The building of the Northern Bank of St. Petersburg's Baku branch was built in 1903-1905. It was the first Art Nouveau-style building in Baku, Azerbaijan. Later the bank was transformed into the Russian-Asian Bank. After the oil boom in Baku in the 19th century, branches of many banks and new banks were opened in the city. The branch of the Northern Bank of St. Petersburg was among the first banks that was opened in Baku. N.Bayev was the architect of the building for the branch of the Northern Bank of St. Petersburg located at Gorchakovskaya 3 in 1903-1905. The building currently houses the Central Branch of the International Bank of Azerbaijan. My purpose in writing this is not to copy and paste the information from Wikipedia. What attracted me to the building was the word "Банкъ" (Bank) written in Cyrillic letters, which was also used in Azerbaijan during the Soviet era. The exact date of the writing is not known. Every time I pass by this building, I always thought of creating a font of this writing someday. I had taken a photo of the building and saved it on my phone. I did a lot of research on the font and asked a lot of people. However, some did not provide information at all and some said they did not have any information. I was interested in the history of this font but I do not know if this font really existed or it was created by the architect out of nowhere. If there was such a history of this font, I wanted to recreate this font and make it available. If not, I had to create it from scratch in the same way, using only existing letters on the building. Finally, I made up my mind and decided to develop the font with all letters I have got. It was difficult to create a font based on the word, Банкъ. Because in the appearance of the letters, the midline of the letters on A, H, K was very distinct, both in the form of inclination and in more precise degrees. The serif part of the letters, the height of the upper and lower sides, differed from each other. I don't know whether it was done this way when the building was constructed or it happened over time. I prepared and kept the initial version of the font. I took a break for a while. I started digging on the story of the font again. Meanwhile, I was researching and got inspired by similar fonts. Unfortunately, my research on the font's history did not yield any results. I decided to continue finishing up the font. After developing the demo, I created the font by keeping certain parts of these differences in the letters. In addition, I had to consider the development of letters in the Cyrillic, as well as the Latin alphabet, over the past period. Thus, I began to look at the appearance of slab-serif or serif fonts of that time. In general, as I gain more experience in developing fonts, I try to focus on the precision of the design for each font. In recent years, I specifically paid attention to this matter. YouTube channel and articles by Alexandra K.'s of ParaType, as well as, information and samples from TypeType and Fontfabric studios on the Cyrillic alphabet were quite useful. I gathered data regarding the Latin alphabet from various credible sources. I do not know if I could accomplish what I aimed at but I know one thing that I could develop the font. Maybe someday I'll have to revise this font. For now, I share it with you. I created the font in 10 styles. 7 weight from Thin to Extra Black, an Outline, Shadow, and Art Nouveau. The Art Nouveau style was inspired by the texture in the background used for the text on the building. The texture I applied to capital letters adds beauty to the font. If you like the font feel free to use it or simply let me know if your current alphabet doesn't support this font.

