font_category: decorative

According to Wiktionary, “the cat’s pajamas” was a slang phrase coined by Thomas A. Dorgan, the well-known journalist, cartoonist and sportswriter of that era. The phrase became popular in the U.S. in the 1920s,...

Early 1900s songwriters had a penchant for devising lengthy titles for their compositions. A perfect example from 1909, “It Is Hard to Kiss Your Sweetheart When the Last Kiss Means ‘Good Bye’” is a...

Kids Activities JNL is based on the hand lettering found on the covers of some 1955 Cub Scouts activity books. It’s available in both regular and oblique versions.

A typographic conundrum presented itself with the hand lettered title on the cover of the 1919 song “I Am Always Building Castles in the Air”. The capitalized portion [“Castles in the Air”] was a...

The unusual, thin line hand lettering on the cover of the sheet music for 1936’s “If You Love Me” was the basis for Light Line Deco JNL, which is available in both regular and...

Library Book Initials JNL was modeled from examples of Sidney Gaunt’s Publicity Initials; originally sold in metal type by Barnhart Brothers and Spindler as a companion to the Publicity Gothic typeface. The smoothed-down lines...

The cover of a 1950s-era catalog for the Freedman Novelty Company (of San Francisco California) had the word “Novelty” hand-lettered in an unusually angular type style against various geometric shapes somewhat resembling balloons. While...

The lettering style of Location JNL is based on sets of “vintage” metal house identification letters and numbers seen for sale online. As these sets are available from overseas sources, it’s not clear whether...

Lumberyard Stencil JNL was inspired by the image of an antique brass stencil that was probably used for marking various wood products by a lumber company. It’s available in both regular and oblique versions.

Manual Typewriter JNL was modeled from an example of the 1933 design originally created by Morris Fuller Benton, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.