MORE SURREALISM FROM TYPE SPECIMENS.

We have already seen examples of the mad surrealism of type specimens from the 1800s. Sometimes, however, the mood is more satire than surrealism. Here are some examples of both from a specimen book issued by Farmer, Little & Co. in 1867.

specimen 15
specimen 13

In 1867, there was still a fair amount of bitterness when the subject of British-outfitted Confederate privateers came up.


specimen11 specimen 10 specimen 09 specimen 08 specimen 07 specimen 06 specimen 14specimen 05 specimen-04 specimen-03 specimen 12specimen-02

This one, in the most florid nineteenth-century marketing language, is actually talking about the type itself, a “rimmed gothic.”

specimen-01