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Purchasing old type-specimens
Kasper Pyndt
Posts: 19
Hey!
I'm looking to start a collection of old type specimens (basically anything before 1980), and I'm wondering if you have any insights as to where to purchase some? I've been looking a bit on Amazon, but haven't been able to find much. Maybe I'm not using the right key words?
Or maybe you know of specific sites/sellers or other tips that you can share?
Thanks a lot,
Kasper
I'm looking to start a collection of old type specimens (basically anything before 1980), and I'm wondering if you have any insights as to where to purchase some? I've been looking a bit on Amazon, but haven't been able to find much. Maybe I'm not using the right key words?
Or maybe you know of specific sites/sellers or other tips that you can share?Thanks a lot,
Kasper
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Comments
Only original printed books or scanned ones?
ZVAB has many used books related to typography:
https://www.zvab.com/buch-suchen/titel/d-stempel-ag/
Complete set of types or only a line like Hamburgis?
I have 220 of free available scanned books, catalogues and even the scanned file cards of the German registry of type faces 1910-1960 (Association of German Typefoundries = Verein der Schriftgiessereien). http://www.klingspor-museum.de/Verein-der-Schriftgiessereien-VdS.html See other links here: http://www.klingspor-museum.de/index.html
Also a collection of ~3000 free available historic fonts, where I can print specimens myself.
Some are hard to get like the complete specimens of Bodoni, Manuale Tipografico. [Parma 1818]
There are modern reprints of it, you can maybe get as used book:
Handbuch der Typographie, manuale tipografico. Hrsg. von Stephan Füssel. Köln 2011. ISBN 978-3-8365-0552-9
There are still producers of metal typefaces like https://www.rainer-gerstenberg.de/bleischriften/ with downloadable specimens. Click on "Schriftprobe".
Some of the scanned ones available on archive.org. Links maybe don't work, but you can use part of the title as search term:
Thanks Helmut. Great list!
My interest is very special: Collect shapes of typefaces for identification of the typeface (OFR - Optical Font Recognition) and improvement of OCR.
But searching sources for other interests would be similar and depends mainly on keywords for query terms.
Keywords:
- type (DE: Typen, Figuren, Lettern)
- specimen (FR: specimen, DE: Probe(n), Gesamtprobe, Hauptprobe, Arbeitsprobe, Schriftmuster)
- catalogue (DE: Katalog, Verzeichnis)
E. g. "Schriftmuster" finds 400+ entries of offered used books at ZVAB https://www.zvab.com/servlet/SearchResults?cm_sp=SearchF-_-topnav-_-Results&kn=schriftmuster&sts=t, but most shops do not ship outside Germany. Maybe there are similar platforms in your region, or try Amazon, eBay.
Or you search for names of designs/fonts, designers, type foundries, history of typography/printing etc.
Look into references and links in Wikipedia articles. Sometimes it helps knowing the title, name, author etc. as base for extended search. Some original specimen are hard to find.
E. g. I searched hard to find an original of the very popular Breitkopf-Fraktur (1750), with many recuts after 1850, recuts for Linotype and Monotype, 12+ digital fonts. Per occasion I found a high quality book by Elsevier, 1919, where they restaurated old typeforms of German typefaces, 15th to 19th century, and bingo, one Tertia (16 P) Schwabacher by Breitkopf jun., Kleincicero (12 P, swashed h) Fraktur Breitkopf 1763, and Kleinmittel (14 P, unswashed h) Fraktur Breitkopf 1763.