FontShop launched its FontBooklet series this year with the mantra that type was meant to be seen on paper. Like smaller, more focused versions of their mother publication, FontBook, FontBooklets are printed specimens that give ample space and tribute to the best fonts for professional typography.

Unlike a typical throw-away catalog, FontBooklets are filled with typefaces chosen by myself and designer Conor Mangat purely on their merits, not as part of any marketing scheme or in response to the latest trend. The specimen text is not filler copy, but actual, readable insight into the background and characteristics of each design. Our hope is that type users will find these guides worthy of a spot near their desk, and that they will find them to be handy, reliable tools that put the tactile joy back into type selection.

FontBooklet No. 1

FontBooklet No. 1 was published this summer and covered some of our favorite sans and serif text faces with a handy perforation across the middle so you could pair and compare typefaces.

Unfortunately we are out of copies of this edition, but you can view it online and if there is sufficient demand I’ll bet we can convince someone here at the office to take another trip to the press.

Featured typefaces: Arnhem, FF Clifford, Corpid, FP Dancer, Lisboa Sans, FF Maiola, ITC Mendoza, FF Meta Serif, Pragma, Proxima Nova, FF Quadraat, RePublic, Whitman

FontBooklet No. 2

Now FontBooklet No. 2 is hot off the press with a showcase of size-specific type families. In the era of metal and wood type, fonts were designed for the size at which they were to be used, with subtle variations in weight, contrast, and proportion to make them as legible at 6 pt as they were beautiful at 72 pt.

With the dawn of scalable digital type, any font could be used at any size, and the time-honored mastering process was abandoned. As a result, many designs suffer in this new age of convenience: display fonts are often too ornate or fragile at small sizes; text fonts are clunky and dull when set large.

Fortunately, recent type design has learned from the past, and we are now seeing a return to the practice of optical size mastering. A few type families offer sturdy, readable cuts for text, and showy titling styles for the big stuff — modern technology infused with the wisdom of the originals.

Featured typefaces with size-specific fonts: ITC Bodoni, Borges, Cronos, Eldorado, Farnham, Freight, Garamond Premier, King’s Caslon, Locator, Miller, FF Reminga (new version soon), Rumba, MVB Sirenne.

How to Order

To get your free copy of FontBooklet No. 2, log in or create an account at FontShop.com and check your subscription settings to make sure the box for “catalogs” is ticked. Please also confirm that we have your current address. German residents, please contact FontShop.de for fulfillment.

Tags: catalog, FontBooklet, optical masters, optical size, print, reference, specimen