Norwich Aldine ML is a all-cap typeface with enlarged serifs, designed and produced in wood by William Hamilton Page of Norwich, Connecticut in 1872. Norwich Aldine ML is a fine example of the strength of decorative wood types: large, simple type forms that provide the visual boldness sought by advertisers of the Victorian period. While our marketing has gotten so very sophisticated, there is always a place for a simple, visually strong typeface. Although about 14 miles inland, Norwich, Connecticut lies at the head of the Thames River. The river is both wide and deep, and therefore was not bridged in the early 20th century. Until then, if you wanted to get from Groton on the west bank to the whaling port of New London on the east bank by land, you had to go by way of Norwich. Because of its size, the Thames is navigable all the way from Norwich to New London. Docks were built in Norwich around 1685 and the city became Connecticut’s 2nd largest port by 1800. With the construction of the Norwich & Worcester Railroad in 1835, Page could easily ship his wood type north by rail or south by coastal schooner. Included with our font, Norwich Aldine ML, are two 19th century printer’s ornaments of sailing ships similar to those that sailed up the Thames to Norwich. Reference: Moon’s Handbooks, Connecticut 2nd Edition (Emeryville CA 2004) The family has expanded from one to four fonts: 1. Norwich Aldine ML: the concept font, computer-sharp corners and smooth curves, as we imagine it was designed. 336 Glyphs including some reduced-width alternatives for better letter spacing. 2. Norwich Aldine Worn ML: the way actual wooden type would look after have been used for a while. 332 Glyphs 3. Norwich Aldine Distressed ML: the way the wooden type would look after it had really been used, perhaps abused. Alternatives to the more popular letters reflect the damage that typically occurs on a well-wormn font, with nicks, cuts and scratches and the overall wear that reduces the overall height and leads to uneven inking due to varying heights in the chase. A couple of bullets look like bullet holes. 345 glyphs. 4. Norwich Aldine Cyrillic: Cyrillic includes alll English and Cyrillic letters for MS Windows Code Page 1251, ISO 8859-5 and MacOS Cyrillic. 235 glyphs. We did Cyrillic because is was fun and we felt the basic design cried out for Cyrillic. While obviously subjective, we hope you will agree.

Woodmark JNL is a rough and somewhat irregular in letter form wood type based on some examples of William H. Page's "New Process No. 507". The eccentricity of the letters is reminiscent of many of the 1800's wood type designs, and is perfect for a rustic look within any retro project.

Fictionalism is carefully handcrafted slab serif, slightly condensed to fit lots of beautiful text wherever you need. It's handwritten, but neat as a pin; it's tidy, but has a lively character that grabs attention in a friendly way. Use it for branding, posters, text, or a million and one other design applications.

Boller is based on handwriting found on the blueprints for the Jayhawk Theater in Kansas. Thomas Williams & Boller Bros. Architects are the only names found on the blueprints. The character set is extremely limited and many of the missing characters are extrapolated from existing letters and symbols. Ideal and distinctive at large sizes.

Egyptian Ornamented is a decorative font based on the shapes found in a French Clarendon. Serifs are chunky and bifurcated, and “spurs” have been added to the strokes. This font emits the feeling of Old West wanted posters, rodeo broadsides, etc. It was first introduced by William H. Page & Company in 1870.

A well-designed bold art deco font. Very chunky. Uppercase, lowercase, numerals and punctuation. CastleType additions to the Koloss family include Koloss Bold Condensed and Koloss Bold Wave. The latter was used beautifully in the wonderful children's book The Leaf Men (and the Brave Good Bugs) written and illustrated by William Joyce.