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
Hamilton Wood Type Museum at Atlas Obscura
My daughter recently directed my attention to a fascinating site called Atlas Obscura which is a collection of articles on interesting phenomena and unique and unusual places and works of art.
The first thing which caught my eye was an article on a fascinating giant sculpture installation in Wisconsin called Dr.Evermore’s Forevertron which is a kind of post-industrial steampunk playground made up of discarded hardware and mechanical parts merged together into something whimsical and amazing.
From there I wandered around until I came on an excellent article on the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum, also located in Wisconsin. It houses an extraordinary collection of 19th and early 20th century wood type from the Hamilton foundry which was the last major manufacturer of Wood Type in the United States, continuing to operate well into the 20th century. The article gives some history of how the foundry started and the role which it played keeping wood type alive far into the era of metal type.
Finding the article was a bit of synchronicity, because I’ve recently been acquiring type sample books from the Hamilton foundry as source material for future revival designs in the tradition of our Wild West font collection. Hamilton played a large role in frontier printing because their wood type and portable presses were convenient for printers on the move and working in rough conditions. The sample books I’ve picked up are particularly strong in basic, bold poster fonts and ought to be useful in my ongoing quest to develop bolder and better poster fonts.
We’ve actually done one font based on Hamilton type, with the uniquely unimaginative name Hamilton. It’s a curiously narrow style which we adapted for use on a movie poster several years ago.
So check out the Atlas Obscura and if you have a chance and know of something that ought to be added to it, you can actually add a new entry.
New Font: Madding
We’re in an ongoing quest to make the perfect poster font — something bold and hard to ignore, but also different and with character. We had some success with Aventine, but it was too generic. So we kept working on the concept and the result is the new Madding font, a bold poster font with a bit of an art deco look. It has what it takes to get noticed and enough character to stand out from the crowd. It’s available now as a single font, but will also be featured in our forthcoming Art Deco fonts package.
You can download and try the demo version of Madding in TrueType format for Mac or PC. The full version of the font is available if you want to BUY IT NOW.
Sighting: Wild West Fonts at Randall’s
I was in the checkout line at Randall’s today (the thinkly disguised version of Safeway we have in Austin) and was surprised to see that the recycled and reusable plastic shopping bags at the register featured several fonts from our Wild West font collection.
One way they keep the price of these eco-friendly bags low is by using them for advertising and in this case their promotion of items from their meat department and their “Ranchers Select” brand fit right in with our fonts.
They had “Top Sirloin” in and other cuts listed in Alcalde and Atkinson Egyptian. They even used a crude wood texture to produce an effect similar to our Perdido font using Alcalde.
All in all a clever and appropriate use of our western fonts, though I think they missed a bet in not including images from Texas Brands since we’re in Texas and cattle brands naturally go with beef.
Classic Font: Moravia
Our Alphons Mucha package was originally released in 1997. One of the most interesting original fonts included in the package was Moravia which was based on poster lettering Mucha did later in his career. We’ve just updated the Mucha package and as a featued font to go with it we’re offering a cleaned up and revised version of Moravia as well.
Moravia is similar in style to some of our most familiar fonts based on Mucha’s lettering likeWe have several other fonts in the same tradition like Abaddon and Gehenna, which are also in the Mucha package, but it is more ornate and more decorative.
Best of all, you can try the demo version of Moravia for free, or order the full version online.
Walter Crane’s Pan Pipes
For years we’ve been adding to what has become an outstanding library of illustrated books by Arts and Crafts era designer Walter Crane, and all that work has come to fruition with the release of selected Walter Crane material in outstanding packages customized for contemporary designers who want to incorporate his unique aesthetic into their work. We started with our collection of Crane’s The Baby’s Aesop and followed with The Baby’s Opera, and now we’re going to an even higher level with one of his most ambitious illutrated works, Pan Pipes. Pan Pipes is a collection of popular folk songs of the late 19th century, including many which are still well known today like “Barbara Allen,” “Greensleeves” and “Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes,” all beautifuly illustrated and decorated.
