Over the course of 50 years, the charismatic and enterprising Frederic W. Goudy designed more than 100 typefaces; he was the American master of type design in the first half of the twentieth century. Goudy Old Style, designed for American Type Founders in 1915-1916, is the best known of his designs, and forms the basis for a large family of variants. Goudy said he was initially inspired by the cap lettering on a Renaissance painting, but most of the flavor of this design reflects Goudy's own individualistic style. Recognizable Goudy-isms include the upward pointing ear of the g, the diamond-shaped dots over the i and j, and the roundish upward swelling of the horizontal strokes at the base of the E and L. The italic was completed by Goudy in 1918, and is notable for its minimal slope. Goudy Bold (1916-1919) and Goudy Extra Bold (1927) were drawn not by Goudy, but by Morris Fuller Benton, who was ATF's skillful in-house designer. Goudy Catalogue was drawn by Benton in 1919-1921 and was meant to be a medium weight of Goudy Old Style. Goudy Heavyface was designed by Goudy for Monotype in 1925, and was intended to be a rival to the successful Cooper Black. Goudy Modern was designed by Goudy in 1918; its small x-height, tall ascenders and shorter caps impart a spacious and elegant feeling. Benton designed Goudy Handtooled, the shaded version that has just a hairline of white through its bold strokes. The Goudy faces, especially the bolder weights, have long been popular for display and advertising design. They continue to pop up all over the world, and still look reassuring to our modern eyes."

ITC Cheltenham font in its present form is the work of designer Tony Stan. Originally designed by architect Bertram Goodhue, it was expanded by Morris Fuller Benton and completed by Stan in 1975 with a larger x-height and improved italic details. ITC Cheltenham font is an example of an up-to-date yet classic typeface. In 1993 Ed Benguiat added the Handtooled weights to this family. ITC Cheltenham® font field guide including best practices, font pairings and alternatives.

This series of faces was designed initially by Morris Fuller Benton, circa 1900. The design is a refinement of Taylor Gothic from 1897. It features a sans serif thick and thin design with angular stems. Pre-dating art deco, this design feels quaint, yet it still has a touch of modernism. Frederic Goudy designed a bold version of Globe Gothic in 1905 for ATF. The Bold and Bold Italic digital versions have been added to the LTC library in early 2007.

Aptifer Sans and Aptifer Slab are two 21st century typeface families created by Mårten Thavenius. Each family has seven weights, in roman and italic respectively, making 28 font styles in total. A heritage from two design traditions can be seen in Aptifer. One is the robust American gothic typefaces, like M. F. Benton’s, from around 1900. This is combined with the openness and legibility that comes from the humanist tradition. The sans serif part of the family, Aptifer Sans, is designed without excessive details disturbing the reading. Its sibling Aptifer Slab with its wedge slab serifs is more eye-catching but still suited for text settings. The italics fit well into the text flow of the roman. They are a bit narrower than the roman and have cursive characteristics. Both Aptifer Sans and Aptifer Slab are highly legible typefaces and can be used both in print and on screen. Featured in: Best Fonts for PowerPoints

A Bitstream version of News Gothic that was created by Morris Fuller Benton for American Typefounders and first appeared in 1908. There is the standard American sanserif of the first two thirds of the twentieth century with narrow proportions and a large x-height. Despite, or perhaps because of, the font’s unconventional relationships in proportion and form, News Gothic has long been a popular typeface for almost any use. Cyrillic version developed for ParaType in 2005 by Dmitry Kirsanov. Greek extension designed by Dmitry Kirsanov in 2009.

Franklin Gothic was designed between 1903 and 1912 by Morris Fuller Benton for the American Type Founders Company. The font serves as the American Grotesk prototype. It was named after Benjamin Franklin. Even today, Franklin Gothic remains one of the most widely used sans serif typefaces. The robust character of the font gives text a modern feel. It is widely used in newspapers and advertising and is frequently seen in posters, placards and other material where space is restricted. Featured in: Best Fonts for Tattoos

Supreme decorative typeface, with wedged display serifs.

