Early Texas patriots had fascinating penmanship. In researching Texas Hero years ago, I had occasion to pore over copies of letters by the likes of Stephen F. Austin, William B. Travis, Thomas J. Rusk, and others. Austin's hand was pretty messy. Young, brave Travis wrote his last during the Alamo siege. Rusk's suited my original task. But a couple other styles caught my eye -- among them the bold yet graceful strokes of Sam Houston, the prototypical Texas Hero. Houston Pen has a complete character set.

French Stencil JNL was inspired by images of a set of metal stencils from France that were offered for sale in an online auction.

Online auctions offer a treasure trove of lost or forgotten merchandise, and many items pertaining to lettering just beg to be digitized into a typeface. Case in point is a partial set of brass stencils that were the visual model for Ultra Thin Stencil JNL. While most of the brass interlocking stencils available now and in the past have bold lettering for easy readability, this particular set consisted of condensed letters with thin lines. Available in both regular and oblique versions, they join a long list of stencil designs available from Jeff Levine Fonts.

Named for Antoine Augereau, teacher of Claude Garamond, this much admired rendition of the classic Garamond typeface was created by George Abrams and released in 1997.

Roman Wood Type JNL is based on a partial set of wood type in the style of Clarendon Condensed that was seen in an online auction.

Oil Barrel JNL is roughly based on lettering spotted in an online auction of custom brass stencils made for marking different petroleum grades on oil company barrels.