Zootype –the first original single font– was designed in 1997 by Victor Garcia of Argentina and as a winner of Linotype's Second International Type Design Contest is included in the TakeType Library. The three additional family styles –Zootype Air, Zootype Land, Zootype Water– were added in 1999. In the words of the designer, the design concept is meant to display the funny, happy joy of animal nature.’ Animal heads peek into the block forms of the letters, giving the font a unique whimsical character.

The eText fonts from the Monotype Baskerville have been specially tuned by our type design experts for a better on screen readability for instance in PDFs.

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.

Monotype Modern, the first typeface produced by Lanston Monotype, was released in 1896, the same year the company introduced its hot metal typeseting machine. It is a Victorian variation on the vertically stressed, high-contrast Bodoni model.

Cut by Monotype between 1900 and 1902, the Monotype Modern font family was based on Miller & Richards News 23 and 28; slightly condensed news text types of the 1890s. Monotype Modern is a lively typeface, with long, fine hairlines and well rounded letterforms, representing the best of nineteenth century modern face design. A classic text face, and typical of the moderns that were produced in the United Kingdom at that time, being less extreme in its rendering than some of the models of purer form being produced elsewhere. Monotype Modern is an excellent text face for magazines, newspapers and books, the heavier and more condensed versions are useful in headlines and display.

Monotype Lightline Gothic is a thin sans serif face cut by American Type Founders to work with Franklin Gothic, which had been designed as a bold face. The rather condensed nature of the Monotype Lightline Gothic font has made it popular for advertising display and newspaper work.

Similar in design to Franklin Gothic, News Gothic was one of a number of sans serif faces manufactured by American Type Founders in the early years of the twentieth century. Initially cut as a light sans, heavier versions were made in the 1940s and 50s along with some condensed weights. The News Gothic font family offers an uncomplicated design that is well suited for use in newspapers and magazines for headlines and in advertisements.

The first Clarendon was introduced in 1845 by R. Besley & Co, The Fan Street Foundry, as a general purpose bold for use in conjunction with other faces in works such as dictionaries. In some respects, Clarendon can be regarded as a refined version of the Egyptian style and as such can be used for text settings, although headline and display work is more usual.

Originally designed for American Type Founders, Goudy drew inspiration from the classical old style faces for Goudy Old Style. Round characters have a strong diagonal stress, ascenders are fairly long but descenders are very short. Goudy bold was introduced in 1920; this was designed by Morris Fuller Benton. This typeface has been particularly popular in America where it is extensively used in advertising, book jackets, for labels and packaging.

Clearface Gothic first appeared in 1910, designed by Morris Fuller Benton, the world-famously prolific typeface artist. In addition to Clearface Gothic, Benton also designed classics like Franklin Gothic, Century Expanded, and many other types. Clearface Gothic is a sans serif face with light forms displaying the Zeitgeist of the turn of the 20th century. Distinguishing characteristics are the open forms of the a" and "c," the arched "k," and the upward-tilting horizontal stroke of the "e." The relatively narrow typeface, with its open inner white spaces, is extremely legible even in small point sizes. There is no accompanying italic."

First cut by Lanston Monotype, the Goudy Modern font family was based on designs used by French engravers during the eighteenth century. Although called a modern it possesses a number of old style characteristics. Capitals are much shorter than the ascenders, serifs are fully bracketed and round shapes have a slight stress. The overall weight of Monotype Goudy Modern is on the heavy side, giving good emphasis in display sizes but it is not too heavy for use in text.

Monotype Century Schoolbook is another member of the Century family based on the Century Expanded typeface. The Monotype Century Schoolbook family was designed to fulfill the need for a solid, legible face for printing schoolbooks. It is wider and heavier than Century Expanded, there is also less contrast between thick and thin strokes. First cut by Monotype in 1934 and based on versions from ATF and Lanston Monotype, the sturdy nature of Monotype Century Schoolbook, coupled with its inherent legibility, has made it a popular choice for setting books, newspapers and magazines.

Monotype Old Style is a nineteenth century update of Caslon Old Face with characteristics of the moderns built in. Monotype Old Style was recut by Monotype in 1901 from a Stephenson Blake & Company version. The design originated at the Miller and Richard foundry in 1860. In some respects it can be seen as transitional between old style and modern, but the spirit of the old styles predominates. By the turn of the century it had become a successful rival to the moderns. The Monotype Old Style font family is an attractive design which gives a light, airy feel to text.

