today. One extreme example of that level of disconnect between origin and current application is shown here, with the so-called business penmanship strutting around in gloss and neon. Rolling Pen is another cup of mine that runneth over with alternates, swashes, ligatures, and other techy perks. To explore its full potential, please use it in a program that supports OpenType features for advanced typography. Enjoy the new Rolling Pen designed by Ale Paul with Neon’s visual poetry by Tomás García.

Like traditional athletic block typefaces, VTF Charisma is built with chiseled cornersand a rigid skeleton. However, an underlying formula of fervor and functionality emerges in execution. The typeface features traditional block tendencies that are challenged by expressive angles and deviations in line weight that harken to penmanship. Uniquely tapered terminals seen in letters like "a", "c", and "s" demonstrate a strong visual energy while increasing legibility. The legs of angled letterforms like the "A", "v", and "y" are cropped in a way that further reinforces this motif. These stylistic cues are employed throughout the family’s 7 weights, ranging from Thin to Black with an accompanying Oblique variant for each. VTF Charisma is equipped with a hefty 970 glyphs that support Small Caps, fractions, extensive Latin characters, stylistic alternates and more. Paired with its dynamic charm and strong visual appearance, the family’s horizon of capabilities broadens.

Ballpoint Catalog is a handwriting typeface, based on my dad's real handwriting, he was a teacher. I'm amaze by its smoothness and elegant, not fully follow the rules of penmanship handwriting but he has his own style of script which make it more human, natural handwriting rather that 'generic' handwriting typeface style. This typeface contain several ligatures to make it more natural in the writing. Suitable for any uses from branding, book cover, menu, quotes, invitation, wedding cards, advertising, blog, etc. Features Latin A-Z and a-z Numbers Symbols Ligature To enable the OpenType Stylistic alternates, you need a program that supports OpenType features such as Adobe Illustrator CS, Adobe Indesign & CorelDraw X6-X7. There are additional ways to access alternates/swashes, using Character Map (Windows), Nexus Font (Windows), Font Book (Mac) or a software program such as PopChar (for Windows and Mac).

The 10th Regiment of Foot is a British military unit raised more than three centuries ago—and perhaps most famous in the U.S. for seeing action on American soil during the Revolutionary War in the Battle of Lexington and Concord and the Battle of Bunker Hill. Military Scribe is modeled after the compact, utilitarian script on the mid- to late-1770s muster rolls of the Tenth of Foot. I incorporated the work of at least three separate scribes, merging their neat old penmanship into a legible disconnected cursive. Perhaps the most versatile of all our vintage handwriting fonts, Military Scribe might faithfully reproduce antique letters, labels, lists, or just about any document of the period. OpenType features include multiple stylistic sets, scores of historical, contextual, and discretionary ligatures (including nine terminal “d”s) lining and old-style figures, ink blots, cross-outs, and full support for Central and Eastern European alphabets—more than 1,000 glyphs in all.

Annaberra – A Natural Handwriten Script Font Annaberra, a natural handwritten script font, embodies the essence of organic and fluid penmanship. Crafted with meticulous attention to detail, each stroke of this font reflects the spontaneity and authenticity of hand writing, capturing the nuances of a personal touch. The gentle curves and varied weights of the letterforms lend Annaberra a graceful and inviting appearance, making it an ideal choice for projects seeking an approachable yet sophisticated aesthetic. Whether used for invitations, branding, or creative displays, Annaberra exudes a timeless charm, seamlessly blending the warmth of human expression with the convenience of digital typography. Annaberra is perfect for branding projects, logo, wedding designs, social media posts, advertisements, product packaging, product designs, label, photography, watermark, invitation, stationery, game, fashion and any projects. Fonts include multilingual support for; Afrikaans, Albanian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish.

