Blackletter is the classic “German” printing type. Starting in the 16th century and lasting well into the 20th century, most works in Germany were printed using blackletter types. Today, blackletter fonts are mainly used decoratively. If you want to communicate a feeling of old-world quality or nostalgia, blackletter fonts are the preferred choice – use them on signs, in brochures or on invitation cards. Barock 1720 is a classic blackletter font of its epoch which inspires you to create vintage-looking designs with ease.

In the late medieval period appeared a "semi-cursive" writing, the French "écriture de civilité". Quickly, it is carved and melted down in lead for printing. It is a very elegant running font, with numerous variants, both final than initial characters, many of the accented small characters were present in the model I was inspired by, after “Fournier Le jeune ”, in his catalogue "Modèles des caractères de l'imprimerie et des autres choses nécessaires au dit art nouvellement gravés par Simon-Pierre Fournier le jeune" published in 1742 in Paris. A render sheet, included in the font file, makes all characters easy to identify on keyboard. This font, very attractive and decorative may be used for web-site titles, posters and flyer designs, editing ancient texts, labels, greeting cards... and anything you want! It supports as easily enlargement as small size, remaining elegant and pretty.

An historical font based on early 18th century printing, with the visual effect of uneven inking and indifferent presswork on handmade paper. Ideal for evoking the period. Effective in continuous text setting or in display sizes.

Rian Hughes’ 15th collection of fonts, “112 Hours”, is entirely dedicated to numbers. Culled from a myriad of sources – clock faces, tickets, watches house numbers – it is an eclectic and wide-ranging set. Each font contains only numerals and related punctuation – no letters. A new book has been designed by Hughes to show the collection, and includes sample settings, complete character sets, source material and an introduction. This is available print-to-order on Blurb in paperback and hardback: http://www.blurb.com/b/5539073-112-hours-hardback http://www.blurb.com/b/5539045-112-hours-paperback From the introduction: The idea for this, the fifteenth Device Fonts collection, began when I came across an online auction site dedicated to antique clocks. I was mesmerized by the inventive and bizarre numerals on their faces. Shorn of the need to extend the internal logic of a typeface through the entire alphabet, the designers of these treasures were free to explore interesting forms and shapes that would otherwise be denied them. Given this horological starting point, I decided to produce 12 fonts, each featuring just the numbers from 1 to 12 and, where appropriate, a small set of supporting characters — in most cases, the international currency symbols, a colon, full stop, hyphen, slash and the number sign. 10, 11 and 12 I opted to place in the capital A, B and C slots. Each font is shown in its entirety here. I soon passed 12, so the next logical finish line was 24. Like a typographic Jack Bauer, I soon passed that too -— the more I researched, the more I came across interesting and unique examples that insisted on digitization, or that inspired me to explore some new design direction. The sources broadened to include tickets, numbering machines, ecclesiastical brass plates and more. Though not derived from clock faces, I opted to keep the 1-12 conceit for consistency, which allowed me to design what are effectively numerical ligatures. I finally concluded one hundred fonts over my original estimate at 112. Even though it’s not strictly divisible by 12, the number has a certain symmetry, I reasoned, and was as good a place as any to round off the project. An overview reveals a broad range that nonetheless fall into several loose categories. There are fairly faithful revivals, only diverging from their source material to even out inconsistencies and regularize weighting or shape to make them more functional in a modern context; designs taken directly from the source material, preserving all the inky grit and character of the original; designs that are loosely based on a couple of numbers from the source material but diverge dramatically for reasons of improved aesthetics or mere whim; and entirely new designs with no historical precedent. As projects like this evolve (and, to be frank, get out of hand), they can take you in directions and to places you didn’t envisage when you first set out. Along the way, I corresponded with experts in railway livery, and now know about the history of cab side and smokebox plates; I travelled to the Musée de l’imprimerie in Nantes, France, to examine their numbering machines; I photographed house numbers in Paris, Florence, Venice, Amsterdam and here in the UK; I delved into my collection of tickets, passes and printed ephemera; I visited the Science Museum in London, the Royal Signals Museum in Dorset, and the Museum of London to source early adding machines, war-time telegraphs and post-war ration books. I photographed watches at Worthing Museum, weighing scales large enough to stand on in a Brick Lane pub, and digital station clocks at Baker Street tube station. I went to the London Under-ground archive at Acton Depot, where you can see all manner of vintage enamel signs and woodblock type; I photographed grocer’s stalls in East End street markets; I dug out old clocks I recalled from childhood at my parents’ place, examined old manual typewriters and cash tills, and crouched down with a torch to look at my electricity meter. I found out that Jane Fonda kicked a policeman, and unusually for someone with a lifelong aversion to sport, picked up some horse-racing jargon. I share some of that research here. In many cases I have not been slavish about staying close to the source material if I didn’t think it warranted it, so a close comparison will reveal differences. These changes could be made for aesthetic reasons, functional reasons (the originals didn’t need to be set in any combination, for example), or just reasons of personal taste. Where reference for the additional characters were not available — which was always the case with fonts derived from clock faces — I have endeavored to design them in a sympathetic style. I may even extend some of these to the full alphabet in the future. If I do, these number-only fonts could be considered as experimental design exercises: forays into form to probe interesting new graphic possibilities.

