Font samples
April 30, 2014 2:54 PM   Subscribe

Font samples from an 1892 specimen book (i.e. a type catalog for printers). They're a lot more interesting than "The quick brown fox..."
posted by Chocolate Pickle (29 comments total) 39 users marked this as a favorite
 
These would all make for some great fin de siècle porn titles.

Just sayin'
posted by Kabanos at 3:01 PM on April 30, 2014


Some pretty awesome typefaces there.
posted by snofoam at 3:04 PM on April 30, 2014 [1 favorite]


HONOR
THE DUDE
posted by The Whelk at 3:08 PM on April 30, 2014 [10 favorites]


LAGER or STEAM is indeed a Question of (somewhat) Supreme Importance for the beer taxonomer.
posted by The Potate at 3:09 PM on April 30, 2014 [1 favorite]


WAY UP / Uncle Oliver / 3 Money 6 sounds like the progression of stage names adopted by a talented, earnest, and oddly off-putting suburbanite rapper.
posted by sonic meat machine at 3:12 PM on April 30, 2014 [4 favorites]


BERGAMOT!

tee hee
posted by Madamina at 3:13 PM on April 30, 2014 [10 favorites]


Yeah, I lost at 3 Money 6. Fuckin' timestream pollution.
posted by BeerFilter at 3:19 PM on April 30, 2014


"3" comes up a lot.. did printers usually look for this particular number?
posted by crapmatic at 3:21 PM on April 30, 2014


A lot of these could be MeFi user names.
posted by gubo at 3:22 PM on April 30, 2014 [1 favorite]


"Death to Mormons" I guess they weren't big font buyers in the 19th century.
posted by pashdown at 3:26 PM on April 30, 2014 [1 favorite]


Now I want bergamots
posted by aubilenon at 3:27 PM on April 30, 2014


FEATURES OF THE OFFICE TOWEL

Is your washroom breeding bolsheviks?
posted by wotsac at 3:32 PM on April 30, 2014 [3 favorites]


Now I want bergamots

Then drink some Earl Grey...
posted by jim in austin at 3:54 PM on April 30, 2014


I have to say, one of the great things about being a graphic artist through the 70's and 80's were the amazing font sample folios all the competing type houses would supply you with, free of charge. They were just amazing collections.
Those were the 19 70's and 80's of course...
posted by Thorzdad at 3:55 PM on April 30, 2014 [2 favorites]


OYSTERS AND CHAMPAGNE/POODLE DOG WITH SALLY LUND AT THREE/O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING...i want to have tea wherever this is going on.

and this one is like some tristan tzara "sadness of modern romance" poem.
posted by ifjuly at 4:05 PM on April 30, 2014 [2 favorites]


Guys, I think the second O in "HONOR THE DUDE KING" is giving me the evil eye.
posted by neckro23 at 4:37 PM on April 30, 2014 [3 favorites]


I was thinking there was an almost endless supply of band names there, myself.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 5:29 PM on April 30, 2014


I guessed Palmer & Rey were from San Francisco, based on the samples regarding "Seal Rock" and "Lager or Steam" (Steam beer being a California thing.)
posted by larrybob at 5:35 PM on April 30, 2014


BERGAMOT! was one of the 19th Century's biggest blacksploitation novels.

black-a-moor-sploitation?
posted by PlusDistance at 6:01 PM on April 30, 2014 [1 favorite]


You just can't beat this one:

Grim Death Rides on Every Passing Breeze and Lurks in Fragrant Smiling Flowers

That's going to be my new typing test sentence to replace "the quick brown fox".

Or maybe an album title.
posted by mmoncur at 7:21 PM on April 30, 2014 [2 favorites]


You know you're hearing that one in Jeff Mangum's voice.
posted by dhartung at 7:49 PM on April 30, 2014


SCENERY FOR SALE
Have No Further Use For It

...sounds like a Craigslist ad written by Morrissey.
posted by Fig at 7:59 PM on April 30, 2014 [4 favorites]


Better still, many of these were likely typeset by tramp printers. They were notorious for shimsical sample books.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 8:04 PM on April 30, 2014 [2 favorites]


Yes, shimsical.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 8:09 PM on April 30, 2014 [5 favorites]


Band names galore
posted by univac at 11:56 PM on April 30, 2014


Grim Death Rides on Every Passing Breeze and Lurks in Fragrant Smiling Flowers

Is it somewhere among the type samples? I can't find it, though I think I've found the source.
posted by hat_eater at 5:14 AM on May 1, 2014 [1 favorite]


@hat_eater: It's the one filenamed books18.png, under Rail Road Sparks. Small and fuzzy enough to be hard on the eyes (at least for me).

But yes, Bergamot!
posted by aroweofshale at 8:33 AM on May 1, 2014


BERGAMOT!

Now I want bergamots

But yes, Bergamot!



It's only a model.
posted by Kabanos at 12:22 PM on May 1, 2014


I know it's actually Gothic Condensed but there's just something amusing about someone exclaiming "BERGAMOT!" all non sequitur like.
posted by aroweofshale at 1:28 PM on May 1, 2014


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