In Budapest, Hungary, you can find many old signs like this one for a color TV service at 1 Szász Károly Street.

“TV” is in an ornamented typeface from the mid-1800s that went under various names. Letraset had it as Romantiques No. 5, Mecanorma as Tuscan Ornate.

The other words are not typographic, but hand-made, judging from the differences between the repeating letters (see the apertures in S). For fonts in a similar style, see Thorne Shaded and the listed related options.

The sign dates back to before Google Street View began recording in 2009.

Canadian One Sheet (27″×39.5″)

The West ain’t no place for a man

English-language posters for The Legend of Frenchie King (original French title: Les Pétroleuses), a satirical western comedy set in the Francophone town of Bougival Junction, Texas in 1888. The film was directed by Christian-Jaque and stars Claudia Cardinale and Brigitte Bardot.

The title at the top is set in a typeface with horizontally hatched Egyptian top and decorated Tuscan bottom halves, which were additionally given different colors in this application. According to Nicolete Gray, this design was shown in Britain by Figgins around 1870, but already much earlier by French foundries. Fonderie Typographique Française revived it in the 1950s as Romantiques No. 5.

In the bottom half, the title is shown in Quentin (c.1958), which I believe to be Filmotype’s copy of Carousel as drawn by Dave Davison for Photo-Lettering before 1950.

The names are set in Egyptian. This phototype adaptation of a battered French Clarendon was issued by VGC as part of their T.J. Lyons Antique Type Collection in 1967. The font included two to three alternates for most letters, with different “blemishes, for a more authentic look. What it didn’t offer were lowercase letters. That’s why the tagline was rendered in Playbill – the wear and tear of the glyphs here was added by hand.

All four dispay typefaces were available for VGC’s Photo Typositor at the time.

Claudia Cardinale died on 23 September 2025 at her home in Nemours, France. RIP.

British Quad (30″×40″) poster. Eat this, racist!

Fela Kuti and his Africa ’70 released Open & Close in 1971, on the His Master's Voice record label. The album art, designed by Grace Okotie-Eboh Oduro – here credited as Mamuli Okotie-Eboh – and Kayode Ademola, sports two typefaces on the front cover. The title is set in Tuscan Ornate, Mecanorma’s version of a 19th-century design also carried by Letraset as Romantiques No 5, and the band’s name uses Arnold Böcklin. The back cover uses pairs an illustration with the album title, this time set in Contest.

[More info on Discogs]

Tight-not-touching Carousel and Romantique No. 5 a.k.a. Bracelet for the sleeve of an Australian pressing of Tijuana Christmas. The former is a Letraset original designed by Gary Gillot and released in 1966, the latter is a 19th-century design that was adopted by Letraset around the time this album was issued.

From the back cover:

On this record you will find your favourite carols in an unfamiliar guise – we've called the album ‘Tijuana Christmas’, but you will hear the mariachi sound taking on a richer and more varied flavour as the Torero Band bring out the charms of our most beautiful carol tunes in imaginative brand new arrangements. ‘The Holly & the Ivy’ sets the pace with a bright, sparkling beat that even adds to the gaiety of one of our oldest and liveliest carols; ‘Silent Night’ a much more recent and a more devout carol, is given quite a contrasting treatment, slow and tender. ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’ sets off again at a brisk, bouncy pace – and if you feel like dancing, why not? It may come as a surprise to you that our oldest carols used to be dances and that the word itself described a form of circular dance.

[More info on Discogs]

See also another cover design used by Music For Pleasures, and the design by Harmony Records.

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Cartagena Caribe is the final album by Wganda Kenya, a “Colombian latin afrobeat funk band from Medellin, set up during the 1960s by Discos Fuentes”, released in 1987.

The album art of both the vinyl and the cassette release features open and shaded caps that combine slab-serif top halves with bifurcated bottom ones. It appears to be a derivative of a 19th-century design that is known under various names, including Bracelet, Romantiques No. 5, and Tuscan Ornate. It’s not clear if they were custom drawn, or existed in prefabricated form, for example as dry transfer lettering alphabet. The band’s name is in ITC Souvenir. Most of the smaller text is printed in two widths of the IBM Selectric version of Univers.

[More info on Discogs]

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Typography Studio had the pleasure of designing this limited edition of Run, Rose, Run, Dolly Parton’s first-ever novel, co-written by bestselling author, James Patterson.

The design features a slew of ornamental tuscan and wood typefaces, including Mesquite (Adobe) by Joy Redick; Bery Tuscan by Fred Smeijers; Bracelet Victorian by Douglas Day; Magic by Eduardo Recife; and Paratype’s interpretation of Paul Renner’s Futura – Futura PT by Isabella Chaeva, Vladimir Andrich, and Vladimir Yefimov. White ink screen printed on 310gsm Gmund Gold Shimmer, with stencilled rose edges.

