I know, I know...and browsing these forums I've found some great ones, but I have to start someplace and this way I get typefaces for about $3 a piece as opposed to $30.

Get Bitstream's Type Odyessy instead.

Their "Swiss" is a very good Helvetica, and you get a lot more stuff than on the Linotype CDs (and in a larger range of weights), plus a nice range of more recent stuff.

Off the top of my head, versions of Futura and Franklin Gothic aren't included with Bitstream. If you need these, you may like to consider Linotype. I got both sets (LT and bitstream).

If you're a student, you should consider our (Adobe's) Type Classics for Learning. With 400 fonts for $99, including many Adobe Originals, it's a great deal, and still leaves you money to pick up other stuff.

T

Yves

It's not the size of your type collection that
counts, but how you use it.

Naughty, naughty. But since you are in the mood maybe you should consider Lanston.
http://lanstontype.com/

Write, I may give you a special library price.
http://lanstontype.com/lanstonaddress.html

Yves

I'd agree with you but I really don't know what "really stand out" entails for you. Stand out to whom?

Personally, and I know this goes against the grain of current practice, but I'd rather have less rather than more fonts, or at least, a trusted few well thought out, technically proficient fonts, whose look I also happen to like, and whose text setting capability saves me a lot of time and money (by forgoing adjustments to letterform combinations, etc.).

So my recommendation would not be to go the CD route, as you also suggest, but for perhaps different reasons. In writing about the selection of metal types, Lewis Allen, in his book Printing with the Handpress, suggested selection after careful study, as "inferior tools corrode the spirit." Always kind of favored that remark.

Don't go for the run-of-the-mill standards. Dare to be different.
You don't want your stuff to look like everyone else's.

Bitstream all the way if you really have to go mainstream.
I purchased the CD-ROM at the beginning of my career for
all those plain-vanilla faces I might need because clients
specifically request them, and I haven't regretted the
purchase ever since.

Hehe, Thomas to the rescue. I really should give that collection
a look, though I can't take advantage of it anymore. Link?

On a side note: what good does $3 a font do to you if you
disappear in the mainstream? I'd rather have less fonts for
my $500 and really stand out. You don't need that many
different faces. It's not the size of your type collection that
counts, but how you use it.