Giambattista Bodoni created this modern typeface in 1790 which served as the structural model for Sol Hess’s faithful rendition. Hess made necessary adjustments for mechanical typesetting on Lanston’s Monotype composition system. Remastered in 2006 by Paul Hunt.

The Bitstream version of Monotype Rockwell, 1934. Twentieth-century design influence is revealed in strokes of more even weight than in the original nineteenth-century Egyptians or Slab Serifs. Rockwell is a prime example of this twentieth-century approach. It seems to be a simple Constructivist geometric sans with strong square slab serifs added to. Angular terminals make its sturdy design particular sparkling. It is a strong face for headlines and posters, and is legible in very short text blocks. Cyrillic version was developed at ParaType in 2000 by Isay Slutsker and Manvel Shmavonyan.

This family was inspired from the set of fontfaces used by Francisco Del Hierro, to print in 1726 the first Spanish language Dictionary from the Spanish Royal Academy (Real Academia Española, Diccionario de Autoridades). These two Transitional styles are said to have been the first set of official typeface in Spain, like the French “Reale” (take a look at our "[/fonts/glc/1790-royal-printing/ 1790 Royale Printing)". In our two styles (Regular & Italic), fontfaces, kernings and spaces are as closely as possible the same as in the original. This Pro font is covering Western, Eastern and Central European, Baltic and Turkish languages, with standard and “s long” ligatures and twin letters in each of the two styles and a few Italic swashes inspired from the font used in 1746 by the same printer for another edition from the Royal Academy.

Isaac Newton, father of the theory of gravity, used several forms of handwriting in his life, in numerous texts about numerous scientific subjects. Here, we propose a handwritten font, using a particularly legible script form, coming from texts written in 1672, the year he presented a new reflecting telescope to the Royal Society. It is a Pro font containing Western, Eastern, Central and Northern European, Icelandic, Baltic, and Turkish diacritics. The alternates and ligatures allow the font to look as closely as possible to the real thing. The features allow OTF software to vary the characters of a word automatically, with no more work than selecting contextual alternates and standard ligatures.

This font, was created -- inspired from the original manuscript of the French revolutionary song “La Marseillaise”, becoming later the French national anthem, composed in one night (1792 April 25th) by the 32 year old French captain, Rouget de Lisle. It is a “Pro” font containing Western (including Celtic) and Northern European, Icelandic, Baltic, Eastern, Central European and Turkish diacritics. The numerous alternates and ligatures make the font look as close as possible to the real historic hand. Using an OTF software, the features allow variations of each character without anything to do but to select contextual alternates and standard ligatures and/or stylistic alternates options.

