If you're looking
for fonts which imitate the writing systems used in old Latin
manuscripts, you have come to the right place.
CAPITALIS ELEGANS, CAPITALIS RUSTICA, CAPITALIS MONUMENTALIS, ANTIQUA
CURSIVA ROMANA, NOVA CURSIVA ROMANA, UNCIALIS, SEMIUNCIALIS,
BENEVENTANA MINUSCULA, VISIGOTHICA MINUSCULA, LUXOVIENSIS MINUSCULA,
INSULARIS MINUSCULA, INSULARIS MAJUSCULA, CAROLINGIA MINUSCULA, GOTHICA
TEXTURA QUADRATA, GOTHICA TEXTURA PRESCISSA, GOTHICA ROTUNDA, GOTHICA
BASTARDA, GOTHICA CURSIVA, BASTARDA ANGLICANA and HUMANISTICA ANTIQUA
are the individual names of a set of eighteen fonts which I have
recently designed. As their names denote, these fonts are
representative of the main styles of Latin handwritings used during
Middle Ages in parchments.
These fonts belong to the category known as facsimile
level and they are intended to resemble the handwriting style of
Medieval Latin scripts as appear in manuscripts.
The paleographic font package is a collection of fonts
based on ancient and medieval calligraphy which include specialty
characters, abbreviations, ligatures and alternate forms for some
letters. These paleographic fonts can be used to represent medieval
manuscripts in a "semi-diplomatic" fashion. That is, an edited version
of the manuscript that preserves more features of the original document
than is common in standard, normalized, modern editions. They allow the
preservation of many medieval features, and can be used to help
students become more familiar with medieval writing and languages
without the expense of purchasing semi-diplomatic editions or
facsimiles of manuscripts.
This collection of fonts is suitable for students and
scholars of historical sciences as well as desktop paleographical
publishing. It may be of interest to students and
professionals dealing with paleography, linguistics and classical and
medieval Latin.
Doubtless this is the most authentic and useful of font
packages currently available to medievalists.
The fonts are edit-embeddable to permit creation of Adobe Acrobat
documents (PDF)
and web pages with embedded fonts (the so-called "web-fonts": EOT, WOFF
and SVG formats).
SOFTWARE
REQUIREMENTS
These are standard
fonts (8 bits, TTF format), so they can be used running any Windows
version and any word processor.
You can also use
them running Linux. I have successfully tried them under Debian with
OpenOffice.
These fonts
should be usable on Macintosh running OSX9 and OSX. This is not a
problem, since Mac recognizes PC TrueType fonts without complaint.
(Note that you will need to restart the computer to fully install the
font).
In any case,
if you are very interested and you wish to get a Mac version of these
fonts (bin and dfont formats), I can produce them in a Mac native
format for you.
SAMPLE TEXTS WRITTEN WITH
THE PALEOGRAPHIC FONTS:
For
more details on handwriting Latin systems and further information about
these fonts including more visual examples, please read the USERS' MANUAL (PDF
format, 82 pages).
DOWNLOAD
AREA: MANUAL OF LATIN PALEOGRAPHY
You
can see visual samples of these fonts if you read the short manual of
Latin Paleography I have written (PDF file with 82 pages profusely
illustrated) which is available from this site.
It contains a lot of images of manuscripts and shows the
close imitation of their different handwritings I have made with the
paleographic set of fonts. The manual also contains
detailed explanations about the history of the different
handwriting styles used in Latin manuscripts from the first century AD
to the invention of printing in the middle of the 15th century.
Click on the link below to view or download the manual.
Manual
of LATIN PALEOGRAPHY with font samples PDF file, 82 pages
and 4.25 MB)
This is a large file; therefore, please be
patient!
These fonts are based on medieval and ancient lettering styles. For
this reason they may not include all the characters you may expect and
may include specialty characters or strange alternate forms for some
letters.
If
you wish to view the entire character set provided in these fonts,
please click on the following link for a full character map (PDF
file, 34 pages, 2.02 MB)
PRICE OF THE FONT PACKAGE
The font package termed "Fonts for Latin
Paleography" is a set of fonts which contains a total of 20 typefaces: Capitalis
monumentalis, capitalis elegans, capitalis rustica, uncialis,
semiuncialis, antiqua
cursiva
romana, nova cursiva romana, merovingia, insularis majuscula, insularis
minuscula, visigothica, beneventana, carolina minuscula, gothica
textura prescissa, gothica textura quadrata, gothica rotunda, gothica
bastarda, gothica cursiva, bastarda anglicana and humanistica
antiqua respectively.
These fonts based on historical
prototypes are the result of long hours of investigation and hard
work.
Font development is a
painstaking, time-consuming task and this is a single person's work not
sponsored by any institution.
Hence these fonts are
not free. Nevertheless, the font package has a reasonable price.
Registration of the
whole package costs €120 (approximately US $135 or £102)* (see advise below).
If you wish, you can
purchase only one individual font as well. Each single font costs €20 (approximately US $24 or £17).
SPECIAL PRICING: Pay two
fonts and get three. Purchase three fonts for €40 (approximately US $45). If you acquire two fonts, the third is
for free. A 33% discount!
It is also available a font package of six fonts for €60 (approximately US $67). A 50%
discount!
After making the
payment you will receive the fonts as attachment to an email message
sent to your email account.