TA Bankslab graphic presentation at Behance The building of the Northern Bank of St. Petersburg's Baku branch was built in 1903-1905. It was the first Art Nouveau-style building in Baku, Azerbaijan. Later the bank was transformed into the Russian-Asian Bank. After the oil boom in Baku in the 19th century, branches of many banks and new banks were opened in the city. The branch of the Northern Bank of St. Petersburg was among the first banks that was opened in Baku. N.Bayev was the architect of the building for the branch of the Northern Bank of St. Petersburg located at Gorchakovskaya 3 in 1903-1905. The building currently houses the Central Branch of the International Bank of Azerbaijan. My purpose in writing this is not to copy and paste the information from Wikipedia. What attracted me to the building was the word "Банкъ" (Bank) written in Cyrillic letters, which was also used in Azerbaijan during the Soviet era. The exact date of the writing is not known. Every time I pass by this building, I always thought of creating a font of this writing someday. I had taken a photo of the building and saved it on my phone. I did a lot of research on the font and asked a lot of people. However, some did not provide information at all and some said they did not have any information. I was interested in the history of this font but I do not know if this font really existed or it was created by the architect out of nowhere. If there was such a history of this font, I wanted to recreate this font and make it available. If not, I had to create it from scratch in the same way, using only existing letters on the building. Finally, I made up my mind and decided to develop the font with all letters I have got. It was difficult to create a font based on the word, Банкъ. Because in the appearance of the letters, the midline of the letters on A, H, K was very distinct, both in the form of inclination and in more precise degrees. The serif part of the letters, the height of the upper and lower sides, differed from each other. I don't know whether it was done this way when the building was constructed or it happened over time. I prepared and kept the initial version of the font. I took a break for a while. I started digging on the story of the font again. Meanwhile, I was researching and got inspired by similar fonts. Unfortunately, my research on the font's history did not yield any results. I decided to continue finishing up the font. After developing the demo, I created the font by keeping certain parts of these differences in the letters. In addition, I had to consider the development of letters in the Cyrillic, as well as the Latin alphabet, over the past period. Thus, I began to look at the appearance of slab-serif or serif fonts of that time. In general, as I gain more experience in developing fonts, I try to focus on the precision of the design for each font. In recent years, I specifically paid attention to this matter. YouTube channel and articles by Alexandra K.'s of ParaType, as well as, information and samples from TypeType and Fontfabric studios on the Cyrillic alphabet were quite useful. I gathered data regarding the Latin alphabet from various credible sources. I do not know if I could accomplish what I aimed at but I know one thing that I could develop the font. Maybe someday I'll have to revise this font. For now, I share it with you. I created the font in 10 styles. 7 weight from Thin to Extra Black, an Outline, Shadow, and Art Nouveau. The Art Nouveau style was inspired by the texture in the background used for the text on the building. The texture I applied to capital letters adds beauty to the font. If you like the font feel free to use it or simply let me know if your current alphabet doesn't support this font.

Mavblis fonts have playful and fancy look, which may recall that seen in fifties ads. The look, which is quite bold may well allow for using this font in titles, packaging, or catchphrases. There are also some ligatures and alternates encoded, so you are not stuck with one look in case you require to add some variety to your text. There are over 900 characters in each font, and many languages are served.

Quill-formed roman/gothic with an olde-worlde flavor. Some background in the designer's own words: "A series of fonts came to mind which would be rooted in the medieval era -for me, a period of intense interest. Prior to Gutenberg's development of commercial printing with type on paper in the mid-1400s, books were still being written out by hand, on vellum. At that time, a Bible cost more than a common workman could hope to earn in his entire lifetime. Men like William Tyndale devoted their energies to translating the Scriptures for the benefit of ordinary people in their own language, and were burned to death at the stake for doing so. Those in authority correctly recognized a terminal threat to the fabric of feudal society, which revolved around the church. "This religious metamorphosis was reflected in letterforms: which, like buildings, reflect the mood of the period in which they take shape. The medieval era produced the Gothic cathedrals; their strong vertical emphasis was expressive of the vertical relationship then existing between man and God. The rich tracery to be seen in the interstices and vaulted ceilings typified the complex social dynamics of feudalism. Parallels could be clearly seen in Gothic type, with its vertical strokes and decorated capitals. Taken as a whole, Gothicism represented a mystical approach to life, filled with symbolism and imagery. To the common man, letters and words were like other sacred icons: too high for his own understanding, but belonging to God, and worthy of respect. "Roman type, soon adopted in preference to Gothic by contemporary printer-publishers (whose primary market was the scholarly class) represented a more democratic, urbane approach to life, where the words were merely the vehicle for the idea, and letters merely a necessary convenience for making words. The common man could read, consider and debate what was printed, without having the least reverence for the image. In fact, the less the medium interfered with the message, the better. The most successful typefaces were like the Roman legions of old; machine-like in their ordered functionality and anonymity. Meanwhile, Gutenberg's Gothic letterform, in which the greatest technological revolution of history had first been clothed, soon became relegated to a Germanic anachronism, limited to a declining sphere of influence. "An interesting Bible in my possession dating from 1610 perfectly illustrates this duality of function and form. The text is set in Gothic black-letter type, while the side-notes appear in Roman. Thus the complex pattern of the text retains the mystical, sacred quality of the hand-scripted manuscript (often rendered in Latin, which a cleric would read aloud to others), while the clear, open side-notes are designed to supplement a personal Bible study. "Tyndale is one of a series of fonts in process which explore the transition between Gothic and Roman forms. The hybrid letters have more of the idiosyncrasies of the pen (and thus, the human hand) about them, rather than the anonymity imbued by the engraving machine. They are an attempt to achieve the mystery and wonder of the Gothic era while retaining the legibility and clarity best revealed in the Roman form. "Reformers such as Tyndale were consumed with a passion to make the gospel available and understood to the masses of pilgrims who, in search of a religious experience, thronged into the soaring, gilded cathedrals. Centuries later, our need for communion with God remains the same, in spite of all our technology and sophistication. How can our finite minds, our human logic, comprehend the transcendent mystery of God's great sacrifice, his love beyond understanding? Tyndale suffered martyrdom that the Bible, through the medium of printing, might be brought to our hands, our hearts and our minds. It is a privilege for me to dedicate my typeface in his memory."