“Due Giorni”, two days in italian language, express a measurement of time, it can be little or a lot, depending on who or what it is used for. “Due Giorni” is a script font very expressive, fresh, agile and dynamic, hand-drawn with connected forms on slanted angle of 23º This font contain 542 glyphs with plenty OpenType features: Standard and discretionary ligatures, stylistic alternates, swashes, Old style figures, small caps, case sensitives and ornaments. It come also, with three kind of capitals: Roman Capitals, Small Caps (different proportions) and Swashes. Roman Capitals are inspired on the beautiful inscription found in the Augustorium’s house in Ercolano, Naples.those letters have been carefully drawn and sculpted. Swashed Cursive Capitals are similar to 18th century penmanship. “Due Giorni” is a versatile font that may give you the chance to create original logos and headlines, specially by many stylistic sets, ligatures and alternates that can be combined with them.

Introducing the OpenType font ‘Athena’, the beautiful calligraphy script. It’s inspired by Athena, goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill. Athena font is a font that comes with very beautiful changing characters, a kind of classic decorative copper script with a modern touch, designed with high detail to bring stylish elegance, clean, feminine, sensual, glamorous, simple and very easy to read, because there are many letter connections. This is the representative of two styles; you can use it for modern minimalism and also classic expert penmanship styles. Both of these style can be applied in various formal forms such as invitations, labels, restaurant menus, logos, fashion, make up, stationery, novels, magazines, books, greeting / wedding cards, packaging, letterhead, labels or any type of advertising purpose. ‘Athena' has a lot of alternate characters, including various language support and numerals & punctuation. Please contact me if you need any help by drop a messages. So… Enjoy Athena and best regards. - 38.lineart studio

Empresario Stephen F. Austin (1793-1836) is considered by many the “Father of Texas” for leading the first Anglo-American colony into the then-Mexican territory back in the 1820s. A few years later, while on a diplomatic mission to Mexico City, Austin was arrested on suspicion of plotting Texas independence and imprisoned for virtually all of 1834. During this time he kept a secret diary of his thoughts and musings—much of it written in Spanish. Austin Pen is my interpretation of Austin’s scribblings in this miniature prison journal (now in the collection of the wonderful Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, in the Texas city that bears his name). The little leather-bound book is filled with notes in ink and pencil—some of the faded penciled pages traced in ink years later by Austin’s nephew Moses Bryan. A genuine replication of 19th century cursive, Austin Pen has two styles: a fine regular weight, along with a bold style that replicates passages written with an over-inked pen. Each is legible and evocative of commonplace American penmanship of two centuries ago.

In the early 1980s, at the start of my career, I had the opportunity to work in a print shop with classic lead setting. In those days I would study issues of U&lc magazine from ITC. What really caught my attention were scripts in the Spencerian style. I’ve been fascinated by this American penmanship tradition ever since. A few years ago I developed a font. Boris Bencic used it when he was redesigning L’Officiel magazine in Paris. I took these initial forms and developed them into the font Mommie when I started my own foundry. Although I usually design text typefaces, working on Mommie taught me how complex it can be to create a script headline font. The biggest challenge in this process has been to keep it alive and fresh. The Regular weight is only made for very big headlines. The thin lines with the bold drops are very elegant. For smaller sizes use the Medium and Small weight. It won the TDC 2008 award and was Judges Choice of Christian Schwartz.

A debut from the most anticipated vintage digital typefoundry by Gilang Purnama and Ilham Herry, who stucked their mind, body and soul back into the first era of 18th century. They build this intense visual-time machine that no one capable before. Started by the visual branding of the Ephemera Fonts, they bring every letters of it to the another level of journey. They called it Ephemera Sickles. Ephemera Sickles is a ornamented letterhead style typeface-inspired by the era of victorian (1800-1900) and this style was commonly used by engrossers at the turn of the century to embellish official documents, such as diplomas and other certificates. Carefully crafted for every single letters with the soul of Sickels Lettering, Spencerian, and some research from the Penmanship Journal book. The style is named after Charles Sickels, who headed the art department of Electro-Light Engraving Co. in New York City during the early 20th century. There’s no doubt that such a very strong presence typeface like Ephemera Sickles will bring a powerful identity to your visual project. Will be a perfect joint for a logo, visual branding, poster, beer label, packaging, classic bar decor, vintage hotel, et cetera.

