Special Characters.
Each of the Historical Allsorts includes the complete complement of characters provided in the original source.
The Shrinking Textura
As its name suggests, the virtue of the “textura” was its ability to produce an even texture across the page. But as any victim of hyphenation and justification knows, consistent spacing is difficult to achieve. To preserve the density of the text, medieval scribes not only relied heavily on hyphens, but also developed a system of abbreviations called sigla that could stand in for common Latin words and morphemes. The modern ampersand, derived from the Latin word et, is one of the few such abbreviations still in use; the Historical Allsorts’ English Textura font contains sixty others. Perfect for papal indulgences, Vulgates, or annual reports.
The Expanding Civilité
The Civilité, originally used for writing contracts, completed short lines with a flourish in order to prevent underhanded amendment. While the written Civilité could therefore reach any line length, a Civilité typeface was limited by the inflexible length of whatever “terminal” forms were supplied with the font. Granjon’s St. Augustin Civilité included not only twelve exuberant terminals, but 53 flamboyant alternates and ligatures that helped to both decorate the line and expand it laterally. All are included in the Historical Allsorts.
Historicals with Requiem
Historicals with Hoefler Text Arabesques
Historicals with Ziggurat
