Type specimens are time capsules of typographic history. There is no substitute for seeing them in person, but you can now use a web browser to track the evolution of type design through the pages of over three hundred manufacturer catalogs from the sixteenth through the twentieth centuries. For years, I accessed these books via an unwieldy pile of bookmarks, downloads, and repetitive searches. As far as I know, there is no central register of digitized type specimens. This database attempts to fill that gap.
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Notes:
Years are often estimates. Type catalogs seldom included dates, and some bound together specimen pages printed over various years.
A few of the catalogs are published by printers or type distributors, not foundries. A future update will label these notable exceptions.
This database lists major catalogs showing a broad range of a foundry’s offerings. For specimens of individual typefaces, see Fonts In Use.
Header image: Letterform Archive
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