From the press release:

Dolly Parton has teamed up with the world’s bestselling author, James Patterson, to write a new book. “Run, Rose, Run,” Dolly’s first-ever novel, which will be published March 7, 2022. An album of the same name, consisting of twelve original songs by Dolly, will be released in conjunction with the book. The novel also includes lyrics to the songs, which are essential to the story. This dual release will mark the first time a #1 bestselling author and an entertainment icon who has sold well over 100 million albums worldwide have collaborated on a book and an album.

A version of the ornamented caps known as Romantiques No. 5 / Bracelet, together with wide roman caps from an unidentified typeface, on the jacket of a book about Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, published by Eric Losfeld in 1969, featuring the original illustrations by John Tenniel. Alice racontée aux petits enfants and Poésies pour Alice (French text by Henri Parisot) is followed by Lettres à des enfants (French text by Jacques Papy)

This compilation album published by Coxsone Records (a sub-label to Studio One) presents a collection of previously released tunes by Bob Marley and The Wailers from the 1960s and 1970s. Within the first year of its release it came in a number of different covers, the black and red version here is one of the earlier versions.

The cover shows Marley and two more Wailers (probably Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, who by the time had already left the group) placed in a frame of thick/thin rules. The printing is rather rough. That makes the cover charming in its own way, although that was probably the last thing the printers were aiming for – there was little time and not the best resources at hand.

The four typefaces for the cover are (all caps) Clarendon with Tip-Top for the first line in red, followed by a black line in Ringlet and the third line (red, all caps) uses Romantiques No. 5.

The typography on the back cover is too eroded to identify. If you have better eyes, leave a comment. The track listing seems to use a modulated san serif similar to Optima (but with a narrower W, a crossbar on the G and does that M have straight legs?) Other similars available at the time are Pascal and Theme. The notes are set in a grotesk sans serif.

On the record labels, most tracks are set in all caps Futura, with the fourth line using what looks like a light weight of Gill Sans.

[More info on Discogs]

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Emory Douglas is best known for his work as the Minister of Culture of the Black Panther Party in the 1960s and ’70s and his iconic posters and cover art for The Black Panther newspaper. Letterform Archive will host an online event on August 27 where we’ll interview Douglas while paging through issues of The Black Panther along with related posters and pamphlets from the party.

Source: www.ebay.com Image: Craig Moerer Records By Mail. License: All Rights Reserved.

Douglas also designed for Black businesses and other friends in the San Francisco Bay Area during that period. In his RISD 2017 MLK Keynote address, Douglas showed a few examples of his commercial work, including this album art for a 1986 compilation of “palm wine guitar music” recorded by Sooliman Ernest Rogie in 1960–69 in Sierra Leone and Liberia. One track, “Man Stupid Being”, was featured in the 2020 film, Palm Springs.

Douglas frequently used rub-down lettering in his work. The main type shown here is Romantiques No. 5 / Bracelet, sold on transfer sheets by Letraset as Romantiques No. 5 and by Mecanorma as Tuscan Ornate. While the letterforms and their ornamentation feel very rough and uneven, as if they were hand-drawn for this artwork, they are nearly identical to how they appeared in Letraset’s catalog and Mecanorma’s ads, likely the result of the typeface’s multiple transitions from the original ca. 1850 drawings (author unknown), to the 20th-century foundry type revival by FTF, and then to film and transfer type.

Below, see a clip of Douglas’s talk in which he shows this album and other client and community work.

“Birthday” (No. 307). Illustration by Tom Sawyer. The typeface is Davison Dimensional.

Covers for various clip books of line art issued in 1978 by Harry Volk Jr. Art Studio, Pleasantville, New Jersey. Each booklet features another face for the cover, typically in an attempt to echo the topic in the typeface choice, see e.g. the graphic Futura Black for “Graphic Arts”, the 19th-century Bracelet for “Western”, or the engraved Bond Shaded for “Money”. This volume uses Kabel Black for the bottom line, framing the logo designed by Herb Lubalin in 1976. The heavy border with rounded (and sometimes inset) corners was introduced in 1976, too, but wasn’t seen on most issues from 1977.

See the previous post about the clip books issued in 1955 for more information on Harry Volk Jr. Art Studio.

“Wedding” (No. 304) ft. Tintoretto.

“Holidays” (No. 305) ft. Caslon Antique.

“Homes-Buildings” (No. 306) ft. caps from Compacta set on an arc. The fanning suggests this was set with phototype, as ooposed to dry transfer lettering.

