A directory of type foundry catalogs available online

This week I opened the Typographica Library, a digital bookshelf of type and lettering resources to aid research and selection. The most complete “shelf” thus far is a compilation of about 250 digitized specimen books, primarily the main catalogs from makers of metal & wood type. For years, I accessed these books via an unwieldy pile of bookmarks, downloads, and repetitive searches. As far as I know, there is no central register for digitized specimens. This DB attempts to fill that gap.
More metadata is under the hood, like country, page count, image quality rating, historical notes, as well as images of covers, title pages, and selected interior pages. Eventually we’ll get it all on the shelf so you can filter and sort. For now, it’s a list by foundry and date. I hope you find it useful, and I welcome your corrections and additions!
Comments
-
Thanks for the great work.
There are some I didn't know before.
Unfortunately the Breitkopf one doesn't download from uni-rostok.de. I will send them a mail.
0 -
Wow! Nice. Thanks.0
-
uni-rostock.de reacted quickly and repaired the download problem.
The specimenProben der Schriften in der Breitkopfischen Schriftgießerey zu Leipzig[Leipzig]: [Breitkopf], 17871
Categories
- All Categories
- 46 Introductions
- 3.9K Typeface Design
- 485 Type Design Critiques
- 560 Type Design Software
- 1.1K Type Design Technique & Theory
- 654 Type Business
- 850 Font Technology
- 29 Punchcutting
- 519 Typography
- 119 Type Education
- 323 Type History
- 77 Type Resources
- 112 Lettering and Calligraphy
- 33 Lettering Critiques
- 79 Lettering Technique & Theory
- 549 Announcements
- 91 Events
- 114 Job Postings
- 170 Type Releases
- 173 Miscellaneous News
- 276 About TypeDrawers
- 54 TypeDrawers Announcements
- 120 Suggestions and Bug Reports