Like the The Baby’s Opera, Pan Pipes includes the complete words and music to more than 30 songs, but they are songs for adults rather than children with beautiful period illustrations and done in a larger format which leaves room for some really outstanding decoration and calligraphy. It is arguably Crane’s most impressive work.
Our presentation of the book follows the model of our other recent Walter Crane package. It includes a complete 60-page print-quality PDF facsimile of the book, plus high-resolution graphics of every page and illustration including the covers. In addition there are emblems, borders, decorative elements and other resources which we have taken from the book and cleaned up and made ready to use for other purposes. All of this comes with a license allowing you to incorporate the material in your own designs and creations.
The Pan Pipes package is only $39 and you can order online and download the package immediately — but be warned, it’s a very large download if you don’t have high-speed internet. To see a complete slideshow preview of the book in video format click on the video link at the head of this article. The video doesn’t include the frames and graphics, but some samples can be seen here.
We’re going to be following this package with other Crane packages, including a similar treatment of The Baby’s Bouquet which was a companion piece to The Baby’s Own Aesop and The Baby’s Opera. We also have a collection of fonts based on Crane lettering in development, like our recently released Crane Gothic and Walter Crane fonts and plan to release more Crane fonts in the future.
Anyone who purchases this or any of our other Crane packages will receive a substantial discount on our complete Walter Crane fonts and art package when it is eventually released.
Alphons Mucha Package Video Preview
This is a short video presentation I put together on our Alphons Mucha font and art package:
Alphons Mucha Fonts and Art
Alphonse Mucha was born in what is now the Czech Republic in 1860 and moved to Paris in 1890 where he became the star of the poster-art movement under the patronage of the Sarah Bernhardt, socializing with the greatest of the impressionists and moving in the highest circles of the salons of the intellectual elite of Paris. After World War I he returned to Czechoslovakia and became the father of a slavic arts and crafts movement which combined elements of art nouveau with classic national themes.
In addition to commercial art, jewelry design, interior decoration, sculpture and stage design, Mucha experimented with lettering and calligraphy to produce excellent source material for unique typefaces. Mucha’s style is virtually synonymous with French Art Nouveau and he is one of the most imitated artists and designers of all time.
The Scriptorium’s Mucha collection features a selection of rare images taken from 19th century sources, focusing on seasonal postcard art and theatrical posters, plus a disk of fonts based on Mucha’s poster lettering, including seven original typefaces in both TrueType and Postscript Format. Samples of both the art and the typefaces are provided here.
We have recently expanded our Mucha collection with new art and several additional fonts. The Mucha Collection is only $49 including shipping. It is also available in a retail package ideal for sale in museums and bookstores. Send email for information on wholesale terms and availability. To order your own Mucha collection just visit our online ordering page — ORDER YOUR MUCHA!
Creating the Glastonbury Font
Too many years ago to count, I was lucky enough to attend St. Albans School in Washington, DC. It’s a great school with a rich history and an association with the National Cathedral and the rich cultural heritage of the Episcopal Church and many of the traditions of the English public schools. It’s a school with a lot of character and a reputation for shaping future leaders in politics and the arts.
This year St. Albans is celebrating its 100th anniversary, and as part of that celebration they decided they wanted to spruce up the school. One of the things which drew their attention was the sad state of the hand-lettered lists of graduates on the walls of the upper school refectory. The tradition of putting the names of each graduating class on the walls began in the 1920s, and at first the quality of the calligraphy was excellent, but eventually the original calligrapher retired and his replacements were less skilled, until by the 1960s the quality of the lettering on the walls had declined to an embarrassing level and looked nothing like the early examples.
