Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!gatech!hubcap!ncrcae!ncr-sd!crash!gryphon!richard
From: richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton)
Newsgroups: comp.fonts
Subject: Recognizing typefaces
Message-ID: <3175@gryphon.CTS.COM>
Date: 6 Apr 88 07:10:25 GMT
Organization: Trailing Edge Technology, Redondo Beach, Ca.
Lines: 37
Keywords: typefaces fonts identification

A friend of mine, who is a real pack-rat, dug this book out of his
archives for me, when I told him about this font nonsense.

The book is called _How to Recognize TYPE FACES_.

The author is R. Randolph Karch. The book was published in 1952. The only
number anywhere in the book is 655.24, ddd i guess.

In the preface, the book states: "Almost 1500 typefaces are in general use
today.....in this book will be found 1475 typefaces"

Mostly roman (ie. serifed fonts).

Many books I have seen recently classify fonts into about 3 or 4 mjor
groups; this one has 12:

Venetian, Old Style (Dutch-English), Old-style (French), Transitional,
Modern, Contemporary, San Serif, Square serif, Decorative, Blackletter,
Scripts, and newspaper. Examples of each are given, as are identifying
meristics.

Families are defined: for the font "Ludlow" -

Ludlow light, Ludlow medium, Ludlow Bold, Ludlow Heavy, Ludlow heavy
condensed, ludlow medium condensed, ludlow heavy inline, ludlow light
italic, ludlow medium italic, ludlow bold italic, ludlow heavy italic,
ludlow heavy condensed italic, ludlow bold condensed.

It then goes on with a dichotamous key which breaks down the 1475 type
faces in the book. 926 serifed designs, 27 blackletter designs, 5
stencilled designs, 62 script designs, 80 square designs, 375 sans
serifed designs.

A very handy book if you can find it.

-- 
#   richard@gryphon.CTS.COM                  rutgers!marque!gryphon!richard