Casandra Lie – A Chic Monoline Script Font Casandra Lie, a name like a whispered secret, perfectly embodies the essence of this chic monoline script font. Imagine the delicate stroke of a fine penmanship teacher gliding across paper, leaving behind an effortless trail of ink that dances and twirls with understated elegance. Every letter whispers tales of romance and intrigue, their slender forms adorned with graceful swashes and subtle flourishes that hint at a hidden passion. Think vintage Parisian boudoirs illuminated by candlelight, secret love letters penned under twilight skies, and the airy charm of handwritten invitations to soirees under the stars. Casandra Lie is not merely a font; it’s an invitation to a world of whispered dreams and unspoken promises, etched in ink as delicate as a spider’s web, yet strong enough to capture the beating heart of a story waiting to be told. Casandra Lie is perfect for branding projects, logo, wedding designs, social media posts, advertisements, product packaging, product designs, label, photography, watermark, invitation, stationery, game, fashion and any projects. Fonts include multilingual support for; Afrikaans, Albanian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish.

World Discovery is a stunning calligraphy font that exudes a sense of beauty, romance, and exploration. The artistic swirls and slanted serifs come together to create a distinctive, high-quality, and exclusive typeface that will bring an antique charm to your designs. World Discovery has its origin in 15th-century discovery maps. Designer Mans Greback procured maps from the state library, and the exquisite penmanship and intricate details on the map, showcasing the venture of exploration and the grandeur of the Age of Discovery, sparked the unique and evocative letterforms that now make up the World Discovery font. The font offers an impressive array of 19 styles, including six distinctive main styles, their italic versions, as well as light, regular, and bold weights, as well as a Swash style for added flair. Combining the fonts gives you infinite possibilities to create a truly customized typographical artwork. The font is built with advanced OpenType functionality and has a guaranteed top-notch quality, containing stylistic and contextual alternates, ligatures, and more features; all to give you full control and customizability. It has extensive lingual support, covering all Latin-based languages, from Northern Europe to South Africa, from America to South-East Asia. It contains all characters and symbols you'll ever need, including all punctuation and numbers.

Khatija Calligraphy is a beautiful calligraphy font in base style of penmanship with a modern look, an eclectic concept by paying attention to the beautiful choice models. This fonts consist of 2,484 letters ready to use. To make it easier for you to use it, we utilize the access all alternates feature so that you only need to type and then select one of the letters then the alternative letters will appear automatically. We also use the stylistic set selection feature from SS01 - SS20, because we made a very unique alternate pair, alternate 1 paired with alternate 2, alternate 3 paired with alternate 4. We matched the alternate pair's kernings perfectly. For wedding themes and elegant product brands, believe it.. this font is the perfect choice, because we also prepare a ligature that raises flower ornaments to complement your design, you only need to press your keyboard | 1 | 2 | 3 to | 10. Now you have very beautiful flower ornaments. You can combine these ornaments again according to your needs. Khatija Calligraphy has 27 language support: Afrikaans Albanian Catalan Croatian Czech Danish Dutch English Estonian Finnish French German Hungarian Icelandic Italian Latvian Lithuanian Maltese Norwegian Polish Slovak Slovenian Spanish Swedish Turkish Zulu.

LisaBeth Weber's eponymous typeface ITC Weber Hand is deceptively simple-looking. It's a handwriting face in a light, monolineal style with a slightly formal, almost angular appearance. Weber, who is an accomplished singer/songwriter as well as an artist and lettering artist, says she has always had an inherent sensibility with lettering." Her favorite subject in the first grade was penmanship, and when, as an adult, she got her first checkbook, "I thought it was very unfair that the signature always had to be consistently the same." She describes Weber Hand as "a natural progression of my handwriting style, a friendly and versatile font." Its letterfit is naturally loose, and it shows its character best when set with ample leading. In 1999, when LisaBeth Weber's ITC Weber Hand™ typeface was released, it soon became one of ITC's most popular handwriting fonts. A decade later she decided that is was time to update her single-weight design. A light weight would benefit from a bold companion, in addition to condensed variations for much greater versatility. This warm, friendly, and charming design is just as at home in Restaurant menus as it is in brochures, for advertising, and on packaging. With the new weights ITC Weber Hand will surely continue to be a popular handwriting type with broad appeal."

