TWT Prospero is the kind of typeface you seldom find in blocks of continuous text these days. Similar fonts based on late-18th-century work by Bodoni, the Didots, and others tend to be reserved for display type: their exaggerated contrast and vanishing hairlines can make you squint and strain at small sizes. But TWT Prospero, with its moderate contrast and fairly robust hairlines, is impressively legible in book text while remaining ideal for use in display situations. The full family has seven styles: roman, italic, bold, bold italic, condensed roman, condensed italic, and condensed bold.

Petrarka may be described as a Condensed, Sans-Serif, Semi-Fatface Roman. Huh? Bear with me on this. The Fatface is a name given to the popular nineteenth-century romans that where characterized by an extremity of contrast between the thick and thin stroke. The earliest example that is generally familiar is Thorowgood, believed to have been designed by Robert Thorne and released by Thorowgood Foundry in 1820 as "Five-line Pica No. 5." Copied by many foundries, it became one of the more popular advertising types of the day. Later, in the period from about 1890 to 1950, you find a number of typeface designs with the thin stroke beefed up a bit, not quite so extreme. What you might call Semi-Fatfaced Romans begin to replace the extreme Fatfaces. Serifed designs like Bauer’s Bernard Roman Extra Bold and ATF’s Bold Antique appear. In addition, we see the development of semi-fatface lineals or Sans-Serif Semi-Fatfaces. Examples include Britannic (Stephenson Blake), Chambord Bold (Olive), Koloss (Ludwig & Mayer), Matthews (ATF) and Radiant Heavy (Ludlow). Petrarka has much in common with this latter group, but is distinguished by two salient features: it is condensed and it shows a strong blackletter influence, as seen in the ‘H’ particularly. Petrark was released about 1900 by the German foundry of Schelter & Giesecke of Leipzig and is one of the designs of the period that attempts to reconcile roman and blackletter traditions. Making a cameo appearance in this Multi-Lingual font is the Anglo-Saxon letter yogh (#729), which, along with the thorn and the eth, is always useful for preparing flyers in Old English. There are still pockets of resistance to the Norman French influence that washed up on England’s shores in 1066. This font stands with King Canute, seeking to hold back the tide (ignoring the fact that Canute was a Dane). Support the fight to preserve Anglo-Saxon culture. Buy Petrarka ML today. Petrarka Initials brings together the Petrarka upper case letters with a very sympatico Art Nouveau rendering of a female face.

Linotype Mateo is part of the Take Type Library, which features the winners of Linotype’s International Digital Type Design Contest from 1994 to 1997. Jürgen Ellenberger included three styles in his font, roman, bold and outline. The characters of Mateo consist exclusively of lines, giving the font an extremely angular look. However, Mateo retains a certain handwritten style somewhat reminiscent of the graffiti left on wooden grade school desks by previous classes. The bold and outline styles have emphasized stroke contrasts but keep the angular, consciously irregular look. The roman style is best for smaller texts and the bold and outlines styles for headlines.

Stefano is a meld of traditional Roman typeface design and calligraphic hand lettering. It is bold yet refined; elegant yet forceful. Stefano will enhance the urbane and elevate the prosaic.