Samuel Welo’s “Studio Handbook – Letter and Design for Artists and Advertisers” was a go-to source of inspiration for generations of layout artists, graphic designers and sign painters. An interesting example of free-form pen lettering was found amongst the pages of one edition and it has now been recreated as a digital typeface called Nouveau Cartoon JNL; available in both regular and oblique versions.

The 1930 sheet music for “A Peach of a Pair” from Paramount Pictures’ “Follow Through” listed the stars and production credits in a wonderfully casual, free-form Art Nouveau hand lettering. This has been recreated digitally as Casually Nouveau JNL, and is available in both regular and oblique versions. For another Art Nouveau typeface with a free-form look, try the similarly named Casual Nouveau JNL.

The deep well of creativity that is the era of the hand lettered sheet music title page brings forth Nouveau Nights JNL. Re-drawn from a period example of the 1920s, this titling font perfectly captures the warm "human" look of pen and ink lettering, long before the advent of "perfect" digital type.

The hand lettering found on the cover of the 1912 sheet music for "Somebody Else is Getting It" featured a blockish Art Nouveau style with rounded corners and a very lurid title [although it likely had a more innocent meaning in those days than the casual observer might interpret today]. Now available as Nouveau Standard JNL, it is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The sheet music for the 1917 song "Wake Up Virginia (and Prepare for Your Wedding Day)" features a hand lettered title in a sans serif Art Nouveau design with stencil influences. This was the inspiration for Nouveau Stencil JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The gently spurred serif hand lettering found on an advertisement for Berkshire Stockings (circa the 1920s) was the inspiration for Nouveau Elegance JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The 1910 sheet music for “In All My Dreams I Dream of You” had the title hand lettered in an eclectic sans serif that typified the free form Art Nouveau movement of the time. The lettering was recreated digitally as Nouveau Dreams JNL, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Decade Nouveau JNL is based on examples of an Art Nouveau wood type with a bit of Latin/Western typographic flare, and yet it is also reminiscent of the style's revival during the hippie movement of the 1960s.

The cover of the 1904 sheet music from the Tibetan comic opera “The Forbidden Land” had the title hand lettered in an unusual Art Nouveau style. Mostly squared with rounded corners, many of the characters twisted, turned and extended in ways that took on the look of the Far East. This became the design model for Nouveau Moderne JNL, which is available in regular and oblique versions.

A poster for the publication “The Quartier Latin – A Magazine Devoted to the Arts” featured the magazine’s name in a light Art Nouveau serif style. The Quartier Latin was published between 1896 and 1899 by the American Art Association of Paris. This is now available as Nouveau Meadow JNL in both regular and oblique versions.

Vintage sheet music for the 1920s song "Where Did Robinson Crusoe Go with Friday on Saturday Night?" yielded the hand lettered Art Nouveau alphabet for Nouveau Display JNL. Because the Art Nouveau movement was so influential in the graphic designs of the 1960s "Love Generation" counter culture, this typeface blends itself well with projects crossing many decades and varying styles.

Nouveau Never Dies is a compreensive family of ornaments from Art Nouveau era.

The hand lettering on a World War I recruitment poster for the French Air Service inspired French Nouveau JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The roots of Nouveau Handlettered JNL go back to the sheet music cover for the 1917 song "(Someday) Somebody's Gonna Get You". This simple style of sans serif titling has the casual, imperfect charm of the pen and ink lettering so prevalent in the decades before metal type and other technical advancements made the craft almost obsolete. The typeface is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The basic design style for Nouveau Days JNL was inspired by the hand lettering on the sheet music cover for "Linger Longer Letty". This tongue-twisting song title comes from the 1919 musical comedy of the same name. Some of the characters originally had tiny spur serifs, but they were omitted in the digital version to keep the overall design consistent. The font is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Free form Art Nouveau hand lettering found on many early-1900s ads for various personal care items manufactured by the Colgate Company were the design inspiration for Stylish Nouveau JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

1920s sheet music for the song "You Can't Get Away From It" provided the hand lettered title which acted as the basis for Nouveau Roundcorner JNL. A square letter form with rounded terminals, this condensed face is perfect for titling, yet has a bit of an informal, casual charm to it.

Pen Nouveau JNL is a perfect example of the fluid, free-form pen lettering popularized during the Art Nouveau era of the early 1900s. The type face was modeled from the lettering on the cover of a piece of sheet music from 1911 entitled "If You Talk in Your Sleep, Don't Mention My Name".

Olde Nouveau JNL is an interesting Art Nouveau typeface based on lettering found on some vintage sheet music. It's name is a contradictory pun, since "Nouveau" means new in French, and Olde (spelled in the archaic form) is the total opposite of what the Art Nouveau movement embodied.

By the late 1920s, lettering and design had already begun to feel the influences of what would become the Art Deco Movement. The sheet music for the 1927 song "Without You Sweetheart" had its title hand lettered in a block style letter with rounded corners – with the exception of the 'S' and 'R' in "Sweetheart"; reflecting design elements of both styles. For consistency, those letters were changed to fit the rest of the design, and the result is the digital font College Nouveau JNL, available in both regular and oblique versions.

When master letterer Hugh Gordon and his student, Ross F. George developed a set of lettering pens between June 16, 1913 and Sept. 1, 1914, they had no idea that their invention (which they named Speed-Ball®) would still be in use nearly a hundred years later. The C. Howard Hunt pen company [originally of Camden, New Jersey] became the original (and sole) distributor of these pens. By 1915 an instructional booklet entitled "Modern Pen Lettering" was produced, and it was copiously illustrated with examples of layouts, lettering techniques and an assortment of alphabets for the user to learn. Nouveau Poster JNL is Jeff Levine's interpretation of a sanserif design found within the pages of this vintage publication.