This design is characterized by its futuristic and modern aesthetic. The clean lines and minimalist approach create a sleek and sophisticated look, while the unique touches and use of the MGN Debris font give it a bold and edgy vibe. It is a perfect example of how a modern design can also be unique and innovative, with elements that set it apart from traditional designs. This style is perfect for businesses and organizations that want to convey a sense of innovation and cutting-edge technology. The MGN Debris font used in this design adds to its modern and futuristic feel. The font is bold and sharp, with a unique style that makes it stand out. It complements the overall design perfectly and adds to the edgy and unique vibe. This font is perfect for businesses and organizations that want to convey a sense of innovation and forward-thinking, and it pairs well with modern designs. Overall, this design is a great example of how a modern and futuristic style can be unique and captivating, with the use of the MGN Debris font adding an extra element of boldness and edge.

Crow Bait is an incredibly elegant, bold and vintage display font. This font reads as strong, confident, and dynamic and can add tons of nostalgic character to your designs.

Slinces Heart is a captivating script font that captures the essence of handwriting with a touch of romance. Each letter in this font is meticulously crafted with fairly high line contrast, adding a dynamic and eye-catching quality to the font. The swinging endings in Slinces Heart add a flourish of creativity and uniqueness. With its smooth and flowing letterforms, this font offers a natural and seamless writing style. For the best legibility you can use this font in the bigger text sizes.

Nixed is a cool and daring display font. Add it to your posters, headlines, banners, or anything that requires strong and modern typography.

Zamaica is a thin and modern display font. Add it to your most creative ideas and notice how it makes them come alive!

Basilica is a calligraphic typeface that will add style and grace to short copy. Use the Basilica font for poetry, menus and stationery.