*ADVISE: Due to the current fluctuation in the
exchange rate among different currencies, only prices in Euro can
be guaranteed. The prices in
$USA or in other currencies depend on the actual exchange rate (for
example at the date of this writing, January 2024, 1 euro is equivalent
to 1,10 US dollars approximately).
ONLINE PAYMENT
If you own a credit or debit
card (Visa®, MasterCard®, Discover®, Maestro® and American Express®),
you can pay online, which means credit card processing can be made in a
matter of clicks.
This
payment is being backed by PayPal®, a global leader in online
payment solutions. To make payments with PapyPal is easy, fast, free
and secure for buyers. Naturally, your transaction will be confidential
and the information you give will not be used for any reason other than
the use intended. PayPal protects your security.
(Note: You are not
required to have a Paypal account. By following the instructions on the
Paypal page, you may make your payment by credit card or bank transfer.)
Do not worry
about converting the Euro price into your currency, PayPal will do this
when you make your payment.
Depending on
your choice, click on the corresponding button below to purchase the
paleographic fonts online. In order to avoid errors, please read
carefully the information given below before clicking on the PayPal
button to order. Please be careful with your choosing since depending
on it you will get one item or other.
1) – One
single font. Delivery: Electronic only. Each individual font costs €20
(approximately
US $22 or £17).
The font will be sent as attachment to your email account. If you
choose this option, please email me telling the name of the font you
wish to receive.
Take advantage of our special pricing options:
2a) – Three
fonts. Delivery:
Electronic only. SPECIAL PRICE:
Pay two
fonts and get three. Purchase three fonts for €40 (approximately US $44). If you acquire two
fonts, the third is for free. A 33% discount! Evidently if you choose this option, you
must email me telling the name of the fonts you wish to receive.
2b) – Six
fonts.
Delivery: Electronic only. SPECIAL OFFER: Purchase six
fonts for €60 (approximately $66 or £51). Only €10 (approximately US $12) for each font. You save 50%. A real
bargain! Evidently if you choose this option, you
must email me indicating the name of the fonts you wish to receive.
3) – Complete font package of
20 fonts. Delivery: Electronic. The full package of 20 fonts
costs €120
(approximately US $133 or £102). The package which contains the
eighteen paleographic fonts will be sent as attachment to your email
account in a ZIP file. The fonts have not restrictions at all. All
features are enabled. Even embedding is allowed: this means that the
font may be embedded in documents to produce PDF documents running
Adobe Acrobat. You also are entitled to use the font in a printed book
or to produce electronic documents which can be uploaded into your web
page.
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IMPORTANT THINGS TO NOTE :
1.- Whatever option you choose,
please send me a message after making the payment through PayPal in
order to confirm that you are really who ordered the font.
2.- In most cases
I will reply to your message in due time (normally within a day or so),
unless I was on holydays, then it will take a little more time, since I
only will able to check my emails from time to time, (usually every
five days, more or less or even a little more during the summer) so be
patient, however, be sure that you will receive my response. Sorry for
this inconvenience.
3.- Evidently,
any modification or public distribution of these fonts is not permited
under any circumstance.
5.- For other
alternative methods of payment (bank transfer, postal order, etc.),
please email me for further details.
AUTHOR
Just in case you are
wondering who is Juan-José Marcos, click here and you will find some information about the
author of these fonts and this website.
SUGGESTIONS AND QUERIES
I have taken
care to see that these fonts work as well as possible, nevertheless, if
you find any fault, feel free to email me.
Although you do not purchase the fonts, please, send me
comments, suggestions for improvements or anything else regarding my
paleographical fonts. I would like to know your opinion about my work.
I really would appreciate having users' feedback.
Such reaction from users will be the deciding factor in my
decision of carrying on with the development of more paleographic
fonts. Any errors in the manual? Please do not hesitate to contact me.
Your comments will be welcome. Thanks in advance.
If this set of fonts is well received, it will be expanded
in the near future (Early
Gothic, Anglicana, Secretary and so forth).
PALEOGRAPHIC
FONTS FOR ANCIENT GREEK
A similar font package for Greek
Paleography (ANGULAR UNCIAL, BIBLICAL UNCIAL, COPTIC UNCIAL,
PAPYRUS UNCIAL, ROUND UNCIAL, SLAVONIC UNCIAL, SLOPING UNCIAL,
MINUSCULE IX, MINUSCULE XI and
MINUSCULE XV ) is
also available. For more detailed information press HERE or click on the image below.
ALPHABETUM UNICODE FONT
NOTICE:
If you wish to use a specialized multilingual Unicode font specifically
designed for classical languages (classical & medieval Latin, ancient Greek, Coptic, Linear B, Etruscan, Oscan, Umbrian, Faliscan, Messapic, Picene, Iberian, Celtiberian, Gothic, Runic, Old & Middle English, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Ogham, Ugaritic, Old Persian, Phoenician, Avestan,
Aramaic, Parthian, Karosthi, Old Nordic
and Linguistics ( I.P.A. ), please visit the ALPHABETUM website , there
you will find further information about the Unicode system and the wide
coverage and capabilities of this Unicode font.
Alphabetum samples:
juanjmarcosgmail.com
Juan-José Marcos
Plasencia (Cáceres) Spain.
This page last updated on January 2024.