Mix Stitch, is an embroidery lesson disguised as a font, fit for handmade and DIY themed projects. Can be used to emulate embroidery in images, or as a guide to teach kids how to write. So many uses for this fun font, I don't even know where to begin.

It is a cute headline font with straight strokes and rounded ends, giving it a rice cake feel. The initial and final consonants 'ㄹ' were designed differently to give a fun sense of rhythm, and the straight strokes and lively curves added personality to the writing. It contains Hangul, Korean.

Linotext was designed by Morris Fuller Benton in 1901 and first appeared with the name Wedding Text with American Type Founders in Jersey City, where its metal forms were cut by hand. The font was so popular that its forms soon began appearing with other font foundries under different names, Elite Kanzlei with D. Stempel AG, Comtesse with C.F. Rühl, etc. Its ornamental forms are not considered very legible by today’s standards and Linotext should therefore be used for headlines and short texts in point sizes 12 or larger.

The Souvenir typeface was originally drawn by Morris Fuller Benton in 1914 as a single weight for the American Type Founders company. It was revived in 1967 by Photo-Lettering and optimized for phototypesetting equipment. ITC was formed in 1971 and, with the help of Photo-Lettering, introduced ITC Souvenir as one of its first font families. ITC Souvenir was designed by Ed Benguiat and comes in four weights, each with a matching italic. In 1983, Ned Bunnel's ITC Souvenir Monospaced was released; this is a monospace version of ITC Souvenir.

By 1915, all the major foundries offered families of sans serifs, sometimes called Gothic in the USA. Franklin was a response suitable for countries in the vanguard of the machine age. Designed by Morris Benton in 1903-1912, Franklin has preserved its own personality ever since. The ITC Franklin Gothic font family is a redrawing by ITC that keeps the original strength intact, meeting the demand for a strong typeface. ITC Franklin Gothic is better read in display sizes and considered a standard in the newspaper and advertising fields.

Commercial Script is a sophisticated copperplate script design. Its capitals are elaborate initials, and the lowercase letters join together in the style of real handwriting. Commercial Script's elegant refinement makes it a classic and ever-popular typeface. The spark behind this typeface comes from centries-old English Spencerian copperplate calligraphy. In 1985, the American typefoundry Barnhart Brothers & Spindler released a typeface in this style. This was redesigned by ATF's Morris Fuller Benton in 1906, and ATF released Commercial Script" in 1908. In 1994, Letraset' released this digital version of the typeface."

Academy was designed circa 1910 at the Berthold type foundry (St.-Petersburg). It was based on Sorbonne (H. Berthold, Berlin, 1905), which represented the American Type Founders rework Cheltenham of 1896 (designers Bertram G. Goodhue, Morris F. Benton) and Russian typefaces of the mid-18th century. A low-contrast text typeface with historical flavor. The modern digital version was designed at Poligrafmash type design bureau in 1989 by Lyubov Kuznetsova. Corrections and additions were done later in ParaType in early 2000th. Reworked version with Bold Italic style was released in 2009.

A rather narrow and compact design, Monotype Clearface combines both old style and antique characteristics. The lowercase letters are tall, the ascenders and descenders quite short. The intention was to produce a typeface that was easy to read in small sizes, hence the name. Monotype Clearface Bold was first cut for mechanical composition in 1922, and was based on the Clearface Gothic design created by Morris Fuller Benton for ATF in 1910. Although designed as a text face, Monotype Clearface is now more commonly used in advertising and display work.

Commercial Script is a sophisticated copperplate script design. Its capitals are elaborate initials, and the lowercase letters join together in the style of real handwriting. Commercial Script's elegant refinement makes it a classic and ever-popular typeface. The spark behind this typeface comes from centries-old English Spencerian copperplate calligraphy. In 1985, the American typefoundry Barnhart Brothers & Spindler released a typeface in this style. This was redesigned by ATF's Morris Fuller Benton in 1906, and ATF released Commercial Script" in 1908. In 1994, Letraset' released this digital version of the typeface."