The Century Old Style family was modeled on Century Expanded, which had been cut in 1900. Similar weights and proportions were maintained, but the letter shapes were made more elegant by the introduction of a number of old style characteristics. The Century Old Style family is a useful text design that offers good legibility and economy.

Please Note: as this is a picture-only font, there are no latin alpha/numeric glyphs. Each wood type manufacturer had their own selection of original Logotypes or Catchwords designs. These are taken right from the original source material, an extremely rare 1910 catalog of an English wood type maker called Day & Collins in London. As the name says it, these words are intended to attract attention, to spice up posters, packaging or advertisement designs. I made these available for the digital age, leaving the original texture of printed wood type at the highest detail possible.

Old English is a digital font that was produced by Monotype's design staff, circa 1990. But its roots go much further back: the face's design is based on that of Caslon Black, a Blackletter type cast by the venerable William Caslon foundry in England, circa 1760. This design has been popular throughout England for centuries. Its style of lettering, conveniently also called Old English, can be found all over the UK. Old English-style typefaces belong to the Blackletter category. They nicely combine the design attributes of both the medieval and Victorian eras. This is mostly because their Textura forms, which were born during the Middle Ages, became quite fashionable again in the late 1800s! This Old English font is very legible for a Blackletter face. Perhaps that is why it is more familiar to readers in the UK and North American than German Blackletter varieties, like Fraktur. A favorite once again today, Old English is ideal for certificates, diplomas, or any application which calls for the look of stateliness and authority. It's a sturdy and sure bet for newspaper banners, holiday greeting cards, and wedding announcements.

Italian Old Style™ was designed by Frederic W. Goudy for the Lanston Monotype Company in the USA. Goudy was asked by Monotype to copy Cloister Oldstyle, a successful font that belonged to a competing foundry (it was designed by Morris Fuller Benton, see Cloister Open Face). Goudy refused on grounds of ethics, and instead talked Monotype into producing a new face. This he based freely on fifteenth century Venetian types, which were the same historical models used by Benton for Cloister and later by Bruce Rogers for Centaur. Goudy's result was Italian Old Style, released by Monotype in 1924, and considered by many to be one of Goudy's best fonts for book typography."

Similar in design to Franklin Gothic, News Gothic was one of a number of sans serif faces manufactured by American Type Founders in the early years of the twentieth century. Initially cut as a light sans, heavier versions were made in the 1940s and 50s along with some condensed weights. The News Gothic font family offers an uncomplicated design that is well suited for use in newspapers and magazines for headlines and in advertisements.

The rather wide, caps-only Monotype Engravers family imitates scripts that evolved from copperplate and steel plate engravers hands of the nineteenth century, which were a quite expressive medium! Monotype Engravers' letters show a strong contrast between thick and thin strokes and have sharply cut serifs. In 1899, Robert Wiebking (who worked for a number of foundries in his time) designed an all-caps typeface named Engravers Roman."" Shortly thereafter, American Type Founders, Inc. (ATF) released another successful ancestor of this design in 1902, ""Engravers Bold,"" designed by Morris Fuller Benton. Engravers Bold was also released by the Barnhart Brothes & Spinder foundry. Also made available by Lanston Monotype at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Engravers faces soon became a popular choice for letter heads, advertising and stationery.

Neographic is one of the first fototype fonts that had been designed by Robert Barbour and produced from the Monotype UK office for the Photolettering machine

This font was designed as an experiment in simplfying the Blackletter. We never showed it in the Solotype catalog, so it didn't get much use.

One of the many Solotype experiments in developing fonts with an ethnic flavor, this one is a bit less obvious than most. The lowercase seems to work well.

Othello's dense graphic demeanor delivers a straightforward, no-nonsense message. This versatile revival has a direct, experiential quality that suggests action and the outdoors. Originally released by Monotype in 1928, Othello was offered as competition to Rudolf Koch's Neuland typeface. This new digital version includes a wide variety of previously unavailable characters. Small caps, alternate letters, ligatures, and special joined logotype" characters add to the versatility of this powerful communications tool. These many letter variants create new possibilities for headlines and short text blocks in advertisements, signage, and packaging, suggesting the immediacy of woodcuts or hand-drawn lettering."

This stylish lightface was designed by Bernd Nadall for Barnhart Bros. & Spindler as a caps-only font in 1895. The lowercase was added at Solotype a hundred years later, resulting in a font quite at home in modern advertising.