It took me a long time, but I think I now understand why people of my generation and older feel the need to frame current events in an historical context or precedents, while most of the young couldn't care less about what happened ten years ago, let alone centuries back. After living for a few decades, you get to a point when time seems to be moving quite fast, and it’s humbling to see that your entire existence so far can be summed up in a paragraph or two which may or may not be useful to whoever ends up reading the stuff anyhow. I suppose one way to cope with the serenity of aging is trying to convince yourself that your life and work are really an extension of millenia of a species striving to accept, adapt to, and improve the human condition through advancing the many facets of civilization -- basically making things more understandable and comfortable for ourselves and each other while we go about doing whatever it is we are trying to do. And when you do finally convince yourself of that, history becomes a source of much solace and even a little premonition, so you end up spending more time there. Going far back into the history of what I do, one can easily see that for the most part it was ruled by the quill. Western civilization’s writing was done with quill pens for more than thirteen centuries and with newer instruments for about two. By the mid-18th century, the height of the quill experience, various calligraphy techniques could be discerned and writing styles were arranged in distinct categories. There are many old books that showcase the history of it all. I recommend looking at some whenever the urge comes calling and you have to get away from backlit worlds. Multiple sources usually help me get a better perspective on the range of a specific script genre, so many books served as reference to this quill font of mine. Late 17th century French and Spanish professional calligraphy guides were great aides in understanding the ornamental scope of what the scribes were doing back then. The French books, with their showings of the Ronde, Bâtarde and Coulée alphabets, were the ones I referenced the most. So I decided to name the font Auberge, a French word for hotel or inn, because I really felt like a guest in different French locales (and times) when I going through all that stuff. Because it is multi-sourced, Auberge does not strictly fit in a distinct quill pen category. Instead, it shows strong hints of both Bâtarde and Coulée alphabets. And like most of my fonts, it is an exercise in going overboard with alternates, swashes, and ornamental devices. Having worked with it for a while, I find it most suitable for display calligraphic setting in general, but it works especially well for things like wine labels and event invitations. It also shines in the original quill pen application purpose, which of course was stationery. Also, as it just occurred to me, if you find yourself in a situation where you have to describe your entire life in 50 words or less, you may as well make it look good and swashy, so Auberge would probably be a good fit there as well. This is one quill script that no large bird had to die for. A few technical notes The Auberge Script Pro version includes 1800 glyphs, everything is included there. Also latin language support. We recommend you to use the latest design application to have full access to alternates, swashes, small caps, ornaments, etc. The images from the gallery uses this version. For better results use the fonts with “liga” feature on. Awards During 2014 the early develop of Auberge Script was chosen to be part of Tipos Latinos, the most important type exhibition in South America.

Tender and elegant hand writing font, expanded to add air to your text.

Introducing La storia - a fine tip signature font. Beautiful monoline signature, looking so classy and natural. There are 2 version, - Regular - Bold La storia is perfect for branding, photography, invitations, quotes, watermarks, advertisements, product designs, labels, and more that needs a natural sign feel. Includes number-punctuations and multilingual support. I created 89 ligatures to keep this font looks natural. at ct dt et ft gt ht it jt kt lt mt nt ot qt rt st tt ut vt wt xt zt an in un en on ar ir ur er or aa ant int unt ent ont att itt utt ett ott ii ee oo uu ff rr ss xx zz ll adl idl udl edl odl ald ild uld eld old art irt urt ert ort fl fh fb jl Fr Gr Hr Ir Kr Mr Nr Or Pr Tr Ur Vr Wr Dr space-r Titling and Ending Swash - Quick Access Add underscore 2x before or after a lowercase (you can see this on the presentation posters). For example a_ _ or _ _a Swash Lines make this font complete. Add underscore 2x before numbers from 1 to 9, you'll get 9 variations of swash line (as shown in the posters). For example _ _1 Thank You so Much!

SK Nomerok is an elegant geometric font with a minimalistic design. A unique pattern of symbols in a compartment with a strict classical design creates a strong and reliable structure, ideal for modern design. The sharp and angular letters of SK Nomerok are easy to read both on the screen and when printing. The geometric elements of the font are complemented with unique details, which adds to its originality and attractiveness. This font is perfect for branding, headlines and decorative text, adding modernity to any project. The font is multilingual and supports both extended Latin and Cyrillic character set.

Zayne is a fresh, urban and unique handwritten script font that includes ligatures and swashes. With its funky, elegant, and handmade feel, it will add uniqueness to your creative designs.