One design sparks another. As Alejandro Paul experimented with the strokes and curves of the monoline script Business Penmanship, he discovered interesting new forms and shapes that didn't fit the Spencerian theme of that typeface. These forms simmered in Ale’s subconscious over the next three years, during which time he visited New York City, pored over rare type specimen books in the New York Public Library, and explored Brooklyn’s neighborhoods. Brownstone, the face born from these explorations, is an original 21st-century design, yet one subtly infused with historical and cultural references -- keen observers might spot influences from decorative typefaces of 19th-century foundries. And just as faces from that era were influenced by contemporary architecture, the frames included with Brownstone echo the ornate iron railings of Park Slope’s row houses. (There’s also a slight 1960s vibe to Brownstone, of novelty swash-sans photocompositing faces, that can be played up at your discretion.) Influences aside, Brownstone has broad appeal to modern audiences. A soft, monoline sans-serif, with elements of Swiss geometry (see the ‘k’ and ‘x’), its marriage of highly legible, draftsman-like letterforms with decorative swashes and ornaments reflects the old-meets-new aesthetic of the DIY craft culture seen in Brooklyn and other urban centers. It’s ornamental but unfussy, romantic but understated. Brownstone includes character sets for Latin-based languages, including Western and Eastern European, Baltic, Turkish, Maltese, Celtic and Welsh. Over 1500 glyphs, including small capitals, swash characters, alternates, and ligatures, in both Light and Thin weights. Ornamental frames are also included in both weights. The Brownstone Frames fonts are available as separate fonts in the new Brownstone Slab family.

Iza and Paulo W (Intellecta Design) are proud to announce Bradstone-Parker script Script. A free interpretation of the golden age writing style from American classical penmanship. Inspired in Zaner and his contemporaries Bradstone-Parker has evocative (sometimes exaggerated) ligature forms and voluptuous forms. This enhanced OpenType version is a complete solution for producing documents and artworks with a evocative and voluptuous style of calligraphic script: - many stylistic alternates for each letter (upper- and lowercase), accessed with the glyph palette; - ornaments and tails (“rasgos”) in the typical style from the XIX to the first decades of the XX century writing style, all accessed with the glyph palette using the Ornaments feature; - an extensive set of ligatures (100s of contextual alternates ligatures) providing letterform variations that make your designs really special, resembling real handwriting on the page; - a tour-de-force kerning work: over 4600 kerning paris soft adjusted handly. In non-OpenType-savvy applications it works well as an unusual and beautiful script style font. Because of its high number of alternate letters and combinations (almost 700 glyphs), we suggest the use of the glyph palette to find ideal solutions to specific designs. The sample illustrations will give you an idea of the possibilities. You have full access to this amazing stuff using InDesign, Illustrator, QuarkXpress and similar software. However, we still recommend exploring what this font has to offer using the glyphs palette: principally to get all the power of the Contextual Alternates feature. You can get an idea of the power of this font looking at the “Bradstone-Parker Script Guide”, a pdf brochure in the Gallery section. Take a special look at the Bradstone-Parker Words (ready words). Bradstone-Parker Script has original letters designed by Iza W and overall creative direction plus core programming by Paulo W.

Designed by Cosimo Lorenzo Pancini and Mariachiara Fantini with the help of Solenn Bordeau, Erotique is an evolution of the original design by Zetafonts for Lovelace, that challenges its romantic curves with the glitchy and fluid aesthetic of trans-modern neo-brutalist typography. The seductive "evil serif" look of the Pheimester-like Oldstyle letter shapes is made edgier by the quirky connections and unexpected calligraphic twirls that marry digital distortions to traditional penmanship. Sensuous but sharp, Erotique speaks the language of teasing, and unrequited love, over-the-top and restrained like a show of Japanese Kinbaku, and beautifully heartbreaking like a friendzone valentine. Designed for display use, this high-contrast serif typeface is ready to take center stage in projects where a subtle elegance and an edgy, aggressive touch are required. For branding use it is paired by a Erotique Ornaments, a set of interlocking patterns based on the font letter-shapes, allowing for striking packaging, digital and ambient design. For editorial use it can add a sharp sensuality to logos and titles thanks to an impressive array of alternate glyphs, subtle ligatures and a set of whiplike fleurons, collected in the Erotique Flourishes pack. The typeface has been developed in the regular, medium and bold weight plus a monoline version, all of which have been paired with an Alternate version to give immediate access the more exotic alternate letterforms. With a character set of over five hundred glyphs, all the the weights of Erotique cover almost 200 languages using extended latin, and include advanced Open Type features as Stylistic Alternates, Standard and Discretionary Ligatures, Positional Numerals, Swash and Case Sensitive Forms. If you are a typeface lover, be warned: Erotique could be your fatal attraction!