“Graphic Arts” (No. 308) ft. Futura Black.

“Expressions” (No. 309) ft. Archie in all caps.

“Religion” (No. 310) with what looks like some sort of Normande Italic. Berthold’s phototype version comes close except for the n.

“Winter” (No. 311) ft. Goudy Heavyface in italic all caps.

“Occupations” (No. 314) ft. Dynamo. Originally issued in 1930, this design was revived and extended at Letraset in the late 1970s.

“Spring” (No. 315) ft. Mania. Illustration by Tom Sawyer.

“Marine” (No. 700) ft. Tip-Top.

“Western” (No. 701) ft. Romantiques No. 5 / Bracelet. This ornamented Tuscan originated in the 19th century. It was available for dry-transfer lettering from Mecanorma (as Tuscan Ornate) amd Letraset (as Romantiques No. 5).

“Executives” (No. 704) ft. Columna Solid.

“Tourism” (No. 705) ft. Solemnis. Illustration by Tom Sawyer.

“Couples” (No. 706) ft. Yagi Double.

“Safety” (No. 707) ft. caps from Compacta Outline.

“Christmas” (No. 712) ft. the ornate Green Buzzard.

“Transportation” (No. 715) ft. Compacta Italic.

“Family” (No. 716) ft. Benguiat Caslon with swash alternates.

“Landmarks” (No. 717) ft. Saphir.

“Environment” (No. 718) ft. all-lowercase Charter Oak, tightly spaced.

“Money” (No. 719) ft. a version of Bond Shaded, probably Bond Shaded. Illustration by Tom Sawyer.

“Children” (No. 720) ft. all-caps Mistral.

“Groups” (No. 721) ft. a bunch of people pointing at tightly spaced caps from ITC Zapf Book Heavy.

“Circus/Fair” (No. 722) ft. West Barnum Ultra.

“Contests” (No. G86) ft. more Benguiat Caslon, this time in all caps. The logo of the Grafika subseries is in ITC Fat Face with ligatures for ra and fi, accompanied by Kabel Light with omitted tittles.

“Design Devices” (No. G87) ft. Harlow, a Letraset release from 1977. “ZAP” is probably custom lettering.

“Something Extra” (No. G89) ft. Slim Dandy, a variation of the Mansard theme, by Lettergraphics.

“Lankies” (No. G90) ft. Churchward Design Sparkly.

“Symbols” (No. G91) ft. Cucumber

“Printed Forms” (No. G93) ft. Gonzales Jeanette with Akzidenz-Grotesk Condensed and Windsor.

“Big & Strong” (No. G94) ft. Atlas and more Mania, set on a curve.

“Announcers” (No. G95), again with Slim Dandy.

“Spring” (No. 291), ft. all-caps Benguiat Caslon with swash alternates, set on an angle. The small type in the arrows is in reversed Helvetica caps.

Covers for various clip books of line art issued in 1976 by Harry Volk Jr. Art Studio, Pleasantville, New Jersey. This year marked their silver anniversary, see the “Spring” booklet above, indicating that the company was established in 1951. The celebration continued in the following year, see the covers from 1977. According to Bart Solenthaler, Volk went out of business sometime in the 1980s.

See the previous post about the clip books issued in 1955 for more information on Harry Volk Jr. Art Studio.

Coinciding with the silver anniversary, Volk introduced a new logo, featuring rounded sans-serif letterforms. The right arm of V extends to a hand holding a pencil and drawing on the o, turning it into a globe. The Herb Lubalin Study Center points out that this logo was designed by Herb Lubalin – “not his greatest logo, but charming”.

“Vote” (No. 280) ft. Pacella Monitor. The new Volk logo here is framed by tightly spaced caps from Kabel Light.

“Holidays” (No. 281) ft. ITC American Typewriter.

“Homes – Buildings” (No. 282) ft. Bronstein Bold. Like Letraset’s Lazybones, this bold script by FotoStar/Facsimile Fonts is a close follower of PLINC’s West Cooper Nouveau Swash Swash Bold.

“Birthday” (No. 284) ft. Davida.

“Expressions” (No. 285). ft. Bookman Swash Bold Italic with alternates.

“Religion” (No. 286) ft. Pretorian.

“Winter” (No. 287) ft. Norton Chocolate Frosted, a snow-capped variant of S.E. Norton’s series of bold grotesque caps for Photo-Lettering.

“Holidays” (No. 289) ft. Advertisers Gothic.

“Men” (No. 290) ft. Buxom, again by FotoStar/Facsimile Fonts, a copy of Baby Fat, distinguished by less deep notches in M and N.

“Marine” (No. 652) ft. Bobo Bold.