Meet Hollyhock, a modern and messy calligraphy font with wild, tall letterforms that refuse to be tamed. Inspired by calligraphy the breaks the rules and hollyhocks that grow rebelliously where they please. This font includes two full sets of capital letters… a set that is tall, energetic, and wild as well as a set a bit more tame and subdued. Open type features in this font include contextual alternates, fractions, ordinals, discretionary ligatures, and swashes. Use contextual alternates to add subtle swashes to the beginnings and ends of your letters. Use your open type swashes panel to use the many and various doodles, swirls, and swashes to manually add flare and flavor to your text. Or, install the separate Hollyhock Ornaments font to access the swashes and doodles more easily. Most Diacritics included for various language support. Message me if there’s one you're not sure is included. This font works best in OpenType aware software (ie. Adobe Applications) so that you can take advantage of its many features. Comes as two .otf (OpenType font) files. See this tutorial for more on how to add the various swashes and doodles to this font! http://angiemakes.com/add-swashes-fonts-photoshop/

Let Kinder Stone add a pop of personality to your designs! This fun and whimsical font is like a playful friend. Its rounded, bubbly letters give it a friendly and approachable feel, while its cartoon-like appearance adds a touch of humor and playfulness. Use Kinder Stone to create logos, posters, and other designs that need a dash of personality and fun. Features : Uppercase & lowercase Numbers and punctuation Alternates & Ligatures Multilingual PUA encoded We highly recommend using a program that supports OpenType features and Glyphs panels like many of Adobe apps and Corel Draw, so you can see and access all Glyph variations.

"Magic Bounce" is a cute display font with three unique layers: regular, inner shadow, and outer shadow. This font is designed to add a playful and charming touch to your designs. The regular layer provides a delightful and whimsical appearance, while the inner and outer shadow layers add depth and dimension, giving your text a bouncing and magical effect. With its versatile layers, "Magic Bounce" is perfect for creating eye-catching headlines, posters, invitations, and other designs that need a touch of fun and enchantment. Embrace the magic of creativity with this delightful and versatile display font.

Salt&Spices Mono is the mono lined version of Salt & Spices Pro. Where Salt & Spices Pro has the rough contours and high contrast that is typical for dip pen calligraphy, Salt & Spices Mono has clean crisp smooth letterforms that result in a totally different look and feel. Great for creating neon effects. Fun features like connecting spaces and long swashes for customization of words and phrases are preserved in Salt & Spices Mono. This versatile 10 font family, consisting of 4 casual script styles: Regular, Bold, Shadow and Bold Shadow offers great flexibility. For instance: the appearance of initial and terminal letters can be customized using the glyph pallet. Contextual alternates, Swashes and Stylistic sets give you the ability to replace spaces by 3 alternate connecting spaces or add swashes to initial/terminal letters. Double letter ligatures help sustain the natural flow of handwriting. In addition to the 4 script styles 3 SmallCaps Sans styles and 3 SmallCaps Serif styles were added, all mono lined. They add great variation to your designs and supplement and support each other perfectly. Add exceptional language support to all that and you have the perfect ingredient to spice up even the most demanding design project. You'll need an Open Type savvy application to get the most out of Salt & Spices Mono.

This rough and angsty font is perfect to add a punk edge to any project. It's asymmetrical and handwritten for the authentically angsty font.

Dinila is a fashionable and quirky handwritten font with a unique style. It will add an authentic and personal touch to any design project!

Looking to add a touch of fun and friendliness to your design? Look no further than Living Legend! This playful font is perfect for any project that needs a light-hearted feel. With its casual style, this font is easy to read and will add a fun flair and a strong impact to your work. So what’s included : Basic Latin Uppercase and Lowercase Numbers, symbols, and punctuations Multilingual Support. PUA Encoded and fully accessible without additional design software Simple Installations works on PC & Mac Thank You.

Olis is a stylish, fresh new handwritten script. Olis comes with two weights, numerals, punctuations, and some variations on character including OpenType alternates, and common ligatures. It helps set your designs apart by adding a custom-lettered look. You will also find that its initial and terminal letters can enhance your designs in new and creative ways. Hand-drawn leaves, plants, flowers, as well as large and small snowflakes add original detail while complementing the font perfectly. If you like this font you might also like an aesthetic text generator by the same author.