Flaminia is a typeface family of 4 members designed by Carlos Fabián Camargo G. The central idea started as Dingbats and titles labeled with fine-tipped brushes and flat tip for graphic design related restaurant menus, instructions, packaging, food containers and labels. Thus began the process of drawings and letters integrated by shapes and counterblocks that seem inaccurate yet but at the same time clean and attractive. For this reason each variable suggests fresh brushstrokes that combine ideas from Roman and italic calligraphy. Flaminia members work separately or together by solving needs in different scenarios. This will enhance its properties in order to control and diagram titles, subtitles and short paragraphs with an effusive and manuscript character. Flaminia is useful for generating a flavor of "hand lettered by skilled artists lettering." In conclusion, Flaminia Regular and Italic are used to write short paragraphs. His ascending and downs are lower that the X height. Its width is imperceptibly condensed to save horizontal space. Its smooth lines and finishes simulating a crescent moon have been made with fine-tipped brush. The contrast between thick and thin has medium intensity. Its complement is an ideal italic to emphasize words and phrases. Its conceptual characteristics are similar with foundation's handwriting, except for his companion who takes ideas from the ornamental italic calligraphy. Flaminia Black is compact and ideal for ranking information such as words and titles. Its personality is based on ornamental penmanship italics mixed with humanistic ideas outlined with contrast-type, flat-tipped brush thickness. Its overall width is slightly condensed, rising and falling are short compared to an exaggerated X height. Its smooth lines and terminations as in a crescent moon simulate the path of a broad brush. Its amount of contrast between strokes have average intensity. In brief, push to the limit parameters such as the type and amount of contrast, size, backward, forward, overall width, etc. And finally, Flaminia Dingbats offers three sets of different illustrations, a total of almost 90 drawings useful in communications related to: Food, Clothes and Sketchy. Each carefully wrought through research, testing, analytical design, visual strategy and high-definition of Bezier paths, optimizing time and work to their users. And in conclusion, I have plans to continue expanding the family with more complete versions in the future.

‘Krul’ is a typographic interpretation of the lettering style created by Dutch letter painter Jan Willem Joseph Visser at the end of the 1940s, which decorated the traditional brown bars of Amsterdam. In the beginning, these letters were strongly associated with the pubs connected to the Amstel brewery, given that Visser was the company’s official painter. As the years passed, the style became increasingly popular, and various business owners in Amsterdam and other Dutch and Belgian cities also commissioned its use. In the 1970s and 1980s, Leo Beukeboom, another talented letter painter, continued and expanded this lettering tradition while employed under the Heineken brand. Much of his work can still be found in the Jordaan and De Pijp neighborhoods in Amsterdam. The Amsterdamse Krulletter, or Amsterdam’s curly letter, is strongly inspired by the calligraphic works of the 17th century Dutch writing masters, of which Jan van den Velde was a central figure. However, distinct characteristics of this style, for example, its unusual and beautiful ‘g’, originate from a model that was published by Johannes Heuvelman in 1659, which J. W. J. Visser referenced. Typographic circles have somehow overlooked the Amsterdamse Krulletter and its heritage. The Dutch calligraphic hands preceded and influenced the formal English penmanship which has inspired numerous typefaces in the Copperplate style. In contrast, the models from van den Velde, Heuvelman, and Jean de la Chambre, among others, are a missing chapter in Dutch typographic history, and had never been turned into typefaces until now. Conscious of the cultural and identity issues that arise in reviving a unique style, and concerned about the speed with which the lettering style was disappearing, Ramiro Espinoza focused the project of designing ‘Krul’ on digitally recreating the calligraphic complexity of these beautiful letters. Created through several years of research, ‘Krul’ is not a direct digitization of the Amsterdamse Krulletter, but instead, an interpretation that incorporates numerous alternative characters absent in the original model, and improves upon details where necessary, resulting in an optimal performance on the printed page. The typeface is presented in Open Type format, with an abundance of intricate ligatures, fleurons, and swashes, which permit the creation of numerous calligraphic effects. The very high contrast and rhythm of the strokes in this typeface make it especially suited for media applications conveying a sense of elegance and sophistication. Designers of feminine magazines, advertisements, and corporate identities within the fragrance and fashion industries will find in this typeface to be an extremely useful and appropriate resource.The great Amsterdamse Krulletter is finally back, and we are proud to make it available to you.