Within the pages of an early-1900s instructional book on show card lettering was found a marvelous example of an alphabet that typifies the Art Nouveau movement of the era and served as the inspiration for Nouveau Riche JNL. Angular, artistic and reminiscent (in some ways) of ancient Greek lettering, this design has many unusual letterforms. Check out the interpretive K and R for the best examples of this art style.

The Women's Suffrage Movement gained women the right to vote in 1920. Up until then there were many ways undertaken to rally sympathy for the cause. In 1916 Alice Paul formed the National Woman's Party. That same year a song with the [exhaustive] sixteen word title "She's Good Enough to be Your Baby's Mother (And She's Good Enough to Vote with You)" yielded a hand lettered Art Nouveau sans serif design in the main portion of the title. This became the basis for Plain Nouveau JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The Art Nouveau hand lettering on the sheet music for 1915's "I'm Glad It was Only A Dream" served as the inspiration for Melodie Nouveau JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The hand lettered Art Nouveau title on the sheet music for “Why Don't You Try” (1905) served as the inspiration for Tryout Nouveau JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

At times, one source of inspiration can generate more than one idea. This was the case with the 1918 sheet music for the song "You're Still an Old Sweetheart of Mine". The cover displays the title in a hand lettered narrow Art Nouveau Sans serif style. A number of characters were revised and the overall font was compressed by 25% to create a whole new look and feel. The end result became Slim Nouveau JNL. This was the same material used to originally model Easy Money JNL, which is truer to the original lettering design. The font is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The hand lettered title on the cover for the (ca. 1917) sheet music for “After the War is Over” provided the design inspiration for National Nouveau JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions. A precursor to the Art Deco movement which would arrive within the next decade, this bold thick-and-thin design embraces the elements of both Art Nouveau and Art Deco in one type design and gets its name from the patriotic spirit of America during “The Great War”.

A pleasant Art Nouveau hand lettered title is featured on the sheet music cover for "You Brought A New Kind of Love to Me". The song is from the 1930 Paramount film "The Big Pond" featuring Maurice Chevalier and Claudette Colbert. The original lettering was done with a round point pen nib, and showed a lot of small inconsistencies. For the digital version it has been "tightened up" a bit and is now available as Nouveau Fashion JNL, in both regular and oblique versions.

Free-flowing pen lettering of the Art Nouveau period took letter forms into interesting curves and angles. The style was embraced and revived by the 1960s counter-culture in its rock concert posters and record album covers. However, the source for Casual Nouveau JNL is a 1911 piece of sheet music entitled "Back to the Carolina You Love".

Novelty Nouveau JNL gets its name from its source of inspiration – the cover of a 1919 piece of sheet music for the novelty tune “America Never Took Water (And America Never Will)” This Art Nouveau condensed sans serif type design is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Oddly Nouveau JNL is a charming Art Nouveau design based on “Eccentric”, a metal typeface issued by American Type Founders (circa 1898). This digital version is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Sinuous but sturdy; ornate but legible - Gambit Nouveau is modern-day design created in the spirit of Art Nouveau. This delicate and natural typeface features tapered spurs, compact swashes, and spiral curling. You will find it ideally suited for announcements and invitations as well as decorative headlines. And for your convenience, Gambit Nouveau comes equipped with corner and free-standing ornaments plus a wide range of alternate characters. Gambit Nouveau is also available in the OpenType Std format. Some new features including initial forms and old style figures have been added to this OpenType version. Advanced features currently work in Adobe Creative Suite InDesign, Creative Suite Illustrator, and Quark XPress 7. Check for OpenType advanced feature support in other applications as it gradually becomes available with upgrades.

The interesting hand lettered sans design of Music Nouveau JNL was found as the title of a vintage piece of early 20th Century sheet music for a song written by famed composer Irving Berlin and called "They Were All Out of Step but Jim". Judging by the cover art, it was a novelty song about a soldier.

A sheet music edition of an early 1900s song entitled "You Taught Me How to Love You, Now Teach Me to Forget" was hand lettered in a free-form Art Nouveau style that combined varying line widths and character shapes. This unrestricted style of lettering was popularly embraced and revived by the hippie counterculture of the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s through their rock concert posters, record album covers and tee shirt graphics. It is now available digitally as Nouveau Artiste JNL. As a side note, a 1940s reprint of the sheet music was done in a popular metal typeface, which was also redrawn digitally and available as Elite Resort JNL [in both regular and oblique versions].

The original design came from Berthold Herold typeface, designed by Hermann Hoffmann during 1913 (Art Nouveau style) in Germany. This project started from flyer printed during 1947 with movable type, the specimen was scanned as a source to development some of the uppercase letterforms. However the most unusual and tricky element from this sample is the leg from the uppercase (R) which is different from the original Herold design, until now I didn’t found where this version originally came from. This expanded version only contain the bold weight, however there are also stencil (Nouveau LX Stencil) and condensed version (Nouveau LX) available.

The hand lettered title for the 1890s book called “The Octopus” featured extra bold Art Nouveau lettering with rounded serifs. This is now available as Headline Nouveau JNL in both regular and oblique versions.

Nouveau Eccentrique JNL is a novelty Art Nouveau lettering style found on some 1920s sheet music cheerfully entitled "I'm Glad I Can Make You Cry".

The condensed, spur serif hand lettering for the title on the 1906 sheet music cover of “Gee! But this is a Lonesome Town” inspired Nouveau Spur JNL; which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The hand lettered title on the cover of the 1914 tune “I Want you to Meet My Mother” served as the inspiration for Nouveau Date JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

A piece of sheet music from Hungary (circa1921) entitled “Praerie Trott” offered up some playfully rounded hand lettering in a cartoon-like style. This was the visual model for Hungarian Nouveau JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.