Empera is a fearless athletic font family with six creative styles for added flexibility and variation. It's perfect for sports logos, branding, posters, apparel design with it's bold and confident appearance. The upper- and lowercase vintage characters come with different renders to add authenticity and a more natural worn look. Empera features a full Adobe Latin 1 character set, with support for most western languages including: Afrikaans, Basque, Breton, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Gaelic, German, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Sami, Spanish, Swahili and Swedish.

Take a classic wood type design, add some white panels to parts of the letters and numbers and you end up with Partial Eclipse JNL, a novelty display font that adds a clean, yet unique look to your digital or print project. A little experimentation can go a long way!

Report School is a geometric sans-serif typeface that was inspired by student handwriting practice worksheets. But don’t worry, it’s not just a copy of those worksheets. Report School is designed to be easily readable, with legible letterforms that make it perfect for use in educational materials. You might be wondering what makes Report School different from other school-oriented geometric sans-serif typefaces. Well, for starters, it’s designed with readability in mind. While other typefaces might prioritize pure geometry, Report School puts legibility first. That means that when you use Report School, your readers will have an easier time reading your text. And speaking of easier reading, Report School has some features that are designed to make things even more legible. For example, instead of using straight quotes for inches, feet, or degrees, you can use primes. And Report School has regular primes, double primes, and triple primes, so you can choose the right one for your needs. Plus, the numerals in Report School are tabular, which means they’re vertically aligned for easier math equation alignment. But that’s not all! If you’re using OpenType savvy applications like InDesign, Illustrator, or Photoshop, you can access even more features. For example, you can use the stylistic alternates feature to access the letters “I” and “J” with no serifs, as well as a straight lowercase “q”. And if you’re looking for something a little different, you can check out Report School’s rounded version, called Report, or a version with casual strokes, called Sweater School. If you’re looking for a typeface that’s easy to read, but still has some personality, look no further than Report School. It’s the perfect choice for any educational materials that need to be both legible and stylish. Most Latin-based European writing systems are supported, including the following languages. Afaan Oromo, Afar, Afrikaans, Albanian, Alsatian, Aromanian, Aymara, Bashkir (Latin), Basque, Belarusian (Latin), Bemba, Bikol, Bosnian, Breton, Cape Verdean, Creole, Catalan, Cebuano, Chamorro, Chavacano, Chichewa, Crimean Tatar (Latin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dawan, Dholuo, Dutch, English, Estonian, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Frisian, Friulian, Gagauz (Latin), Galician, Ganda, Genoese, German, Greenlandic, Guadeloupean Creole, Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Hiligaynon, Hungarian, Icelandic, Ilocano, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Jamaican, Kaqchikel, Karakalpak (Latin), Kashubian, Kikongo, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Kurdish (Latin), Latvian, Lithuanian, Lombard, Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, Maasai, Makhuwa, Malay, Maltese, Māori, Moldovan, Montenegrin, Ndebele, Neapolitan, Norwegian, Novial, Occitan, Ossetian (Latin), Papiamento, Piedmontese, Polish, Portuguese, Quechua, Rarotongan, Romanian, Romansh, Sami, Sango, Saramaccan, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian (Latin), Shona, Sicilian, Silesian, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Sorbian, Sotho, Spanish, Swahili, Swazi, Swedish, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tetum, Tongan, Tshiluba, Tsonga, Tswana, Tumbuka, Turkish, Turkmen (Latin), Tuvaluan, Uzbek (Latin), Venetian, Vepsian, Võro, Walloon, Waray-Waray, Wayuu, Welsh, Wolof, Xhosa, Yapese, Zapotec Zulu and Zuni.

