The very first Speedball-Lettering Book was published in 1915, and within its pages was a rough-hewn example of lettering with the name “Rapid Sho-Card Style”. The design is now available as Antique Show Card...
by Staff · Published April 13, 2019
· Last modified December 28, 2022
The box cover of “Drawing Stencils No. 3 for Use on Slate or Paper” [a children’s drawing set produced by Montgomery, Ward & Company of Chicago circa the 1890s] had its title in an...
by Staff · Published April 13, 2019
· Last modified December 28, 2022
An old ad for Cointreau Triple Sec Liquor featured a bolder variant of the lettering style found in a set of vintage tin stencils that were the model for French Stencil JNL. This is...
by Staff · Published April 13, 2019
· Last modified December 28, 2022
Auto-scanning an example of a vintage typewriter font created the design which is now the digital typeface Bitmap Typewriter JNL, available in both regular and oblique versions.
by Staff · Published April 13, 2019
· Last modified December 28, 2022
There are thousands of pieces of vintage sheet music available for collectors and curiosity seekers. Prior to the 1930s, a large percentage of them had wonderfully hand-lettered titles on the covers, but gradually there...
by Staff · Published April 13, 2019
· Last modified December 28, 2022
“Answer Songs” have been around for [probably] just as long as there have been songs. 1917’s “If I Catch the Guy Who Wrote Poor Butterfly” was the answer to the 1916 hit “Poor Butterfly”...
by Staff · Published April 13, 2019
· Last modified December 28, 2022
Fine and Dandy JNL comes from the hand lettered title of the 1929 movie “Isle of Escape”; found on the sheet music for its theme song “My Kalua Rose”. An engraved and fancy Roman,...
by Staff · Published April 13, 2019
· Last modified December 28, 2022
A late-19th Century song book entitled “Gems of Scotland – A Beautiful Collection of Scottish Songs” had the words “Gems of Scotland” hand lettered in an ornate, condensed type style now reproduced digitally as...
by Staff · Published April 13, 2019
· Last modified December 28, 2022
The free-form, Art Nouveau hand lettering on the cover of the sheet music for 1915’s “She Was All That a Pal Ought to Be” inspired Neurotic Roman JNL; available in both regular and oblique...