Swash Ampersands

John Baskerville (1706-1775) was an accomplished writing master and printer from Birmingham, England. He was the designer of several types, punchcut by John Handy, which are the basis for the fonts that bear the name Baskerville today. The excellent quality of his printing influenced such famous printers as Didot in France and Bodoni in Italy. Though he was known internationally as an innovator... Read More

ITC Bookman was an instant success when it was first released in 1976. The design was an interpretation of the original Bookman typeface that dates back to the late 1800s. This earliest Bookman was also one of the first typefaces to have swash letters, not only in the italics, but also in the roman designs. The design -- and its swash characters -- was very popular in the early part of the 20th... Read More

Poetica font was designed by Robert Slimbach in 1992 with particularly generous characters. The typeface family consists of 21 weights to allow for an unusual variety of design possibilities within one typeface family. Numerous swash letters, ornaments and ligatures remind one of the early Renaissance and its unforgettable masters, for example, Giambattista Palatino, who later gave his name... Read More

François Boltana was a French prolific lettering artist during the late 20th Century. He created the Stilla typeface in 1973. Still is a cursive "Fat Face"-style design, reminiscent of the first large advertising and display types produced in the wake of the successful Bodoni, Didot, and Walbaum text faces. Because of this pedigree, Stilla is the perfect headline choice for applications that... Read More