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Fonts In Use Bibliography

Printing Types of the World

London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., 1931

Buchdruckschriften im 20. Jahrhundert. Atlas zur Geschichte der Schrift ausgewählt und kommentiert von Philipp Bertheau unter Mitarbeit von Eva Hanebutt-Benz und Hans Reichardt

Darmstadt: Technische Hochschule Darmstadt, 1995.

Emotional Digital: A Sourcebook of Contemporary Typographics

Mainz: Verlag Hermann Schmidt, 1999.

FontBook: Digital Typeface Compendium

Fourth edition. Edited by Mai-Linh Thu Truong, Jürgen Siebert, and Erik Spiekermann. Programming by Andi Pieper and Ulf Wrede. Cross-references by Stephen Coles and Yves Peters. Berlin: FSI FontShop International, 2006.

Type 1: Digital Typeface Design

London: Laurence King, 2002. [Scan]

Monotype series numbers

North Yorkshire, UK: Effra Press & Typefoundry, 2020–Present.
https://www.effrapress.co.uk/monotype-series-numbers/

List of Monotype typefaces with series number, year of manufacture, and notes about the origin.

Nineteenth Century Ornamented Typefaces

London: Faber & Faber, 1976. Originally published as XIXth Century Ornamented Types & Title Pages in 1938 and reprinted in 1951.

See also the chart with additional information by the Type Heritage Project.

Encyclopedia of Typefaces

First Edition. Poole, UK: Blandford Press, 1953.
Second Edition (Revised & Enlarged), 1958.
Third Edition (Further Restyled & Enlarged), 1962.
Fourth Edition (Entirely Restyled & Greatly Enlarged), 1970. Reprinted 1983 [Scan] and 1986. First Paperback Edition 1990.
Fifth Edition. London: Cassell Illustrated, 2008.

Fraktur: Forum und Geschichte der gebrochenen Schriften

Mainz: Verlag Hermann Schmidt, 1993.

American Wood Type, 1828–1900: Notes on the Evolution of Decorated and Large Types

New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1969.

Nineteenth-Century American Designers and Engravers of Type

Edited by Alastair M. Johnston and Stephen O. Saxe. New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press, 2009.

Circuitous Root

Mineral Point, WI, 2008–Present. https://circuitousroot.com/artifice/letters/index.html

An A–Z of Type Designers

London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd, 2006.

American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century

Second, Revised Edition. New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Books, 1993. [Scan]

A.T.A. Type Comparison Book

Advertising Typographers Association of America, 1965.

Dutch Type

Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, 2004.

American Proprietary Typefaces

New York: American Printing History Association, 1998.

Schriften-Atlas

Eine Sammlung der wichtigsten Schreib- und Druckschriften aus alter und neuer Zeit, nebst Initialen, Monogrammen, Wappen, Landesfarben und heraldischen Motiven für die praktischen Zwecke des Kunstgewerbes. Stuttgart: Julius Hoffmann, 1889. [Scan of the first edition with 144 plates, 1889] [Scan of the second edition with 160 plates, 1894]

Printed in three editions [Kunstgewerbeblatt, Vol. 14. Leipzig: Seemann, 1903]. Not to be confused with the later Schriftenatlas. Neue Folge from 1903–1905.

Schriftenatlas. Neue Folge

Eine Sammlung von Alphabeten, Initialen & Monogrammen. Stuttgart: Julius Hoffmann, c. 1903–1905. [Photos (archived)] [Cover and selected pages]

A compendium of metal typefaces and initials, drawn alphabets, and lettering applications incl. monograms, signs, labels, etc. Published as a series of 16 installments, each with eight plates. The first two booklets were announced in 1903 [Kunstgewerbeblatt, Vol. 14. Leipzig: Seemann, 1903]. Not to be confused with the earlier Schriften-Atlas from 1889.

Treasury of Authentic Art Nouveau Alphabets, Decorative Initials, Monograms, Frames and Ornaments is a black-and-white reprint by Dover Publications, New York, 1984. [Google Books]

International Index of Hot-Metal Typefaces

Frankfurt am Main, 2011. https://www.klingspor-museum.de/Intl_Bleisatz_Index.html

A comprehensive catalog of metal typefaces (for manual and machine composition) known in the 20th century, including older designs. Merges info from Wetzig, Jaspert/Berry/Johnson, and McGrew, with additions from other sources.

Übersicht der internationalen Schriftdesigner

Oberneisen, c. 2001–Present. http://www.klingspor-museum.de/Kuenstler/Kuenstler_A.html

A list of type designers with links to background information in pdf format, researched and compiled by Hans Reichardt. Includes 12,203 designers as of April 2022.

Schriftenkartei

Wiesbaden: Arbeitsgemeinschaft der gra­phischen Verbände des deutschen Bundesgebietes e.V., Bundessparte Buchdruck, [1958]. Several updates until 1971. [Scans]

A set of 600+ index cards, produced in an effort to catalog all typefaces in production by West German foundries at the time (Bauersche Gießerei, H. Berthold AG, Genzsch & Heyse, Ludwig & Mayer, D. Stempel AG, Johannes Wagner GmbH, and C.E. Weber).

Art Nouveau Display Alphabets: 100 Complete Fonts

New York: Dover Publications, 1976.

Special Effects and Topical Alphabets: 100 Complete Fonts

New York: Dover Publications, 1978.

Solopedia: The Solotype Catalog of 4,147 Display Typefaces

Abfonts (alt.binaries.fonts), 2012–2015. http://abfonts.freehostia.com/solopedia/

A catalog of digital equivalents of typefaces shown in the Solotype Catalog of 4,147 Display Typefaces (1992) as well as in the various alphabet books authored by Dan X. Solo, the digital fonts from the CDs that came with the alphabet books, and fonts digitized by Solo from his collection of metal types. Includes many freebies and unauthorized digitizations of mixed quality. Doesn’t include information about the original designer or foundry.

The Type Heritage Project

Abington, PA, c. 2011–Present. https://history.typeheritage.com/

VdS-Kartei

Offenbach, 1905–1961. [Scan]

Card index of the Verein der Schriftgießereien, the association of German type foundries (1903–1972). Members registered new typefaces by sending a proof of the glyph set. Comprises more than 1,300 cards.

VGC Typefaces

Montreal: Luc Devroye, ?–Present. http://luc.devroye.org/vgc-typefaces.html

A list of typefaces by VGC. Started by Tim Ryan and later managed by Grant Hutchinson. With additions by Freddy Nader.

Type Design Developments: 1970 to 1985

Arlington, Virginia: National Composition Association, 1985.

Modern Encyclopedia of Typefaces 1960–90

London: Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd., 1990. [Scan]

Der Typograph Hermann Zapf: Eine Werkbiographie

Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2015.

Handbuch der Schriftarten: Eine Zusammenstellung der Schriften der Schriftgießereien deutscher Zunge nach Gattungen geordnet

Leipzig: Albrecht Seemann Verlag, [1926]. With seven addenda for the years 1927, 1929, 1930, 1931–32, 1933–35, 1936–37, and 1938–39. [Scan]

Compiled with the aim to index all typefaces (for manual and machine composition) that were available from manufacturers in German-speaking countries at the time.