Does Pirouette count as contemporary?
http://www.linotype.com/91918/pirouette-family.html

Tiffany, Ryuichi Tateno was influenced by Zapf's work when he worked on this project. I've heard that Hermann Zapf is a fan of the typeface.

Zapfino's alternates are way more wicked, though.

Dan,
I second Tiff on that. Major great stuff. That goes on my "gotta have" list.

Chris

Maybe fabulous 'Zanzibar', by G

How about Font Bureau's Sloop

I like also a lot Sirenne

> slightly nautical- or 18th C.-looking which avoids pastiche or cliche.

Not sure if these fit the bill and I sure as hell don't know if they look 18th Century enough. But looking at Ronsard, I've come up with these:

T26's Opsmarckt
Lagarto from Letras Latinas. If you manage to buy this one, please lemme know how much it costs.
Penman, Penman B and Polonaise

Will you also consider something kinda distressed like Allegheny or would that be too hackneyed for the slave theme?

Platthand is nice too, no?

Wow, thanks for all this guys. I thought the thread had been 'dingied' as we say in Glasgow (rough translation: 'ignored') but obviously you were deliberating

Stephen: I think the contempory feel is more important than that the face be specifically 18th C. I guess it's misleading to mention such a specific period in the context of typography. As I'm sure you've realised, the treatment of the subject matter isn't drily historical.

To nobody in particular: I guess I'm also not keen on using distressed faces in general, and particularly not for this job -- it could all get a bit Captain Birdseye.

To Tiff, re readability: I'm not against people having to do a little bit of work to read certain things; in this case, as I wrote, I think the face will be used only for the four-word title. It's for a very visually-intelligent niche audience, who will go to the show whether they can read the title or not, so to me it's more important to offer something novel, pertinent to the subject matter but taking a new angle on it. A bit of mystery is fine.

Having said all that, David H: Zanzibar is wild. I looked at Fountain for this project but somehow managed to miss that face. I just downloaded the PDF and had a look at the full character set, and I think it could really work. It makes the right kind of visual reference, but feels like it couldn't have been designed anytime but now. Very nice indeed. The slight off-the-wallness is a bonus, too.

Maybe I'll get up the courage to post the results in Critique ...

Thanks all of you,

R

Liorah, anyone?

What about a serif with an italic that has more character than your average italic? MVB Sirenne is very nice.

You might also look at Florens by LetterPerfect at Myfonts. Has a nice set of alternate swashes.

Forgot to mention ... Florens is on sale right now ...

Dan, that is gorgeous. I'm such a sucker for alternate characters. Kinda reminds me of the tame second cousin to Linotype's Zapfino.

:^)

I second Tiff's suggestion of Sirenne. I think it's ideal for the
nautical subject matter.

Is it more important that the script be "contemporary" or
"18th-century"? A thread title change might be in order.

not bad

Even though this sounds like -- is -- an historical show, the display itself sounds very modern. Is it?

If it is, I would tend toward the less decorative and elegant (?) typefaces. Sloop seems far too elegant and decorative. Zanzibar is interesting, but too much of it could leave the viewer not reading what is important. Pirouette would still work if the alternates were used strategically and sparingly.