font_foundry: Solotype

Fantan

Fantan font

From an early 20th century sign painter’s copy book. We gave it a softer treatment than many of the faux-Asian faces have. We also added a lowercase, as is our wont.

Faust Text

Faust Text font

Barnhart Bros. and Spindler called this Faust Text when they introduced it in 1898. A quarter of a century later, they brought back a number of obsolete faces and renamed them. This one became...

Eureka Antique

Eureka Antique font

You may be familiar with a caps and small caps type called Cruickshank. In Germany the same face was called Eureka. We took the small caps, which are not so overblown as the caps,...

Coney Island

Coney Island font

This is based on a mid-Victorian Connor’s foundry font originally known as Manhattan. One of several old faces known in America as “French Clarendons”, in Europe as “Italians”, and, wait for it, in France...

Dawson

Dawson font

Redrawn from an old wood type we picked up in London. The original manufacturer is unknown. We added the lowercase to increase is usefulness.

Bandstand

Bandstand font

Our notes say this was originated at the Barnhart Bros. & Spindler foundry in Chicago, and named Cable. Perhaps so, but we didn’t find it in any of our BB&S catalogs. We made a...

Minsky

Minsky font

The Bruce Foundry in New York gave this Italian Clarendon the catchy name of Ornamented No. 1529. The original had a top right white shadow which we eliminated. Additionally we improved the color of...

Pacifica

Pacifica font

This is really Congo from Barnhart Bros. & Spindler, but we felt it would be improved if we smoothed out some of the curves slightly. Conjures up visions of Pacific Islands and other exotic...

Stamps

Stamps font

We have a penchant for types that connect to form a ribbon or band. Here’s another one, and no amount of words will excuse it.

Berolina

Berolina font

A circa 1900 type from the foundry of W. Grauneau, Berlin. A great utility face as it works well as the “plain” face with other decorative type of the same era. Reads well in...