Linea 72 is a typical seventies display typeface that was designed by Roland Hirter back in the phototypesetting days, when typefaces were really drawn by hand. In this static environment each work step took its time. With the decision to digitize this typeface his son Thomas Hirter also chose to develop it further with todays technical possibilities. That’s why the font now includes over 600 glyphs and ten stylistic sets, offering different stylistic alternates of several letters. Linea 72 comes in the two original styles Regular and Kontur.

Begiko17 is a monoline typeface family which was designed to be a font of ease lecture with features in the rhythm and proportions of school writing. In addition to the standard characters, Begiko17 includes several useful mathematical characters. Its strength relies in the clarity, simplicity and harmony of its traces.

Designed as a typewriter face for IBM, Courier was redrawn by Adrian Frutiger for the IBM Selectric series. Courier is a typical fixed pitch design, monotone in weight and slab serif in concept. The Courier font is used to emulate typewriter output for reports, tabular work and technical documentation.

Limited to a single width for all characters and a rough image transferred through a ribbon to the paper, in 1953 Clayton Smith at IBM, Lexington, adapted the classical serifed letterform to this difficult medium to obtain a typewriter face of good readability and interesting texture.

It is highly recommended to use this font at 72pts or higher. GOONATIC 72 PLUS is intended to be used primarily for headlines. Enjoy!

Since the release of these fonts most typefaces in the Scangraphic Type Collection appear in two versions. One is designed specifically for headline typesetting (SH: Scangraphic Headline Types) and one specifically for text typesetting (SB Scangraphic Bodytypes). The most obvious differentiation can be found in the spacing. That of the Bodytypes is adjusted for readability. That of the Headline Types is decidedly more narrow in order to do justice to the requirements of headline typesetting. The kerning tables, as well, have been individualized for each of these type varieties. In addition to the adjustment of spacing, there are also adjustments in the design. For the Bodytypes, fine spaces were created which prevented the smear effect on acute angles in small typesizes. For a number of Bodytypes, hairlines and serifs were thickened or the whole typeface was adjusted to meet the optical requirements for setting type in small sizes. For the German lower-case diacritical marks, all Headline Types complements contain alternative integrated accents which allow the compact setting of lower-case headlines.

This font is a collection of simple calligraphic ornaments suitable for invitations, gift tags, and anything that can benifit from a "spoonful of sugar" visually.

Roger Roberson skillfully adapted the sanserif to the monospace IBM typewriter at Lexington, Kentucky, in 1956.

The Bitstream version of Letter Gothic designed by Roger Robertson in 1956-62 for IBM electric typewriter. It is a condensed, monospaced font resembling a typewriter face, suitable for tabular material. Primarily used for slide presentations and for word processing applications, Letter Gothic is very helpful for printing out software source listing, for informal office communications and for tabular charts where alignment of columns is important. Besides, being a clear and easy-to-read font, Letter Gothic is popular now for display and advertising matters. Cyrillic version was developed for ParaType in 2000 by Gayaneh Bagdasaryan.

The Vtg Stencil series of fonts from astype are based on real world stencils. All styles offering an extended Latin character set. » pdf specimen «

Schnorr is a family of three fonts drawn by a German designer, Peter Schnorr. Schnorr Dekorativ is one of the less frequently seen of the alphabets he designed and one of the few for which he designed as lower case. Like many of the alphabets of the period, Schnorr Dekorativ is a delicate design. To provide a little more presence, we have added a DEMIBOLD version. Included in both Schnorr Dekorativ and Schnorr Demibold are an ornament of Schnorr’s design, seven T-ligatures and an alternate lower case t. 123=Ta, 125=Te, 135=Th, 137=Ornament, 167=Ti, 172=To, 188=Tr, 190=Tu and 177=alternate t. Schnorr’s design for the lower case t is unusual and not readily recognized. The alternate may be used to improve readability. Schnorr Initialen was designed as an upper case only design and as such is quite popular. It is often seen under the name of Odessa. Our font is a fresh scan and is paired with our Schnorr Demibold to provide a compatible lower case, along with all the rest of the auxiliary characters. Schnorr Initialen includes all the extras supplied with Schnorr Dekorativ and Schnorr Demibold: 123=Ta, 125=Te, 135=Th, 137=Ornament, 167=Ti, 172=To, 188=Tr, 190=Tu and 177=alternate t. In addition, Schnorr Initialen also includes an alternate uppercase I (172) and five lotus ornaments (123, 125, 167, 188 and 190).