Harald Geisler wants to make you as brilliant as Albert Einstein. Or at least let you write like him. Or at least write in his handwriting. — The Wall Street Journal Imagine you could write like Albert Einstein. The Albert Einstein font enables you to do exactly that. In an joined effort, creators Harald Geisler and Elizabeth Waterhouse, spend over 7 years on finalising the project. It was made possible with the help of the Albert Einstein Archive, the Albert Einstein Estate, and funding by a successful Kickstarter Campaign of 2, 334 backers. The outcome was worth the effort: a font unprecedented in aesthetic technique and a benchmark for handwriting fonts. To create a result that is true to the original, Harald Geisler developed a method to analyse the movement of the famous writer. Letter by letter, every glyph was digitally re-written to create a seamlessly working font. It is the only font that holds 5 variations for each lowercase and uppercase-letter, number, and punctuation sign. Each based on meticulous detail to the original samples of Albert Einstein’s handwriting. The OpenType contextual alternates feature dynamically arranges the letters automatically as you type to ensure that no repeated letter forms are placed next to each other. Stylistic variants can also be accessed through stylistic sets. The font has 10 fine-tuned weights ranging from extra-light to fine and extra bold to heavy. The result is a vivid handwritten text true to the original. A PDF documentation, showing step by step how the font was made and comparing numerous original samples, is included with the font and can be downloaded here. The work has been recognised internationally, by press, Einstein fans, and designers. Some quotes used in images: “The font is beautiful“ — Washington Post “If you could write like Einstein, would it help you to think like Einstein?” — The Times (London) “Finally, if your colleagues aren’t taking you seriously, then perhaps you could start sending e-mails in a new font that mimics the handwriting of Albert Einstein.” — Physics World “Geisler and Waterhouse are really asking deeper questions about the diminishing (or evolving) role of our flawed, variable penmanship as a conduit of thought in today’s pixel-perfect landscape.” — QUARTZ “Your writing will look imaginative — which is exactly what Einstein would've wanted." — Huffington Post Arts & Culture "Forget Myriad Pro, Helvetica or Futura. The only font you’ll ever need" — Gizmodo “Capture a piece of Einstein's genius in your own writing." — Mashable