St. Albans contacted a local interior designer and wall artist named Raea Jean Leinster (Wall Transformation Designs) to find a way to improve future lettering and replace the old names which were poorly done with new lettering of higher quality. She decided that the best way to do that would be with a font and using a thermal transfer system which would create perfect letters every time. The problem was that the original lettering was in a style which was unusual and idiosyncratic, so no existing font would even come close to matching it. So she went looking for a font designer and in a bizarre example of synchronicity she stumbled onto our site and discovered the only font designer to have actually attended St. Albans and who already had a familiarity with the lettering. I began my interest in calligraphy at St. Albans and did a lot of my first lettering in my notebooks while paying very little attention in class just a few yards from the lettering on the walls of the refectory. Undoubtedly that lettering had an influence on me. Many of my first calligraphic designs fall into the same gothic black letter category like Froissart and Franconian.
This began a process which lasted for almost a year, where photographs and measurements of the best examples of the lettering were taken and sent on to me and I redrew each of the letters by hand, both on paper and in some cases in Adobe Photoshop and then traced the outlines manually in Fontographer to get a perfect match. I then spaced and kerned them and imported the characters into FontLab for final hinting and output. During the process there was ongoing input from the school and from Raea, more photographs and more measurements and I even visited the school towards the end of the process to see the new lettering in use.
Designing the font presented a lot of challenges, because the photographs were not always entirely accurate or were distorted by the shiny black background paint on which the lettering was done. In addition there were lots of variations in the designs of the the letters and finding common elements and making the overall look consistent and unified was quite a challenge. It also resulted in the final font having lots of alternate characters which were designed and then rejected as part of the primary character set, and in some cases rejected and then brought back in, reminding me why I never throw away a rejected character design. I’ve done fonts which took longer to complete, but few which were more challenging.
Despite the difficulty, the end result was very impressive, and it was ready in time for the centennial celebration. I’ll take some of the credit for the accuracy with which the font reproduces the unique gothic fraktur style of the original lettering, though Raea gets some credit as well for pushing me for total accuracy. Raea gets all the credit for the fantastic results of the process by which the letters are applied. I don’t understand exactly how it is done, but it seems similar to the way in which gold leaf was applied to manuscripts during the middle ages, except that in this case an inkjet printer is used to transfer the letters in the appropriate font onto the transfer medium. The result actually looks better in many ways than the original lettering. When I visited the school earlier this year several of the most recent graduating classes had already been done with the new font and they were going back and redoing the poorly lettered classes as well.
The new font ended up being named Glastonbury after the Glastonbury Thorn, an unusual tree planted at the front entrance of the school, which legend says grew from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea when he arrived in England. The current tree at St. Albans is a cutting from an older tree planted there many years ago which came from a cutting of the original tree in Glastonbury in England. With the thorny spurs on the font, naming it after the legendary tree seemed appropriate, plus the story of Joseph of Arimathea and his association with the holy grail fit well with my fascination with Arthurian legend.
Perhaps the best thing about the whole arrangement is that we’ve retained rights to the font and can now release it as part of our collection. A percentage of the sales of Glastonbury will be donated to St. Albans so that they can continue to improve the school and provide scholarships to DC kids who otherwise would not have an opportunity to attend a school of such quality.
You can download and try the demo version of Glastonbury in TrueType format for Mac or PC. The full version of the font is available if you want to BUY IT NOW.
Katherine Cameron Ballads
We’ve got all these nice little books by late 19th century childrens book illustrator Katherine Cameron and aren’t really sure what to do with them, so every once in a while, as a bonus treat for our fans, we’re releasing little packages of her quaint illustrations through the website. A few months ago we released a set of her Celtic illustrations as a bonus in our 2009 Sampler. Now as an end-of-summer bonus we’re offering a free download of some of her illustrations to classic British ballads for children, like Tam Lin, Hynde Horn and Thomas the Rhymer.
Although the ballads are mostly from earlier eras, the illustrations have a particularly Victorian character to them in the costuming and look of the figures. It’s a charming little collection of eight period illustrations, with fairies, knights and fair ladies, and it’s yours free for browsing our site. The images are high resolution and licensed to use for non-commercial purposes. Just click to download: BALLADS. If you like the illustrations you might like some of our classic Victorian period fonts to go with them. Acadian, Beaumarchais and Damariscotta are particularly good representatives of type from the period.
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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.
