Rare Type Specimens at the Open Library

Posted on 18. Feb, 2008 by Ralf Herrmann in Fonts

Collecting rare specimen books from type foundries can be a really expensive hobby. Luckily there is a growing number of digitized type specimen books available online. The Open Library project offers a free and enjoyable way to browse in those books. The magnifying glass isn’t working yet, but you can download most of these type specimen as PDFs with a sufficient resolution. Here is a selection of the available type specimen books:

William Caslon – A specimen of printing types (1785)

Franklin type foundry, Cincinnati – Convenient book of specimens (1889)

Barnhart bros. & Spindler, Chicago – Book of type specimens (1881)

Keystone Type Foundry, Philadelphia – Abridged specimen book (1906)

Cleveland Type Foundry – Catalogue and book of specimens of type faces (1895)

Palmer & Rey, San Francisco – New specimen book (1884)

American Type Founders Company – American specimen book of type styles (1912)

Lanston Monotype Machine Company – The monotype specimen book of type faces (1922)

Inland Type Foundry, St. Louis – Specimen book and catalog (1897)

MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan Co, Philadelphia – Specimens of printing types (1892)

20 Responses to “Rare Type Specimens at the Open Library”

  1. Ale Paul

    18. Feb, 2008

    lovely! sad the mackellar pdf is not online, I can not wait to see it with zoom! thanks for the links.

  2. Nick Sherman

    18. Feb, 2008

    This is an amazing resource. The resolution of some of these PDFs is a bit lower than ideal, but they’re great to look at regardless.
    I’ve always liked the Internet Archive (the group behind Open Library) for offering public domain horror movies, but never thought to search their database for type specimens.
    Thanks for the info.

  3. ralfherrmann

    18. Feb, 2008

    sad the mackellar pdf is not online

    It is! They just used the wrong URL. This should work.

  4. Ale Paul

    18. Feb, 2008

    Nick, Ralf, what ones you were able to open pdf?

  5. ralfherrmann

    18. Feb, 2008

    Remove the »_lt« from the links and they should all work fine.

  6. Nick Sherman

    18. Feb, 2008

    It might be easier to get them here (different presentation of the same stuff at the Internet Archive site).

  7. paul

    19. Feb, 2008

    i just love the MS&J book! great find.

  8. Mark Simonson

    19. Feb, 2008

    Neat! Did you notice the bitmap fonts in the back of the Caslon catalog?

    (The stern notice saying I should be using IE6+ or Firefox to view the site was kind of silly. It seems to work fine in Safari.)

  9. Beth Budwig

    20. Feb, 2008

    Wow, thank you for linking to these! I am blown away by the “New Specimen” book – just the “A”s in “A Business Talk” on page 5 are inspiring.

  10. Beth Budwig

    20. Feb, 2008

    The Palmer & Rey’s book, that is.

  11. AGL - Andre

    19. Mrz, 2008

    Oh God! Oh God! Oh God!

  12. AGL - Andre

    30. Mrz, 2008

    I had no words on my previous comment, but I should have said: Thank You Half! You’r da man!

  13. Louis

    03. Jun, 2008

    The Type catalogues are great. There are more on the site.
    the copy of the ATF 1923 catalogue on the site is not perfect.
    I scanned my copy of the catalogue into a pdf file,it is quite karge.When I put it in cd disks I spread it over 5 disks. It is in color and is clear. some of the pages are a little crooked .
    I tried to send it to the librarym but can’t figure out how to do it. Would you like a copy, ar can you help get it on the net..
    Lou

  14. Julie Godinez

    22. Jul, 2008

    Hello!

    I have a copy of a type specimen book that I cannot find any information about. It is entitled, “Twentieth Century Desk Book of Type and Printing Material” by American Type Founders Co., dated 1900-1901 and printed in Chicago.

    I literally cannot find any informatio at all anywhere about this reference book.

    Thank you for your help!

    Julie

  15. ralfherrmann

    22. Jul, 2008

    I literally cannot find any informatio at all anywhere about this reference book.

    What do you wan’t to know?
    You might start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Type_Founders
    And also try the links at the bottom of this page.

  16. Julie Godinez

    22. Jul, 2008

    Hello!

    That is what I’m saying, it is driving me crazy! I find ATF specimen books for before and after that date, printed in Buffalo or New Jersey, but none for that date printed in Chicago.

    Julie

  17. Julie Godinez

    22. Jul, 2008

    Hello!

    I am trying to determine the rarity or importance of this reference but can find nothing to help me do that. Your link was very helpful learning more about AFT history, but it does not reference this book either.

    Julie

  18. William Creswell

    25. Aug, 2008

    I have the same 1901 type book, “Twentieth Century Desk Book of Type and Printing Material”, as well. It’s a beautiful book. There was a copy on the Belgium Ebay about a month ago that sold for around $300 US. The copy I have, was purchased at a flea market this weekend. I got it for $25. It was originally priced at $250! I can’t find any info either. I’d like to scan it and put it online.

  19. xavier

    04. Mrz, 2009

    Does anyone know where I might borrow a copy of any of the actual Mackellar books so that I can scan a few pages at a much higher resolution than shown here (or, alternatively, pay a fortunate owner of such a treasure to scan some pages for me)? If I had an extra thousand bucks, I could find an original to buy (they appear once in awhile in online auctions but always with a huge reserve), but all I want is some scans. Anybody got any ideas? Thanks!!

    Xavier
    xwhys@yahoo.com

  20. Song

    18. Jun, 2009

    it is the reason why i love digital life. it just narrow the gap between the rich and poor (of course i am poor). we can enjoy some thing like “Rare Type Specimens” which was only available for richs.

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