“Summer” (No. 655) ft. Abbey Scroll.

“Old Fashioned” (No. 656) ft. Romantiques No. 5 / Bracelet.

“Crime” (No. 658), with Gill Kayo caps set on a circle.

“Transportation” (No. 659) ft. Dynamo.

“Autumn” (No. 660) ft. Hobo.

“Do-It-Yourself” (No. 661) ft. ITC Ronda.

“Insurance” (No. 662) ft. Microcircus.

“Fall & Winter Sports” (No. 663) ft. Kabel Black.

“Christmas” (No. 664) ft. Tintoretto. The hooked I reveals that this face was not intended for all-caps settings.

“Menu” (No. 665), ft. Bookman Italic in all caps, with an initial swash M.

“Homemaker” (No. 666) ft. Wexford.

“Senior Citizens” (No. 667) ft. caps from Eurostile Light Extended.

“Save!” (No. 669) ft. Mania.

“Executives” (No. 670) ft. Hess Neobold.

“Family” (No. 671) ft. more Benguiat Caslon.

“Crowds” (No. 672) ft. Banco.

“Mail” (No. 673) ft. Buster.

“Circus-Fair” (No. 674) ft. Filmotype Van Horn.

“Spring & Summer Sports” (No. 675) ft. Eurostile Bold Extended in all caps.

“The Little Patriot” (No. G62) ft. Caslon Antique. The logo of the Grafika subseries is in ITC Fat Face with ligatures for ra and fi, accompanied by Kabel Light with omitted tittles.

“Sly Sayings” (No. G63) ft. Paprika.

“Animal Clichés” (No. G64) ft. Thalia.

“Trivia” (No. G65) ft. Advertisers Gothic.

“Villains” (No. G67), ft. a money-grabbing octopus and Bob Quinzel’s Cucumber typeface.

“Printed Forms” (No. G69) ft. Futura Black, ITC Avant Garde Gothic (with alternates), Cooper Black, and Windsor.

“Drop-Ins” (No. G68) ft. Davida complete with its ornaments.

“Time” (No. G70), ft. Optex and Cooper Black.

“Impact!” (No. G71), featuring a version of the triline face designed by Lance Wyman for the 1968 Mexico Olympics, see Mexico Olympic. This is probably Photo-Lettering’s adaptation that went under the name Olympic, or the Lettergraphics version known as Hotline. Note how the type echoes the vibration caused by the jackhammer.

“Cartouches” (No. G72) ft. Arnold Böcklin in all caps.

“Ad Animals” (No. G76) ft. more Thalia.

A rare cover in color, celebrating the United States Bicentennial. “The King-Size Clip Book of Bicentennial Art Volk Corporation” appears to use lettering, or heavily modified type. Several details like the swash caps for G and Z suggest that a version of Cloister (Bold) Italic was involved. Other glyphs don’t match a showing of the Monotype cut, and might come from different sources.

Lazyboy ‎– Penguin (2004)

All the fonts your typography teacher has warned you about!

The house bag of Sunday Best Recordings is a smorgasbord of extreme display typefaces; from the ornamented 19th-century classics Romantiques No.2 aka Carnival and No.5 aka Bracelet, to Roger Excoffon’s ingenious Calypso from the 1950s and Michel Jarland’s dreamy Astral from the 1970s, to downright cheesy faces that look as if they are formed out of wood planks (Slapstick) or ties (Necktie). Each on its own is already quite flashy. Together they form a ridiculous cacotypography … that warms the cockles of the font IDer’s heart. To me this looks so colorful, it’s hard to admit that the design is actually in black and white. It’s reminiscent of ads by manufacturers of pre-digital display typefaces like this one by Mecanorma, where every word is competing for attention and yet the message is always the same. The generic sleeve was used for several releases in the mid-2000s. Boomclick’s Follow Love from 2003 might have been the earliest one. Ten years later, it was referenced again for Lazyboy’s Pica Disco. The designer is uncredited.

Originally founded as a leftfield club night in 1995 by Radio 1 DJ and Bestival co-creator Rob da Bank, Sunday Best the label emerged in 1997. New partners Sarah Bolshi & Ben Turner joined in 2000 - Sarah running the label day to day, whilst all three influenced the label's shape and direction. Renowned for its expansive and eclectic roster, as well as an unswerving dedication to the leftfield, roster includes early releases from Grand National, Max Sedgely & Dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip, as well as more recent outputs from the likes of David Lynch, Valerie June & Kitty, Daisy & Lewis. — sundaybest.net

Howdi – The Number One Song In Heaven / Play Dead (2005). The name on the sticker is in Pump Triline.

Subway – Journey (2006)