Today's digital font technology allowed the world-renowned typeface designer/calligrapher Hermann Zapf to finally realize a vision he first had more than fifty years ago: creating a typeface that could capture the freedom and liveliness of beautiful handwriting. The basic Zapfino™ font family, released in 1998, consists of four alphabets with many additional stylistic alternates that can be freely mixed together to emulate the variations in handwritten text. In 2003, Herman Zapf completely reworked the Zapfino design, creating Zapfino™ Extra. This large expansion of the Zapfino family was designed in close collaboration with Akira Kobayashi. Zapfino™ Extra includes a cornucopia of new characters. It features exuberant hyper-flourishes, elegant small caps, dozens of ornaments, more alternates and ligatures, index characters, and a very useful bold version, named Zapfino™ Forte. A version of the 1998 Zapfino typeface ships as one of the pre-installed fonts included with Mac OSX. The Mac OSX version's letters are four times larger than the Linotype standard. In order to minimize compatibility problems for Macintosh users, Linotype has created OSX versions of its Zapfino Extra Pro typefaces, which have been enlarged to correlate visually with the Mac OS Zapfino system font. These special Linotype fonts can be distinguished by the letter X" in their name. Zapfino Extra is an OpenType format font, which is available in two versions. Which version you purchase should depend on which software applications you use the most and what features they support! The Contextual version of Zapfino Extra Pro contains a treasure-trove of extra contextual features. When created in 2004, this was the most advanced OpenType font released to date. By purchasing this version, users of OpenType-supporting applications, such as Adobe InDesign, may access all of the features available in the entire Zapfino family through just two fonts, Zapfino Extra LT Pro (Contextual) and Zapfino Forte LT Pro! Unfortunately, most non-Adobe applications currently do not support the contextual features made possible by recent OpenType developments. Users of Quark XPress and Microsoft Office should instead purchase all of the non-contextual fonts of Zapfino Extra Pro family, in order to access all of the Zapfino Extra family's 1676 glyphs. The Zapfino Extra family's character set supports 48 western and central European languages. Use Zapfino Extra to produce unusual and graceful advertisements, packaging, and invitations. Zapfino Extra is so joyously abundant that it's tempting to over-indulge, so be sure to check out the tips for working well with the possibilities."

Levato, the first font designed by Felix Bonge, is an Antiqua that is full of character and is refined but by no means sterile. This typeface provides for a wide range of options for creating individual designs. It was not really Felix Bonge's intention to create a whole font family when, as a second year student, he began several exercises in contrast and proportion as part of the typeface design course of Professor Veljovi? at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences. However, these initial studies developed into a project that Bonge persisted with over the following years while working towards his degree. He continually had new insights and ideas that he was able to exploit for his font. Of particular importance, he claims, was a calligraphy seminar, which prompted him to completely rework his concept. It took him several years before his extensive font Levato™ was ready. Although the forms of Levato are ultimately derived from Renaissance Antiqua, Bonge has slightly increased the relative contrast in his version. This gives the font a graceful appearance that is further emphasized by the reduced x-height and the associated prominence of the ascenders. And, in addition, the relatively fine serifs, which are almost linear at their ends, infuse Levato with a hint of classical Antiqua á la Bodoni. At the same time, Bonge cleverly compensates for the sterilising tendency of this font form. Soft and rounded serif attachments and rounded line apexes offset the severe nature of the font and provide it with an aura of vivacity. This effect is promoted by the calligraphic-like foot of the lowercase h, n and m and the not quite horizontal bars of the uppercase E and F. Overall, Bonge has succeeded in creating a refined and yet very dynamic typeface. Levato is available in five weights; Light, Regular, Medium, Bold and Black, in each case with the corresponding italic versions. Bonge treats Levato Italic as a genuine cursive typeface. Its letters are thus slightly narrower than the analogous upright letters and their forms are considerably more curvilinear. All the versions of Levato boast an enormous range of characters to meet all possible requirements. In addition to four sets of minuscule and majuscule numerals for tabular and proportional typesetting, there are also small caps, numerous ligatures, ornamental characters and even swash variants of letters. With their generous, sweeping curves, the swash variants (available as OpenType versions) can be used for striking titling effects or as initials.

