I see you took my advice to post this for the Board. Can you tell us how old this sample is, and/or what the source is? Also, do you have any other samples showing more letters?

- Mike Yanega

That's Livorno. I can't remember the foundry.

Nick Cooke

I've looked for that name in almost every book I have and I've Googled it on the web. The only reference to Livorno that wasn't the city or its soccer team talks about a 'Livorno font' from an Israeli company called FontBit, whose fonts appear to be Hebrew. I couldn't get an English version of their page to open, so I am stuck there.

What else do you know about it Nick?

- Mike Yanega

I've been delving into my archives Mike. I remember doing a kern and space job on this for M&C Saatchi in 1999. I think it may have been custom designed especially for Asprey and Garrard (Royal warrant jewellers). On my key map print out the copyright notice reads '1995 dtp Types Ltd', which I happen to know is run by Malcolm Wooden. I can find no mention of Livorno on their website.

It's a pretty classy font with tall ascenders (or smallish x-height, depending on how you look at it) and a very long tail on both the cap and lower case y. It may be based upon an old typeface but I have no idea what it could be. It's a shame it isn't generally available.

Nick Cooke

Thanks for the information Nick. It reminded me of Colwell, which Nick Curtis has revived as McKenna Handletter. I have always been attracted to the antique typefaces with the low x-heights, so it was bugging me that I couldn't find a match for it. Now I know why.

- Mike Yanega

It also reminds me of the old Bauer typeface, Ehmcke, which was the basis for Letraset's Carlton. That might make a good alternative for you Danny.

- Mike Yanega

It's closer to Carlton. I'll do a scan on Monday so you can see what it looks like. Unfortunately I can find no trace of it in digital form.

Nick Cooke

Hey Nick, can you send me a specimen? I want to see the full Character
Set.

This is the best I can do. Any digital data is on a floppy or a Zip disk somewhere.

Nick Cooke

Ps. Mike here's a new one for your script id guide: Olicana

That certainly is the same typeface. Thanks for the sample of Livorno Nick.

(I also appreciate your heads-up about 'Olicana'. I'd love to have samples of it for the Script Font ID Guide. I'll write to you offline.)

- Mike Yanega