A font catalog or font catalogue, also called a type specimen book,Sidney E. Berger. The Dictionary of the Book: A Glossary for Book Collectors, Booksellers, Librarians, and Others. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2016, pp. 266-267 is a collection of

specimen Specimen may refer to: Science and technology * Sample (material), a limited quantity of something which is intended to be similar to and represent a larger amount * Biological specimen or biospecimen, an organic specimen held by a biorepository f ...

typefaces A typeface (or font family) is a design of letters, numbers and other symbols, to be used in printing or for electronic display. Most typefaces include variations in size (e.g., 24 point), weight (e.g., light, bold), slope (e.g., italic), width ...

offering sample use of the

fonts In movable type, metal typesetting, a font is a particular #Characteristics, size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) inclu ...

for the included typefaces, originally in the form of a printed book. The definition has also been applied to websites offering a specimen collection similar to what a printed catalog provides. In printed form, they were typically created for type foundries and others who sold type to show what typefaces were available for sale to printers. Printers also made font catalogs to demonstrate the fonts they had on hand for printing projects. In all forms, font catalogs aid typesetters and graphic designers in choosing appropriate typefaces or narrowing down candidates for the typesetting or design process.

History

The first known font catalog was printed by European printer

Erhard Ratdolt Erhard Ratdolt (1442–1528) was an early German printer from Augsburg. He was active as a printer in Venice from 1476 to 1486, and afterwards in Augsburg. From 1475 to 1478 he was in partnership with two other German printers. The first book ...

in 1486.Lagasse, P., & Columbia University. (2018). Ratdolt, Erhard. In The Columbia Encyclopedia. Columbia University Press.

United States

The first American font catalog was printed in 1812 for

Binny & Ronaldson Binny & Ronaldson established the first permanent type foundry in the United States. Founded in Philadelphia in 1796 by the Scottish people, Scot Archibald Binny (1762/3–1838) and James Ronaldson (1769–1841). History Archibald Binny, of Scot ...

, a type foundry in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

.Annenberg, Maurice. Type Foundries of America and Their Catalogs. Baltimore: Maran Printing Services, 1975, p. 66
Internet Archive
Although they had put out an earlier catalog in 1809, it only contained printing ornaments, with no examples of typefaces.

Gallery

File:First specimen of Binny & Ronaldson, 1812.jpg, The first font sample in

's first type specimen book from 1812.

References

Typography Catalogues {{typ-stub

History

United States

Gallery

See also

References