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Memphis is a slab-serif typeface designed b
Dr. Rudolf Wolf
and released in 1929 by the Stempel Type Foundry. Memphis is a "geometric" slab serif, reflecting the style of German geometric sans-serifs (in particular Futura) which had attracted considerable attention, and adapting the design to the slab serif structure. Its structure is strictly monoline, with a "single-storey" 'a' similar to blackletter or handwriting, in an almost-perfect circle. It was released in several weights and with alternative characters such as swashes, which digitisations have mostly not included. Memphis has an Egyptian name, in reference to the fact that early slab serifs were often called "Egyptians" as an exoticism by nineteenth-century typefounders. Memphis and other similar designs were popular in printing during the
hot metal typesetting In printing and typography, hot metal typesetting (also called mechanical typesetting, hot lead typesetting, hot metal, and hot type) is a technology for typesetting text in letterpress printing. This method injects molten type metal into a mol ...
period and several foundries brought out similar designs or direct imitations such as
Karnak The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (, which was originally derived from ar, خورنق ''Khurnaq'' "fortified village"), comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construc ...
and Stymie in the United States and Rosmini from Nebiolo in Italy, and (more loosely) Rockwell from Monotype. Digital designs in a similar style include
Neutraface Slab Neutraface is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed by Christian Schwartz for House Industries, an American digital type foundry. It was influenced by the work of architect Richard Neutra and was developed with the assistance of Neutra's son a ...
and
Archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In mo ...
. Memphis itself has been released digitally by Linotype, who licensed it from Stempel, and by Bitstream in a release including condensed weights under the name "Geometric Slabserif 703".


References

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External links


Fonts in Use

Sample image of Memphis
showing alternative characters
Condensed weight

Modern revival
letterpress typefaces Geometric slab-serif typefaces Stempel typefaces Linotype typefaces