Typophile

Egyptienne F ☞ such a small family

John Lyttle

Hi. Egyptienne F makes me curious because it’s such a limited typeface, especially considering Adrian Frutiger is the patriarch of this family. There’s 55 Roman, 56 Italic, 65 Bold and 75 Black, but why not a 66 Bold Italic and a 76 Black Italic?

I am designing a brochure and using Egyptienne F in combination with Univers—a whopping 27 fonts in this family pack. However, the lack of bold-italic in Egyptienne F is a bit troublesome.

It seems there must be a story behind why the type design screeched to a halt with just four fonts. Anyone here familiar with the history of this typeface?

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Jan Erdmann

Univers was the first mega family being released (1957).
Before that 4 cuts was normal (Egyptienne F 1956).

Cristobal Henestrosa

I don’t have my copy at this moment, but I am pretty sure you may find some answers reading Adrian Frutiger. The complete works

John Lyttle

Good point, Jan.

Cristobal, thanks for the link to Heidrun Ostere’s 2008 book. It looks like it would be well worth the $145 (CDN). Or $120 for the French version. Il faut que j’améliorer mes compétences en français.

Aaron Thesing

Perhaps Egyptienne never became a large family because Frutiger later made Glypha. I also feel like I read somewhere that Frutiger didn't actually care for Egyptienne or Glypha. I can't remember which it is, or where I read it...

I know they aren't identical, but it is something else to pair with Univers.

John Lyttle

Good suggestion. Thank you, Aaron.

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