ITC Zapf Chancery is a family of
script typeface
Script typefaces are based on the varied and often fluid stroke created by handwriting. They are generally used for display or trade printing, rather than for extended body text in the Latin alphabet. Some Greek alphabet typefaces, especially ...
s designed by the German type designer
Hermann Zapf
Hermann Zapf (; 8 November 1918 – 4 June 2015) was a German type designer and calligrapher who lived in Darmstadt, Germany. He was married to the calligrapher and typeface designer Gudrun Zapf-von Hesse. Typefaces he designed include ...
and marketed by the
International Typeface Corporation
The International Typeface Corporation (ITC) was a type manufacturer founded in New York in 1970 by Aaron Burns, Herb Lubalin and Edward Rondthaler. The company was one of the world's first type foundries to have no history in the production of ...
. It is one of the three typefaces designed by Zapf that are shipped with computers running Apple's
Mac OS
Mac operating systems were developed by Apple Inc. in a succession of two major series.
In 1984, Apple debuted the operating system that is now known as the classic Mac OS with its release of the original Macintosh System Software. The system ...
. It is also one of the core
PostScript
PostScript (PS) is a page description language and dynamically typed, stack-based programming language. It is most commonly used in the electronic publishing and desktop publishing realm, but as a Turing complete programming language, it c ...
fonts.
History
Zapf Chancery was announced in 1979 in six styles from light to bold, the demibold and bold styles being released without italics. It was named after the
English name
English names are personal names used in, or originating in, England.
In England, as elsewhere in the English-speaking world, a complete name usually consists of one or more given names, commonly referred to as first names, and a (most commonly ...
for a Renaissance handwriting style later adapted as an inspiration for early printing.
Variants and similar typefaces
Like many typefaces of the period, imitations of Zapf Chancery were created for specific uses and by competing companies.
URW Chancery L by URW (Unternehmensberatung Rubow Weber—from the founders' names now retitled URW++) provides a
GPL-ed clone of the font. An extended version TeX Gyre Chorus is another similar typeface based on the URW Chancery L font. This typeface is released in formats compatible with
LaTeX
Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latices are found in nature, but synthetic latices are common as well.
In nature, latex is found as a wikt:milky, milky fluid, which is present in 10% of all floweri ...
as well as with modern
OpenType
OpenType is a format for scalable computer fonts. Derived from TrueType, it retains TrueType's basic structure but adds many intricate data structures for describing typographic behavior. OpenType is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corpora ...
compatible systems.
A popular lookalike design has been Monotype Corsiva, by Patricia Saunders at the
Monotype Corporation
Monotype Imaging Holdings Inc., founded as Lanston Monotype Machine Company in 1887 in Philadelphia by Tolbert Lanston, is an American (historically Anglo-American) company that specializes in digital typesetting and typeface design for use wit ...
. Monotype at the time created or licensed many lookalike typefaces for Microsoft software with identical metrics to popular fonts, including
Century Gothic
Century Gothic is a digital sans-serif typeface in the geometric style, released by Monotype Imaging in 1990. It is a redrawn version of Monotype's own Twentieth Century, a copy of Bauer's Futura, to match the widths of ITC Avant Garde Gothic ...
,
Arial
Arial is a sans-serif typeface in the Sans-serif#Neo-grotesque, neo-grotesque style. Fonts from the Arial family are included with all versions of Microsoft Windows after Windows 3.1, as well as in other Microsoft programs, Apple's macOS, and ma ...
and
Book Antiqua, also a Zapf knockoff. Zapf resigned from
ATypI (Association Typographique Internationale) over what he viewed as its hypocritical attitude toward unauthorized copying by prominent ATypI members, specifically Monotype. However, a court case concluded that Corsiva was sufficiently separate as a design to avoid payment of damages, noting that while the fonts were "similar", "the typeface is based upon 15th and 16th Century calligraphic designs from Rome and Venice. In fact, Ms. Saunders' research and work done on creating Corsiva was televised on the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
program, Landmarks."
See also
*
Zapfino
References
International Typeface Corporation typefaces
Script typefaces
Typefaces and fonts introduced in 1979
Zapf Chancery
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