Monotype’s hot metal Bell series from 1931 was based on original types made by the punchcutter Richard Austin for the foundry of John Bell in the 1780s. The different sizes of Monotype’s series were not all based on the same model. As type historian James Mosley wrote on Typophile, “For 18 point and above (the metal type was cut in sizes up to 36 point) Monotype’s model was a larger type [than the model used for the text sizes], the ‘Great Primer’ cut by Austin. This has greater contrast in the capitals and a flat foot to letter a.” The digital Bell closely follows the design of the hot metal 18pt version, and is therefore somewhat lighter in color than the text sizes of Monotype’s original metal face. James Mosley’s Typophile article can be found here.

An old brass stencil of the word 'large' was spotted for sale in an online auction. What set it apart from many other vintage stencil items was the beautiful, hand-punched Western letters with a diamond-shape center. Those five letters served as the basis for Old Chisholm JNL, which retains the look and hand-made charm of the original metal stencil.

Hand lettering on the packaging for an Arrow "Commander" Staple Remover seen in an online auction is the inspiration for the unusual and angular typeface comprising Staple Remover JNL. The Art Deco era of the 1930s and 1940s offers many wonderful examples of stylized and experimental lettering, and this, by far is one of the more eclectic styles of the time.

The typography on a 1964 children’s activity book published by Whitman entitled “Build with Stencils” was in a bold, condensed design. The only problem was that the ‘rails’ [the parts that divide a letter into stencil pieces] were too narrow and would disappear at smaller point sizes. Widening the ‘rails’ just a bit greatly improved the appearance of the stencil characters. Play Day Stencil JNL is now available in both regular and oblique versions. In its day, the Whitman Publishing Company of Racine, Wisconsin published dozens of activity books for children, including a number of them with stencils. The company was a division of Western Publishers from the early 1900s through the 1970s, but went through a number of sales and name changes. Currently [as Whitman once again] it is owned by Anderson Press, and is known for its line of coin folders and books on coin collecting.

This delightful dervish is based on handlettering from a 1928 poster for a steamship line by renowned British artist Austin Cooper. It’s essentially a monocase font, with the exception of the letter A, which twirls in one direction in uppercase, and the opposite direction in lowercase. This font contains the complete Latin language character set (Unicode 1252) plus support for Central European (Unicode 1250) languages as well.

Browsing online auctions and other webs sites often unearths wonderful examples of lettering from the past. A perfect example is Ritz Stencil JNL, modeled after a page from a 1930s-era lettering book. Although this font has similar characteristics to other better-known designs, there are enough unique differences to let it stand on its own as a great example of the Art Deco era.

This font provides a typical set of characters for the ancient Nabataean language, used in what is now Jordan and adjoining regions during the period of the Roman Empire, based on lapidary letter-forms of the first century of the present era. It includes a full set of alphabetic characters as well as the ancient numeral forms, with ligatures and variant shapes for some numerals.

A group of unique metal plates with stencil initials cut into them was spotted while browsing through online auctions for source material. What made these items even more interesting was how some of the stencil letters had been sectionally divided - not vertically or horizontally as in most stencils, but lines cut at angles. This is the basis for Steel Stencil JNL and Steel Stencil Oblique JNL.

Utica JNL takes the basic components of Boat Decals JNL and reworks the characters into a bold, block font with thick-and-thin line variations.

An image spotted in an online auction online of a 1940 Milton Bradley child's activity set consisting of wooden letters formed the basis for School Activities JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions. Although the basic characters feature chamfered corners, the nature of bending the steel rule dies to form the letters to be cut from the wood provided rounded edges as well, creating their unique look.

Eckhardt Poster Board JNL further continues Jeff Levine's series of sign painter-oriented fonts, named in honor of his good friend Albert Eckhardt, Jr. (who ran Allied signs in Miami, Florida from 1959 until his passing). The typeface is a casual brush style, modeled from an image of a do-it-yourself sign making kit comprised of stencils, paint and brush spotted for sale through an online auction.