This typeface was inspired strongly by one of Ernhardt Ratdolt’s (1442-1528?) many beautiful typefaces. Mr. Ratdolt was a printer from the city of Augsburg, who had also worked for several years as a printer in Venice. He made many advances in printing technique and technology, including the decorated title page. Early books have a mysterious rhythm to the appearance of the text, due to small variances in letters caused by casting irregularities and ink transfer from the press. This supposed defect, which is present in this typeface, gives a pleasing effect when compared to the sterile regularity of modern printing technology. This font has been released as version 2.0 with over two hundred additional characters and improved metrics.

Will Ransom designed the uppercase letters in this typeface for Barnhart Brothers & Spindler in the 1920s, under the name Clearcut Shaded Caps. The lowercase letters come from another BB&S typeface named Clearcut Italic. An elegant headline face, best used sparingly, the font includes decorative flourishes in the brace, bracket and en dash positions.

Greyton Script is the work of South African designer Gerhard Schwekendiek, who is known for his script lettering and logos. This copperplate script face looks almost ribbon-like, a feeling accentuated by the letters' fine inline. Greyton Script is perfect for eye-catching headlines or personal invitations and greetings.

Beata is a delicate, attenuated design with elegant proportions, modeled on the fifteenth-century inscription by Bernardo Rossellino for the Tomb of Beata Villana in Santa Maria Novella, in Florence. The font, consisting of caps and small caps, was designed by Garrett Boge and Paul Shaw in 1997. Beata is part of the LetterPerfect Florentine Set.

A 1905 poster for the Austrian National Highway by artist Gustav Jahn inspired the letterforms for this typeface. In the spirit of comity, Barnhart Brothers & Spindler's Publicity Gothic Initial Caps inspired the uppercase treatment. Both versions of this font contain the Unicode 1252 (Latin) and Unicode 1250 (Central European) character sets, with localization for Romanian and Moldovan.

Will Ransom designed the exemplar for this series for Barnhart Brothers & Spindler in the early 1900s. The typeface was originally named "Parsons", after the advertising director of a Chicago department store (evidently a very BIG customer of BB&S). Both versions of this font contain the Unicode 1252 (Latin) and Unicode 1250 (Central European) character sets, with localization for Romanian and Moldovan.

This assertively Art Deco face is based on Cubist Bold, designed by John W. Zimmerman for Barnhart Brothers & Spindler in 1929, and takes its name from one of the co-founders—with Pablo Picasso—of the Cubist Movement. Both versions of this font contain the complete Unicode 1252 (Latin) and Unicode 1250 (Central European) character sets, with localization for Romanian and Moldovan.

An offering from Barnhart Brothers & Spindler’s Catalog No. 9 from 1907, with the rather prosaic name of "Lining Gothic No. 71", inspired this non-nonsense and surprisingly ageless face. As versatile as it is simple, this typeface is a stylish choice for heads and subheads. Both versions of the font include 1252 Latin, 1250 CE (with localization for Romanian and Moldovan).

This engaging antique text face is based on Paragon Light, from the 1905 specimen book from Barnhart Brothers & Spindler. Although it is spaced and kerned for text work, it also is suited for headlines if you tighten the tracking. Both versions of this font contain complete Unicode 1252 (Latin) and Unicode 1250 (Central European) character sets, with localization for Romanian and Moldovan.

A charming series of 26 holiday “type warmers” based on the works of Carl S. Junge for the Barnhart Brothers & Spindler type foundry in the 1920s. Single-color cuts are in the uppercase positions, while 13 of the cuts suitable for two-color usage occupy the lowercase in adjacent pairs; e.g., a and b, c and d, and so on.

If you wanted to send out a party invitation in 1923, Barnhart Brothers & Spindler recommended this typeface, which was originally called, simply, "Greeting Card". It also appears to be suitable for greetings from Mars. Available in two weights, regular and bold. Both versions of the font include the 1252 Latin and 1250 CE character sets (with localization for Romanian and Moldovan).

The 1905 Barnhart Brothers & Spindler catalog featured an ultrawide face called "French Antique Extended". The letterforms have been faithfully rendered here, but this font’s kerning calls for a lot of overlapping and interlocking that the original cast-metal face wouldn't have been able to duplicate. Both versions of the font include 1252 Latin, 1250 CE (with localization for Romanian and Moldovan).

This handwritten font was brought to our attention by one of our customers. Tom Bernard Anyz had offered his handwriting font at dafont.com, a free-font portal for private customers where Toms Handwritten is enjoying great popularity. We liked the design at first glance – it is so innocent and sketch-like, similar to a quick note or message. We reworked and completed Toms Handwritten for professional usage. Apart from the already available Latin character set for West and East, we also added Greek and Cyrillic.

In researching historic decorative material offered by Lanston Monotype as well as other metal foundries such as Barnhart Brothers and Spindler, there were occasionally ornaments that defied description. Perhaps it was a Victorian sense of humor or someone really thought these were a good idea or perhaps popular taste has just changed so much over the last hundred years, or our forbearers were completely insane. In any case, LTC is somewhat proud to present a collection of the most bizarre, disturbing and baffling printers ornaments we could find. Along with mutant fowl-children and frolicsome amphibians, there are also Masonic and other secret fraternal symbols that may not be creepy to everyone, but just enough to be moderately disturbing.