Art Deco Font Collection
Our new Art Deco font collection includes a remarkable selectiion of fonts from the design movements of the 1920s and 1930s, focusing on the kinds of fonts which were generally associated with the decorative arts movement which developed out of the Arts and Crafts movement. More...Wild West Fonts
Our Wild West font collection features 14 fonts based on designs from the classic days of the American West (1870-1890). They are typical of the type and lettering styles used in signs, circulars, posters and newspapers during that era. The selection includes both decorative, display and text fonts. All the fonts are historically accurate and they are not available from any other source. While they are basically fonts of the Victorian era, they represent a subset of the typefaces popular in that period particularly slanted to the environmnet of the wild west, frontier newspapers and wild west shows.More...Pre-Raphaelite Collection
The art of the Pre-Raphaelites recreated classical and legendary themes, fascination with architectural elements and realistic drapery, and the use of models who fit a particular style and appearance, usually with thick, curly hair and voluptuous figures. Our Pre-Raphaelite collection features select images from the most prominent artists of the movement in high-resolution suitable for use in print.More...The Baby’s Opera Collection
Or latest collection based on one of Walter Crane's childrens book is our comprehensive presentation of The Baby’s Opera, Crane's compilation of childrens songs (including music and lyrics) with detailed illustrations, hand lettering and clever decorations on every page. Many of the designs and motifs can easily be extracted for use in your own designs. More...Text Fonts Collection
You've got to have text fonts, so wny not make them interesting and unique rather than the same old boring set that come with every computer. Our Text Fonts Collection has more variety and more style than you'll find anywhere else. More...Howard Pyle Fonts and Art
Howard Pyle was one of the most renowned illustrators of the 19th century. His work was widely published in adventure novels, magazines and romances. He was the founder of the Brandywine school and artists colony in Chadd's Ford Pennsylvania, where he taught artists like N. C. Wyeth, Frank Schoonover and Thornton Oakley their craft. Our Pyle collection includes a large selection of Pyle's art and designs plus original fonts based on his hand lettering. More...Medieval Fonts and Art
In the Middle Ages the demand for written documents required new and better forms of writing, styles which were readable, consistent, efficient to produce, and sometimes decorative as well. This package features a selection of fonts and art based on designs from the Middle Ages, emphasizing the years from 1100 to 1400. The 25 fonts include versions of the major popular lettering styles of this period and the art includes beautiful borders, frames and other decorative elements based on medieval designs. DETAILSThe Lady of Shalott
Howard Pyle’s illustrated edition of Tennyson’s Lady of Shalott is probably the single greatest expression of book design in the American arts and crafts movement of the late 19th century. This early Pyle work combines his vivid illustrative style with exceptional decoration and lettering into a modern illuminated masterpiece. Our Lady of Shalott CD package has every page from the book in high resolution format, including the decorated verses, the full-page illustrations and the embellished titles and flyleaves. It also includes extracted and instantly usable versions of the initials, illustrations background patterns, borders and frames from the book. DETAILSArt Nouveau Collection
This collection brings together all of our best fonts based on Art Nouveau period designs into an extensive collection, with over 30 unique fonts, including text, title faces and even decorative initials. This includes new fonts created just for this package plus classics in the Art Nouveau tradition. It also features a bonus collection of frames and borders based on designs from magazines and books of the period. Altogether it makes the ultimate resource for Art Nouveau style design. DETAILS2009 Sampler
About once a year we release a special sampler package with a collection of selected fonts and art from our most recent and forthcoming packages, including some unique items not available anywhere else, all brought together as an overview of what we've been up to at the Scriptorium during the past year at a special, extremely low price. This latest sampler has four complete new fonts, 15 demo fonts and a special selection of art and graphics which includes a special set of illustrations of Celtic mythology by Katherine Cameron. DETAILSViking Fonts and Art
This collection presents calligraphy and art based on the traditions of historic Germanic cultures. It draws on the broad scope of early Germanic design, from the pre-Christian era through the early middle ages, including not just Scandinavia, but other elements of Germanic culture from the Franks to the Saxons to the Normans and beyond. The main component is a collection of historic fonts which is complemented by a unique set of historic borders and motifs, plus art based on Viking myth and legend. DETAILS.Gothic Fonts
A collection of our best fonts based on gothic type and late medieval calligraphy. It covers the range from the historical styles in which gothic printing had its inspiration to the ornate heights of complex gothic fonts from 19th century Germany. This includes fonts in the style sometimes called 'Old English', as well as what calligraphers sometimes call 'Black Letter'. If you like your fonts dark, angular and complex, this is your dream collection. DETAILS
The Gargoyles of Penn
On our recent college tour one of the most interesting places we stopped was the University of Pennsylvania. It’s a campus steeped in history, and I expected to see old buildings and hear a lot about Benjamin Franklin. What I didn’t expect was to see one of the most remarkable selections of gargoyles I’ve seen outside of the gothic cathedrals of England, and in a state of preservation which is unequaled among the monuments of the old world because they are so relatively new.
The largest number of these gargoyles can be found on Penn’s Quadrangle, a huge dormitory which is such a bizarre architectural anomaly that it’s worthy of a few comments in its own right. The Quadrangle was built in the early 1900s, but for reasons I can’t begin to fathom, it’s an exaggerated recreation of the Tudor-period architectural style most commonly associated with Hampton Court Palace. It combines a basic facade of red brick with decorative elements carved in soft limestone, including a set of over 150 gargoyles on every topic imaginable.
Hampton Court’s gargoyles are mostly common mythological creatures, but the Quadrangle features a much greater variety covering college life, academic disciplines, various crafts and trades and mythology ranging from the whimsical to the grim and foreboding, including several Danse Macabre themes, angels of death and paganistic foliated heads. Plus there are mermaids, football players, goblins and baseball players, centaurs and professors. It’s a mad hodgepodge which takes hours and a sharp eye to fully appreciate. I wonder if the students living in the dorms in the Quadrangle take them for granted or realize what a marvel they and the building itself are.
The Quadrangle isn’t the only place on Penn campus with gargoyles. Escellent examples appear on some of the older College Houses, and the Dental School building which was built a few years after the Quadrangle has the second largest selection. Its gargoyles include animals and birds and a selection of disturbing representations of people with dental afflictions and various physical deformities.
All of these gargoyles add an element of whimsy to the Penn campus which is very endearing — Franklin was known for his sense peculiar wit and the school he founded seems to have continued that tradition. Penn is an old college in American terms at over 250 years (4th oldest in the nation), but the unusual architecture and features like the gargoyles give it a link to even earlier times which makes you feel like you’re part of history and part of a grand academic tradition going back to the gargoyle-adorned cathedral colleges of the middle ages. Even if you don’t have a reason to be at Penn and just happen to be in Philadelphia, take some time to walk around Penn’s campus and check out the gargoyles. You probably won’t be able to find them all, but you’ll see more than an eyefull.
I had a great set of original gargoyle photos taken with my Pentax D20, but a bad SD card foiled my plans, so I drew these images from several sources. Several came from the Philadelphia Public Art program’s website, which is worth a good long look because Philly has some impressive public art. I also used some photos from a collection you can find on flickr.com. You can also find a fairly complete list of all the gargoyles from the Penn library.
Search Articles:
New Font: BigBlok
A great many years ago when working in game publishing I had a real fascination with doing titles in a strong, super-bold font called Bolt Bold. The truth is I rather overused it. In doing some research I find it on more than a dozen different game books I wrote in the early 80s, all quite collectable and out of print today.