William Morris (1834-1896) was probably the most influential figure in the decorative arts and private press movements of the late 19th and early 20th century. In reaction to the increasing lack of quality that the industrial revolution brought on, Morris sought a return to the ideals of the medieval craftsman. Dissatisfied with the commercially available typefaces of the day, he undertook the design of the fonts for his books himself. The P22 Morris font set features new versions of Morris's famous type designs for his Kelmscott Press. The two main fonts include full international character sets for Western European languages. P22 created MORRIS GOLDEN with a rough edge to simulate the look of printing on handmade paper. There is a more "refined" recent version of Golden, but its sterile digitization does not approach the effect that Morris achieved in his Kelmscott books. You'll notice the handmade effect less in the smaller sizes but will find it quite decorative in the larger sizes. (Morris cut his Golden type in only one size for the Kelmscott Press, approximately equal to 14 points.) P22's version of MORRIS TROY is more smooth than Morris Golden and is true to the original Morris design. It is based on the Kelmscott Troy type (an 18 point font) and its smaller counterpart, the Chaucer type (a 12 point font). American Type Founders made an unauthorized version of Troy, "Satanick," 189?, contrary to Morris's wish that it not be made available commercially.(Legend has it that the naming of Satanick comes from William Morris telling the agent inquiring about making copies of his fonts available to go to hell) Several digital versions of Troy (and Satanick) have appeared over the years. The P22 version offers a much more accurate rendering than any previous version. Morris designed the original Troy font to be spaced very tightly; our version reflects and honors his intention. The MORRIS ORNAMENTS are based on those Morris designed and used in his Kelmscott Press books. Characters in the positions of the letters A to Z are decorative drop cap initials. Characters in the number key positions reproduce other Morris embellishments. (See the accompanying key chart.) As with all headline fonts and complex dingbats characters, this font is best used at larger point sizes (e.g., 48, 72, 120). Use in body text or at small point sizes on-screen may not achieve desired results. P22 is grateful to William S. Peterson, Steven O. Saxe and the Lightsey-Offutt Library who gave invaluable research assistance to this project.

Peter Schnorr was a German artist/illustrator of Art Nouveau period (called Jugendstil in Germany and Austria). He was quite adept at calligraphy and did a variety of commercial work, including business signs. He designed at least four different alphabets and collaborated with Bruce Rogers on advertising work and title page designs for books. One of their clients was the publishing house of Houghton Mifflin. I have not been able to discover anything else about him, but I suspect he might be the grandson of the Bavarian artist Jules Schnorr von Carolsfeld, who was once commissioned to do a mural by Ludwig II of Bavaria (whose famous castle was copied by Disneyland). Schnorr did not give individual names to his fonts. Where there is no historical name, we like to follow the tradition initiated by Bauer and name fonts after their designer, with a descriptive adjective in the designer’s native language. Gestreckt is German for stretched or elongated. An interesting deign detail of this typeface is the cross bar of the “T” --it is NOT symetrical. The right hand side extends only 88% as far as the left hand side (a ratio of 9:8). I presume this was done for a more pleasing letter fit. Today Schnorr’s design is frequently offered under the name “Ambrosia.” However. close inspection will usually reveal that the serifs have been treated differently. I believe our font has a greater fidelity to the original design. Please also compare the design of the various auxiliary characters to those in other fonts. Often they are either borrowed from an inappropriate font of a different period or are missing altogether. We make every effort to design characters that are in keeping with the overall design and spirit of the typeface. For example, see the superscript Registered Trademark symbol (0174) and the Double s (0223). I think both are quite successful. Schnorr Gestreckt ML represents a major extension of the original release. In addition to the standard 1252 Western Europe Code Page with character slots up to decimal position 255, there are glyphs for the 1250 Central Europe, the 1252 Turkish and the 1257 Baltic Code Pages. There are also two alternate letter forms, one ornament and seven ligatures with Unicode codepoints (Private Use Area) and OpenType aalt, ornm & liga GSUB layout features. There are a total of 318 glyphs and 351 kerning pairs. Please note that some older applications may only be able to access the Western Europe character set (approximately 221 glyphs). This release also incorporates a redesign of several glyphs: the comma, quotes, acute accent, and grave accent.