Witch Monogram is a captivating duo font that effortlessly weaves the enchanting allure of witchcraft with the elegance of minimalism. This unique combination features a sophisticated witch monogram font, allowing you to infuse your designs with a touch of mystique, and a complementary minimal simple font for added versatility. From personalized monograms to chic branding and beyond, Witch Monogram adds a spellbinding element to your projects.

CA Cape Rock, first released in 2007 and now reissued and expanded, is an impressive display typeface. Designed with a fat Clarendon and wood type in mind, the typeface’s bold and distinctive forms add spice and personality to any design that requires a strong display aesthetic. CA Cape Rock is particularly enjoyable for use in headlines and ideal for highlighted text. With already two dozen existing ligatures and many OpenType swashes, the new edition also received letters for use in the Central European and South Eastern European area. Cleaned and harmonized paths, a completely new kerning as well as a newly added Italic (Slanted) style are also among the new features.

Solid Serif JNL adds tiny serifs to the letter forms of Parkitecture JNL and changes the look and feel into an Art Deco Roman face for display, titling and period pieces.

Both edgy and elegant, LD Genevieve—with its decorative plumes—adds unique flair to your scrapbook layouts, handmade greeting cards and other creative projects. Pair Lowercase and Uppercase to mix cases.

Manthesy is a flowing and elegant handwritten font, created with the help of a brush pen. Get inspired by its unique and beautiful style and add it to your favorite designs!

Heart Of Mine is a fun and cute handwritten font that allows you to add an adorable touch to your projects. This font is perfect for the Valentine's Day season, but also for any other time of the year when you want to add a little love and warmth to your writing. So what’s included : Basic Latin Uppercase and Lowercase Numbers, symbols, and punctuations Multilingual Support. Simple Installations works on PC & Mac

A gorgeous dry brush style that adds elegance and sophistication to your design creations.

A very sophisticated formal design; great for packaging fine adds and many other applications.

Compendium is a sequel to my Burgues font from 2007. Actually it is more like a prequel to Burgues. Before Louis Madarasz awed the American Southeast with his disciplined corners and wild hairlines, Platt Rogers Spencer, up in Ohio, had laid down a style all his own, a style that would eventually become the groundwork for the veering calligraphic method that was later defined and developed by Madarasz. After I wrote the above paragraph, I was so surprised by it, particularly by the first two sentences, that I stopped and had to think about it for a week. Why a sequel/prequel? Am I subconsciously joining the ranks of typeface-as-brand designers? Are the tools I build finally taking control of me? Am I having to resort to “milking it” now? Not exactly. Even though the current trend of extending older popular typefaces can play tricks with a type designer’s mind, and maybe even send him into strange directions of planning, my purpose is not the extension of something popular. My purpose is presenting a more comprehensive picture as I keep coming to terms with my obsession with 19th century American penmanship. Those who already know my work probably have an idea about how obsessive I can be about presenting a complete and detailed image of the past through today’s eyes. So it is not hard to understand my need to expand on the Burgues concept in order to reach a fuller picture of how American calligraphy evolved in the 19th century. Burgues was really all about Madarasz, so much so that it bypasses the genius of those who came before him. Compendium seeks to put Madarasz’s work in a better chronological perspective, to show the rounds that led to the sharps, so to speak. And it is nearly criminal to ignore Spencer’s work, simply because it had a much wider influence on the scope of calligraphy in general. While Madarasz’s work managed to survive only through a handful of his students, Spencer’s work was disseminated throughout America by his children after he died in 1867. The Spencer sons were taught by their father and were great calligraphers themselves. They would pass the elegant Spencerian method on to thousands of American penmen and sign painters. Though Compendium has a naturally more normalized, Spencerian flow, its elegance, expressiveness, movement and precision are no less adventurous than Burgues. Nearing 700 glyphs, its character set contains plenty of variation in each letter, and many ornaments for letter beginnings, endings, and some that can even serve to envelope entire words with swashy calligraphic wonder. Those who love to explore typefaces in detail will be rewarded, thanks to OpenType. I am so in love with the technology now that it’s becoming harder for me to let go of a typeface and call it finished. You probably have noticed by now that my fascination with old calligraphy has not excluded my being influenced by modern design trends. This booklet is an example of this fusion of influences. I am living 150 years after the Spencers, so different contextualization and usage perspectives are inevitable. Here the photography of Gonzalo Aguilar join the digital branchings of Compendium to form visuals that dance and wave like the arms of humanity have been doing since time eternal. I hope you like Compendium and find it useful. I'm all Spencered out for now, but at one point, for history’s sake, I will make this a trilogy. When the hairline-and-swash bug visits me again, you will be the first to know. The PDF specimen was designed with the wonderful photography of Gonzalo Aguilar from Mexico. Please download it here http://new.myfonts.com/artwork?id=47049&subdir=original

