Diotima was designed by Gudrun Zapf von Hesse in 1948, the italic even earlier, in 1939. Diotima is a festive font particularly well-suited to invitations, programs and poems. The delicate italic draws attention to text which should be emphasized. Zapf von Hesse’s Ariadne Initials and Smaragd are perfect complements to Diotima.

Umbra was designed by R. Hunter Middleton for the Ludlow Corporation in 1935. This is a three-dimensional typeface, unique in that the main character shape is defined only by its shadow. It was originally designed to be a second-color drop-shadow for the typeface Tempo, but stands alone as an unusual display face.

The first slab serif fonts appeared at the beginning of industrialization in Great Britain in 1820. Clarendon and Ionic became the names for this new development in England, known as English Egyptienne elsewhere in Europe. Clarendon is also the name of a particular font of this style, which, thanks to its clear, objective and timeless forms, never lost its contemporary feel. In small point sizes Clarendon is still a legible font and in larger print, its individual style attracts attention.

Introduced by the font foundry C.E. Weber in 1951 and 1955, Delphin was designed by Georg Trump and cut by Egon Graf. Its lower case letters have a handwritten feel which contrasts nicely with the straighter, relatively small capitals. Delphin has a lyric character particularly suited for poetic texts.

John Baskerville (1706-1775) was an accomplished writing master and printer from Birmingham, England. He was the designer of several types, punchcut by John Handy, which are the basis for the fonts that bear the name Baskerville today. The excellent quality of his printing influenced such famous printers as Didot in France and Bodoni in Italy. Though he was known internationally as an innovator of technique and style, his high standards for paper and ink quality made it difficult for him to compete with local commercial printers. However, his fellow Englishmen imitated his types, and in 1768, Isaac Moore punchcut a version of Baskerville's letterforms for the Fry Foundry. Baskerville produced a masterpiece folio Bible for Cambridge University, and today, his types are considered to be fine representations of eighteenth century rationalism and neoclassicism. Legible and eminently dignified, Baskerville makes an excellent text typeface; and its sharp, high-contrast forms make it suitable for elegant advertising pieces as well. The Linotype portfolio offers many versions of this design: ITC New Baskerville® was designed by John Quaranda in 1978. Baskerville Cyrillic was designed by the Linotype Design Studio. Baskerville Greek was designed by Matthew Carter in 1978. Baskerville™ Classico was designed by Franko Luin in 1995."

Kaufmann font was designed in 1936 for the American Type Founders by Max R. Kaufmann, a letterer, typographer, and one-time art director for McCalls magazine. Kaufmann is a connecting script typeface with a smooth, slightly whimsical look. Its monoweight is unusual in a script type but allows for a nice texture on the page when it is combined with sans serif text type. The bold Kaufmann is fine display type.

The origins of the font Versailles go back to the 19th century in France when, with the introduction of lithography, alphabets could contain freer forms. The basic forms are Modern Face with triangular serifs. The direct influence for Versailles was the writing on the back of the memorial to Charles Garnier, the architect of the Paris Opera. Versailles is a classic font for advertisements, perfect for shorter texts and titles/headlines and it makes an impression of elegance and strength.

Linotype Beluga is a part of the Take Type Library, winners of Linotype’s International Digital Type Design Contest. The font was designed by Hans-Jürgen Ellenberger to suggest the writing of the Middle Ages but without any specific models from that time. A distinguishing characteristic of the font is its pointed, effusive serifs, which give Beluga its feel of the Middle Ages or of mysticism. In spite of its dynamic character, Beluga is legible even in smaller point sizes, which makes it equally good for headlines as for shorter texts. Beluga combines well with sans serif, slab serif and constructed fonts.

With the name Helvetica (Latin for Swiss), this font has the objective and functional style which was associated with Swiss typography in the 1950s and 1960s. It is perfect for international correspondence: no ornament, no emotion, just clear presentation of information. Helvetica is still one of the best selling sans-serif fonts.