Alt-Gotisch Verzierte is a typeface of decorative initials that is Victorian in style and bears a close family resemblance to the many ornamental tuscans cut throughout the nineteenth century by British foundries. Instead of the bifurcated terminals of the archetypical tuscan (see Figgins Tuscan by HiH or Stereopticon by Dan X. Solo), these letters display what Nicolete Gray might call a “wedge and bite” design -- as if they started with the wedge serif of a latin form and someone came along and took a perfectly round bite out of the wedge. We need not dwell on the lack of teeth marks. The calligraphic curls and flourishes are often graceful, sometimes a bit contrived, but always complex. There is a busyness that marks the style of the period. If you ever see an old photograph of a well-appointed Victorian parlor, you will recognize that same quality of busyness. Overdone is a word that frequently comes to mind. Alt-Gotisch Verzierte means “adorned or decorated old gothic.” The typeface is attributed by Alexander Nesbitt to an unidentified German foundry of the nineteenth century (Decorative Alphabets and Initials, Dover, New York 1987, plate 92). The designer is unknown. Our font is supplied with a lower case that is similar to the upper case, but is 15% shorter and is simplified by the omission of the decorative vines. For the lower case, alternate letters A, E, & T; and ligatures LE, OT & LY have been supplied. In addition, a few small decorative vines were planted here and there for optional use. An accented upper case is not part of the original design and is not here supplied. This design is also seen under the name “Sentinel” -- as always, it is worthwhile to compare the completeness of the character set and the faithfulness of the rendering. We believe you will agree that we provide a balance of quality and value that is unmatched in the contemporary marketplace. Alt-Gotisch Einfach is a simplified version of Alt-Gotisch Verzierte. The vine-less lower case of the Verzierte font is the upper case in Einfach. For a lower case for Einfach, the letters were further simplified by stripping away the three-dimensional outline, down to the bare bones and bites, as it were. Einfach, in fact, means “simple” or “plain.” It is interesting to note that this bare bones & bite lower case bears (I have a special license to use two homonyms in the same sentence) a striking resemblance to the 15th & 16th century ornamental letters from Westminster Abbey shown in Plate 47 of Alexander Nesbitt’s Decorative Alphabets and Initials (Dover, New York 1987).

Early in the 19th century, foundries began releasing a variety of decorated ornamental letters based on the Tuscan letterform. Fancy Tuscan letters quickly became so popular, they eventually came to represent the cluttered extremes of Victorian design. Foundries competed with each other to produce most extravagantly decorated letterforms. As often happens, success turned to excess. What is often overlooked is the long history of the Tuscan style. Early examples have been traced back to ancient Rome. Indeed, the characteristic bifurcation may have represented a fishtail to the early Christians, thus sharing in the roll of symbolic identification played by the simple drawing of a fish as a whole. Later. trifurcation was developed as an alternate termination, followed by loops, full fishtails, curls, hooks and other fancy variations. Nicolete Gray provides an extensive history in her Appendix One of NINETEENTH CENTURY ORNAMENTED TYPEFACES. According to Gray, the first metal typeface based on the Tuscan form was the Ornamented of 1817 by Vincent Figgins of London. Thorowgood followed suit in 1821, Fry in 1824 and Caslon in 1830. Each was to re-visit the form many times during the Victorian era. Here we present our interpretation of what Figgins might have produced in a basic, plain Tuscan form - free of the decorative additions. We are pretty safe here because Figgins was very creative. He explored many of the terminal variations listed above and combined them with different decorative devices to produce a constant stream of new faces to meet the demands of the marketplace. Figgins Tuscan ML represents a major extension of the original release, with the following changes: 1. Added glyphs for the 1250 Central Europe, the 1252 Turkish and the 1257 Baltic Code Pages. There are also a few glyphs for Anglo-Saxon, Gaelic and Old Gaelic. Total of 355 glyphs. 2. Added OpenType GSUB layout features: aalt, ornm and liga ˜ with total 34 lookups. 3. Added 351 kerning pairs. 4. Redesigned several glyphs: the comma, quotes, brackets, braces, acute accent, and grave accent. 5. Revised vertical metrics for improved cross-platform line spacing. Please note that some older applications may only be able to access the Western Europe character set (approximately 221 glyphs). The zip package includes two versions of the font at no extra charge. There is an OTF version which is in Open PS (Post Script Type 1) format and a TTF version which is in Open TT (True Type)format. Use whichever works best for your applications.