‘Thwaites’ typeface is fully dedicated to one of my best Canadian friends who I do cherish and value highly. This great and industrious Canadian friend is ‘James Douglas Thwaites’ who lives along with his good-natured family in British Columbia, Canada. For me, James is like a source of inspiration and I do consider him as an ideal in my life. Our strong friendship has started since 1999 and I hope that it will endure just to the last moment of my life. Sometimes I see him as the writer and poet that I learn a lot from, sometimes I see him as a devoted religious minister that I try to understand more about his teachings, and other times I see him as the educator that I strive to imitate verbatim in my life. When I want to talk more about this Canadian friend, I will not be able to give him his due in full. Thus, I will instead mention some excerpts of his biography that he wrote himself saying that: “James D. Thwaites is a self-accomplished man. Having worked in various fields including restaurant management and cleaning, he has achieved his goals of being a full-time teacher, past-time writer, and volunteer religious minister for the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. His personal and academic pursuits have led him to be published in various magazines, newspapers, self-published books, and websites, including his now defunct ‘poetryofthemonth.com’ website. He continues to learn and augment the craft of writing while working primarily in early literacy and delayed literacy learners, teaching reading and literature to a wide age range of students. He views his religious endeavors as an extension of his academic ones. He teaches others both as a public speaker and in one-on-one situations, teaching about the benefits of submission to God and to His teachings. His future goals include expanding his ministry and continuing his writing.” The name ‘Thwaites’ itself comes from Great Britain and originated from the last Viking raids upon England, being an Anglicized version of a Scandinavian term meaning—depending on the source material—either "a place that is difficult to approach" or "a small thicket of trees." Another recitation mentions that ‘Thwaites’ can be described also as an English surname but one of pre 7th century Norse-Viking origins. It may be either topographical or locational, and is derived from the word "thveit", meaning a clearing or farm. As a locational surname it originates from any one of the various places called "Thwaite", found in several parts of Northern England and East Anglia to the south. The various modern spelling forms include Thwaite, Thwaites, Thwaytes, Thoytes, Twaite, Twatt, Twaites, Tweats and Twite. The name, although often appearing unique to outsiders, can often be found within other famous names like Braithwaite, Goldthwaites, or Misslethwaites. With various spellings, some families not including the ‘e’ or the ‘s’ at the end, Thwaites and its derivations—although not exceedingly common—is a name found worldwide. ‘Thwaites’ typeface is simply a sans-serif streamlined, stylish, and versatile font. It is designed using a combination of thick and thin strokes for its +585 characters. Its character set supports nearly most of the Central, Eastern, and Western European languages using Latin scripts including the Irish language. The typeface is appropriate for any type of typographic and graphic designs in web, print, and other media. It is also absolutely preferable to be used in the wide fields related to publication, press, services, and production industries. It can create a very impressive impact when used in headlines, posters, titles, products’ surfaces, logos, medical packages, product and corporate branding, and also signage. It has also both of lining and old-style numerals which makes it more suitable for any printing or designing purposes. ‘Thwaites’ typeface is really the cannot-miss choice for anyone who wants to possess unique artistic and modern designs produced using this streamlined typeface.