In 1899, Robert Wiebking (who worked for a number of foundries in his time) designed an all-caps typeface named Engravers Roman (see Engravers #2). American Type Founders, Inc. (ATF) released a heavier variant in 1902, Engravers Bold, designed by Morris Fuller Benton. Engravers Bold was also released by the Barnhart Brothes & Spinder foundry. Today, Linotype's Engravers brings turn-of-the-century elegance directly to your keyboard. Use the Engravers typeface on any formal piece -- from table cards, to menus, invitations, or advertising work. Engravers is similar to Copperplate Gothic, Sackers Gothic and Nicolas Cochin.

Originally designed by American type designer Morris Fuller Benton in 1933, Agency Gothic is a wonderful, narrow, squarish art deco typeface. I was commissioned by Publish magazine to create digital versions of Agency Gothic Open and Agency Gothic Condensed for a redesign in 1990. Since then, I have added four other styles. Agency Gothic CT is uppercase only and supports most European languages that use the Latin or Cyrillic alphabets. The Agency Gothic CT family is available in six weights/styles: Light, Medium, Bold, Condensed, Inline, and Open.

Rapsed – Display Serif Font is a captivating work of typographic art that seamlessly merges the timeless grace of serifs with the contemporary edge of stencil-inspired elements and bold reversed contrast. It’s not just a font; it’s a visual narrative that demands attention and ignites curiosity. Imagine Rapsed as a rebellious poet among typefaces, infusing its letters with intrigue and a touch of avant-garde flair. Its unique stencil-inspired accents carve out an element of surprise, while the reversed contrast adds a modern twist. Choosing Rapsed is not merely a design decision; it’s a creative manifesto—an invitation to explore the uncharted territories of expressive typography. Visualize Rapsed on your posters, headlines, or branding materials. It’s the font that guarantees your message becomes a visual masterpiece, one that captures the essence of tradition and innovation in a harmonious dance. Rapsed is your creative accomplice, beckoning you to join the avant-garde and make a lasting impression that leaves audiences both intrigued and inspired.

The pattern for this elegant, if slightly quirky, Art Deco typeface was drawn by Gustav Jensen for the 1931 classic, American Alphabets. Perfect for suggesting the exotic, the font also includes several graphic elements in Jensen’s inimitable style. Both versions of the font include 1252 Latin, 1250 CE (with localization for Romanian and Moldovan).

Morris Fuller Benton's 1917 typeface named Invitation provided the pattern for this elegant and endearing face. Classic Engravers Roman style caps are exquisitely balanced with a sinewy lowercase, adding warmth and charm. All versions of this font include the Unicode 1250 Central European character set in addition to the standard Unicode 1252 Latin set.

Haggard is a wedge serifs typeface family of six styles. It stands out from the crowd with unique features like compact proportions of glyphs, sharp wedge serifs, small caps, and true italics. Haggard is a display font and can be used for editorial and print design.

Wedding Regular was originally designed by Morris Fuller Benton for ATF and released as Wedding Text in 1901. It is a lighter version of his ENGRAVER'S OLD ENGLISH of the same period. Wedding Regular is based on the Textura style of blackletter that continued in popularity in England into the 16th century, long after the Dutch, French and Italians had moved to a Roman model that expressed the Renaissance humanism of the period. Wedding Headline is a still lighter version of the regular text face, suitable for setting larger sizes while still preserving the delicacy of the decorative hairlines. Textura continues in use in England and the United States for newspaper mastheads, gift shop signs, wedding invitations and programs and other applications where a feeling of tradition is desired. I recently saw an 1980ish photo of a “Tubby Isaac” sign in London using textura. I believe Benton’s design captures that feeling without being heavy-handed and still remaining quite readable for eyes accustomed to Roman lettering. Both Wedding Regular and Wedding Headline convey a comfortable familiarity. These two fonts may be purchased together at an attractive discount or they may be purchased separately. The full character set may be found in the pdf file that you can download from the gallery section. The two monks (alt-0172 and alt-0177) are from a set of sixteenth century decorative initial letters by Gering and Renbolt. Please note that there are two different eszetts, the blackletter style at alt-0126 and the antiqua style at the alt-0223.