This typeface is extrapolated from the ‘We the People’ calligraphy of the handwritten US Constitution Preamble which employed a style based on German Text and Square Text exemplars from George Bickham’s penmanship copy-books, the most celebrated being The Universal Penman published in 1743. The original Constitution document was transcribed onto parchment by Jacob Shallus, a Pennsylvania Assistant Clerk, over a weekend in 1787. Shallus’s biographer, Arthur Plotnik (The Man Behind the Quill, 1987), notes that he was paid $30, a modest monthly wage at the time. He also suggests that the calligraphic headings, ‘We the People’ and ‘Article’, may have been inserted by Shallus’s 14 year old trainee son, Francis, “The manner in which the ‘Article’ headings are squeezed into the space Shallus allowed for them suggests a second hand—and perhaps not a very experienced one.” The unconventional backslant of the headings would seem to support this contention, and at the end of the document there is perhaps a novice’s inconsistency in the structure of the letter n between that used for ‘done’ and those used for ‘In Witness’. However, one has to admire the elegant swagger of the wavy t, h and l which the K-Type font extends to the b, f and k. Also, the simpler, Schwabacher-style W, an enlarged version of the lowercase w, is a little less flamboyant than the capital W from the German and Square texts in Bickham’s manuals. For designers using OpenType-aware applications, the typeface includes some Alternates, including a Bickham-style W, the letters t, h and n with added flourishes, two simpler forms of the A, and a few roman numerals for numbering articles. Also some ornamental flourishes and a round middle dot/decimal point. Punctuation marks are drawn in square, calligraphic style, but an alternative round period/full stop, for use with currency and numerals, is available at the period centered position (though placed on the baseline), accessed by Shift Option 9 on a Mac, or Alt 0183 on Windows. The full phrase, ‘We the People’, has been placed at the trademark keystroke and can be accessed by Option 2 (or Shift Option 2) on a Mac, or Alt 0153 on Windows. For designers who find the backslant awkward or unpleasant, the licensed typeface also includes two additional fonts which have a vertical aspect that may be more conducive to graphic design layouts. ‘We The People Upright’ and ‘We The People Upright Bold’ both retain the distinctive style, and the heavier weight is only slightly emboldened, just enough to add some punch.

Compendium is a sequel to my Burgues font from 2007. Actually it is more like a prequel to Burgues. Before Louis Madarasz awed the American Southeast with his disciplined corners and wild hairlines, Platt Rogers Spencer, up in Ohio, had laid down a style all his own, a style that would eventually become the groundwork for the veering calligraphic method that was later defined and developed by Madarasz. After I wrote the above paragraph, I was so surprised by it, particularly by the first two sentences, that I stopped and had to think about it for a week. Why a sequel/prequel? Am I subconsciously joining the ranks of typeface-as-brand designers? Are the tools I build finally taking control of me? Am I having to resort to “milking it” now? Not exactly. Even though the current trend of extending older popular typefaces can play tricks with a type designer’s mind, and maybe even send him into strange directions of planning, my purpose is not the extension of something popular. My purpose is presenting a more comprehensive picture as I keep coming to terms with my obsession with 19th century American penmanship. Those who already know my work probably have an idea about how obsessive I can be about presenting a complete and detailed image of the past through today’s eyes. So it is not hard to understand my need to expand on the Burgues concept in order to reach a fuller picture of how American calligraphy evolved in the 19th century. Burgues was really all about Madarasz, so much so that it bypasses the genius of those who came before him. Compendium seeks to put Madarasz’s work in a better chronological perspective, to show the rounds that led to the sharps, so to speak. And it is nearly criminal to ignore Spencer’s work, simply because it had a much wider influence on the scope of calligraphy in general. While Madarasz’s work managed to survive only through a handful of his students, Spencer’s work was disseminated throughout America by his children after he died in 1867. The Spencer sons were taught by their father and were great calligraphers themselves. They would pass the elegant Spencerian method on to thousands of American penmen and sign painters. Though Compendium has a naturally more normalized, Spencerian flow, its elegance, expressiveness, movement and precision are no less adventurous than Burgues. Nearing 700 glyphs, its character set contains plenty of variation in each letter, and many ornaments for letter beginnings, endings, and some that can even serve to envelope entire words with swashy calligraphic wonder. Those who love to explore typefaces in detail will be rewarded, thanks to OpenType. I am so in love with the technology now that it’s becoming harder for me to let go of a typeface and call it finished. You probably have noticed by now that my fascination with old calligraphy has not excluded my being influenced by modern design trends. This booklet is an example of this fusion of influences. I am living 150 years after the Spencers, so different contextualization and usage perspectives are inevitable. Here the photography of Gonzalo Aguilar join the digital branchings of Compendium to form visuals that dance and wave like the arms of humanity have been doing since time eternal. I hope you like Compendium and find it useful. I'm all Spencered out for now, but at one point, for history’s sake, I will make this a trilogy. When the hairline-and-swash bug visits me again, you will be the first to know. The PDF specimen was designed with the wonderful photography of Gonzalo Aguilar from Mexico. Please download it here http://new.myfonts.com/artwork?id=47049&subdir=original