Hear ye, hear ye! Adventurers of all realms, allow me to regale you with a tale of Mikadan, a font of great splendor and beauty. Behold, its letterforms are imbued with the grace and character of the medieval age, yet tempered with modern sensibilities. This typeface is a tribute to the great Verona of Stephenson Blake, a typeface of old that harks back to the days of yore, the age of kings and queens, and the rise of chivalry. Mikadan also draws inspiration from William Dana Orcutt’s Illumanistic, a font of great power and mystery from the turn of the century. Moreover, Mikadan possesses some of the accessible qualities of Morris Fuller Benton’s Motto, a font that has stood the test of time since 1915. Truly, Mikadan is a font that combines the best of old and new, of medieval fantasy and modern design. With its easy-to-read letterforms and medieval design, Mikadan is the ideal choice for all modern applications. Whether you’re designing a poster for a tournament, a sign for a market, or a banner for your guild, Mikadan will serve you well. And if your program supports OpenType alternates, you can access unique drop-down capital letters that will truly set your design apart. So come forth, brave adventurers! Embrace the medieval fantasy design of Mikadan and set forth on your journey to create designs that will endure through the ages. Most Latin-based European, and most Cyrillic-based writing systems are supported, including the following languages. Afaan Oromo, Afar, Afrikaans, Albanian, Alsatian, Aromanian, Aymara, Bashkir, Bashkir (Latin), Basque, Belarusian, Belarusian (Latin), Bemba, Bikol, Bosnian, Breton, Bulgarian, Buryat, Cape Verdean, Creole, Catalan, Cebuano, Chamorro, Chavacano, Chichewa, Crimean Tatar (Latin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dawan, Dholuo, Dungan, Dutch, English, Estonian, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Frisian, Friulian, Gagauz (Latin), Galician, Ganda, Genoese, German, Greenlandic, Guadeloupean Creole, Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Hiligaynon, Hungarian, Icelandic, Ilocano, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Jamaican, Kalmyk, Kaqchikel, Karakalpak (Latin), Kashubian, Kazakh, Khalkha, Kikongo, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Komi-Permyak, Kurdish, Kurdish (Latin), Kyrgyz, Latvian, Lithuanian, Lombard, Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, Maasai, Macedonian, Makhuwa, Malay, Maltese, Māori, Moldovan, Montenegrin, Ndebele, Neapolitan, Norwegian, Novial, Occitan, Ossetian, Ossetian (Latin), Papiamento, Piedmontese, Polish, Portuguese, Quechua, Rarotongan, Romanian, Romansh, Russian, Rusyn, Sami, Sango, Saramaccan, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian, Serbian (Latin), Shona, Sicilian, Silesian, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Sorbian, Sotho, Spanish, Swahili, Swazi, Swedish, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tajik, Tatar, Tetum, Tongan, Tshiluba, Tsonga, Tswana, Tumbuka, Turkish, Turkmen (Latin), Tuvaluan, Ukrainian, Uzbek, Uzbek (Latin), Venetian, Vepsian, Võro, Walloon, Waray-Waray, Wayuu, Welsh, Wolof, Xhosa, Yapese, Zapotec, Zulu and Zuni.