Developed from a single letter ‘a’ drawn for Artone Ink at Push Pin Studios in 1964, hence often also referred to as Chwast Artone. Expanded into a full alphabet for the client and released by Photo-Lettering in the same year. [Steven Heller: Design Literacy] Their One Line catalog lists Chwast Art Tone plus 4 variations: Open A (outlined), Boot Black (enlongated, less contrast), Whitewash B (Boot Black outlined), Black Bottom (like Boot Black, but with solid bottoms, i.e. no white between serifs etc.).

Lettergraphics had a copy as Chaucer, with a Biform variant. Two related designs are included in the Solotype catalog: Inkwell Black, which is close to the original Art Tone, but inferior (the digital freebie Inkwell is not worth a look), and Tulo. Latter is a more direct knock-off of Art Tone Boot Black. It also appears in Phil’s Homage To The Alphabet and Berthold’s E1 catalog, and has been digitized as DXS Tulo (Dick Pape, 2010).