Opinion varies regarding the role of Claude Garamond (ca. 1480–1561) in the development of the Old Face font Garamond. What is accepted is the influence this font had on other typeface developments from the time of its creation to the present. Garamond, or Garamont, is related to the alphabet of Claude Garamond (1480–1561) as well as to the work of Jean Jannon (1580–1635 or 1658), much of which was attributed to Garamond. In comparison to the earlier Italian font forms, Garamond has finer serif and a generally more elegant image. The Garamond of Jean Jannon was introduced at the Paris World’s Fair in 1900 as Original Garamond, whereafter many font foundries began to cast similar types. The famous Stempel Garamond interpretation of the 1920s remains true to the original Garamond font with its typical Old Face characteristics. The bold italic was a modern addition at the end of the 1920s and the small caps provided an alternative to the standard capital letters. In the mid 1980s, a light version was added to Stempel Garamond. Since its appearance, Stempel Garamond has been one of the most frequently used text fonts.

Koch Antiqua is based on forms of old Roman writings, chiseled in marble thousands of years ago. This contemporary version is more playful and reminiscent of the Roaring 20s.

In 1931, The Times of London commissioned a new text type design from Stanley Morison and the Monotype Corporation, after Morison had written an article criticizing The Times for being badly printed and typographically behind the times. The new design was supervised by Stanley Morison and drawn by Victor Lardent, an artist from the advertising department of The Times. Morison used an older typeface, Plantin, as the basis for his design, but made revisions for legibility and economy of space (always important concerns for newspapers). As the old type used by the newspaper had been called Times Old Roman," Morison's revision became "Times New Roman." The Times of London debuted the new typeface in October 1932, and after one year the design was released for commercial sale. The Linotype version, called simply "Times," was optimized for line-casting technology, though the differences in the basic design are subtle. The typeface was very successful for the Times of London, which used a higher grade of newsprint than most newspapers. The better, whiter paper enhanced the new typeface's high degree of contrast and sharp serifs, and created a sparkling, modern look. In 1972, Walter Tracy designed Times Europa for The Times of London. This was a sturdier version, and it was needed to hold up to the newest demands of newspaper printing: faster presses and cheaper paper. In the United States, the Times font family has enjoyed popularity as a magazine and book type since the 1940s. Times continues to be very popular around the world because of its versatility and readability. And because it is a standard font on most computers and digital printers, it has become universally familiar as the office workhorse. Times™, Times™ Europa, and Times New Roman™ are sure bets for proposals, annual reports, office correspondence, magazines, and newspapers. Linotype offers many versions of this font: Times™ is the universal version of Times, used formerly as the matrices for the Linotype hot metal line-casting machines. The basic four weights of roman, italic, bold and bold italic are standard fonts on most printers. There are also small caps, Old style Figures, phonetic characters, and Central European characters. Times™ Ten is the version specially designed for smaller text (12 point and below); its characters are wider and the hairlines are a little stronger. Times Ten has many weights for Latin typography, as well as several weights for Central European, Cyrillic, and Greek typesetting. Times™ Eighteen is the headline version, ideal for point sizes of 18 and larger. The characters are subtly condensed and the hairlines are finer. Times™ Europa is the Walter Tracy re-design of 1972, its sturdier characters and open counterspaces maintain readability in rougher printing conditions. Times New Roman™ is the historic font version first drawn by Victor Lardent and Stanley Morison for the Monotype hot metal caster."

This book and newspaper font was designed by Francesco Simoncini in 1958. After the Second World War brought type design to a standstill, the years of reconstruction meant a reconsideration of old values in the typographical world as well as in Europe in general. Aster is the result of this movement, displaying instead of Modern Face influence, a tendency toward Transitional characteristics and giving text a light feel.

Designed by Wilhelm C. Pischner, Neuzeit-Grotesk first appeared in 1928 with the font foundry D. Stempel AG. In 1966, Neuzeit S was introduced by Linotype-Hell AG, intended for large bodies of text and predecessor of Siemens corporate design. Neuzeit S is timeless, combining strength of form and objectivity and legible even on inferior papers.

Trump Mediaeval is an Old Face font developed by Georg Trump between 1954 and 1962. All cuts have both normal and old style numbers and their robust characters make them suitable even for inferior paper. Light and legible, the open forms of the lower case letters allow this font to be legible in text with as small a point size as 5.