Gradl Highstep is an archetypical Art Nouveau face by the prolific and mysterious Max Joseph Gradl. It epitomizes the visual language of elegance and sophistication. It seems strange that so little information is available today about Max Gradl: He seems to have been well known in his day. In addition to his jewelry design, he did advertising work for customers in Naples, London and New York in addition to customers in cities all over Germany. Gradl Highstep is an all-cap font with a wide range of ligatures: 094=SA, 123=CH, 125=CK, 126=TS, 167=FA, 172=PA, 177=TA, 188=WA and 190=YA. In addtion, 137=Gradl’s dated monogram “MJG 1903,” 175=LLC abbreviation, 181=alternate S. This is a subtle font with thin, variable strokes. It is best used at 28 points and larger to give it the presence it needs to be be appreciated. Gradl Highstep Initials is a companion font, incorporating a deft line drawing of a fashionable woman of the period who is every bit as elegant as the underlying font.

Bursts is a collection of 174 round burst , seal, flower and sun designs. Bursts Two is a collection of 174 round burst, seal, star and snowflake designs. Bursts Three is a collection of 174 round burst , seal, flower and sun designs. Bursts Four is a collection of 174 round burst , seal, flower, fireworks and sun designs.

Larisch is a hand-lettered design by the Austrian calligrapher and teacher, Rudolf von Larisch. The original was used for the title page of the 1903 edition of Beispiele Kunstlerischer Schrift (Examples of Artistic Writing). Larisch is an attractive, casual set of caps of even strokes with rounded terminals. Except for the terminals, it is similar in style to Kunstler Grotesk. The numerals are lining or ranging figures, meaning they line up with the baseline, unlike old-style text figures. All are of equal width for setting up columns of numbers. The letters are well formed and easy to read, as you would expect from a writing master. Ligatures includes CH (123), CK (125), FT (135), LA (137), LO (167), OO (172), CO (177) and TT (181. An alternative O with underscore is provided at position 111. Friendly, but not fancy -- a very useful all-cap font.

Patent Reclame manages to be light-hearted, while clearly showing its blackletter roots both in the shape of the individual letters and the rhythm of text on a page. The designer is unknown. Schriftgeisserei Flinsch of Frankfurt a.M. cast the face around 1895. Nicolete Gray shows a quite similar face called “Graphic,” from Stephenson Blake in 1896. Personally, I don't think that Patent Reclame looks like an English design, but I do not have any proof one way or the other. The numbers are proportional, intended for posters, not spreadsheets. Two ornaments are included, an art nouveau rose at #172 and a lilypad with long tendril at #177. Great for invitations, posters and flyers announcing fun events. Do not use for obituaries. Quite readable in smaller sizes for short blocks of text. I really like the buoyant quality -- a nice combination of discipline and enthusiasm.

Rules is a collection of 174 geometric and shape rule designs including all flips and flops. Rules Two is a collection of 174 underlined geometric and shape rule designs including all flips and flops. Rules Three is a collection of 174 loop rule designs including all flips and flops. Rules Four is a collection of 174 classic and scotch rule designs including all flips and flops.

A true north font of 152 characters, inspired by the black metal culture but more readable. UPPERCASE 
lowercase 
Numerals 
Punctuation 152 characters

Birds is a collection of 174 raptors, woodland birds, farm birds, designs. Birds Two is a collection of 174 wetland birds, tropical birds, and arctic bird designs.