The cover of the 1919 sheet music for "While Others are Building Castles in the Air I'll Build A Cottage for Two" had its title hand lettered in a wonderfully eccentric Art Nouveau serif design that typified the era. Also typical of the time was the habit of various songwriters to come up with wordy titles. This particular one checks in at fourteen words. Nonetheless, the sheet music's title inspired Air Castles JNL and its oblique counterpart.

Here’s a set of arrow shaped callouts in two varieties within one font. The black-on-white letters are on the upper case keys, and the white-on-black characters are on the lower case keys. The numerals 1 thru 10 in black-on-white are in the standard key positions, while the white-on-black numbers are on the same keys when engaging the “shift” key. The 'zero' key houses the number '10'. For a more dynamic look, the font is also available in an oblique version.

The opening title card for 1940's "Two Girls on Broadway" was the basis for Ticket Booth JNL. A typical Art Deco typeface, its features include a squared letter shape with rounded corners and a thin character weight.

The 1951 sheet music of "I Like the Wide Open Spaces" has the cover title set in a casual type design that emulates the "one stroke" or "speed letter" style so popular with sign painters in that decade. Taking the lettering on the sheet music and expanding the character set with a new interpretation, the result is Sign Work JNL which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The cover title for the July, 1935 issue of Harper’s Bazaar magazine was hand lettered in a condensed, squared slab serif design with a few stylized characters. This is now available as Stylish Title JNL, in both regular and oblique versions. For many years, each issue of the magazine had its title rendered in different type styles; offering many unique variations to coincide with that month’s cover art.

Antique Embellishments JNL collects more vintage wood type ornaments and embellishments from the late 1800s and is a perfect companion to Antique Ornaments JNL.

Stencil Project JNL combines a number of themes within the many decorative stencil designs re-drawn from vintage sources.

Inside the book “New Zanerian Alphabets” (1900) by C.P. Zaner is a set of thin monoline letters and numbers along with many chamfered characters offered as alternates to the main design. This simple, but effective type style has been redrawn digitally and is now available as Apprentice Signwriter JNL in both regular and oblique versions.

Visual Arts JNL is a classic Art Deco typeface based on the hand lettering found on a 1930s-era WPA (Works Progress Administration) poster for Women Artists. The exhibit took place in the Federal Art Gallery in Boston, and was part of the arts project underwritten by the WPA to keep many creative people working during the Depression years.

A 1950 reissue of the 1934 tune “With My Eyes Wide Open I’m Dreaming” had the title of the sheet music hand lettered in a semi-calligraphic sans serif design. This became the model for the appropriately named Semi Calligraphic JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The hand lettered sans serif title on the1931 sheet music for “(Potatoes are Cheaper-Tomatoes are Cheaper) Now’s the Time to Fall in Love” presented another opportunity to create a typeface from the wealth of unusual alphabets found on the covers of vintage and antique song sheets. However, it seems that even as late as the 1930s, song writers had the urge to pen long-worded titles for their musical compositions. This thirteen word verbal excursion became the model for Casual Deco JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Local Jeweler JNL was inspired by an online image of a vintage 1940s-era store sign. This type design features a thin Art Deco sans serif in both regular and oblique versions.

A 1963 movie poster for an Italian documentary called “Sexy Nudo” had its title lettering in a free form spur serif design reminiscent of cut paper. This inspired Winkle Picker JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions. Despite the subject matter of the film documentary, the lettering on the poster is fun and playful, which meant the digital font deserved a fun name as well. It was named for a shoes and boots with sharp and long pointed toes which first gained popularity in the 1950s.

Stencil Designs JNL collects twenty-six decorative designs from various vintage sources for use as spot embellishments, borders and corner pieces.

An old brass stencil of the word 'large' was spotted for sale in an online auction. What set it apart from many other vintage stencil items was the beautiful, hand-punched Western letters with a diamond-shape center. Those five letters served as the basis for Old Chisholm JNL, which retains the look and hand-made charm of the original metal stencil.

Bring back the glory of winters in Miami Beach, exotic summer vacations or Deco-era night spots with Cabana Club JNL - a retro-Deco font, complete with contour outline and solid black characters.

The set of vintage brass alphabet stencils that inspired Stencil Mark JNL was manufactured by the Chicago Firm of Meyer and Wenthe. Pete Skoglund of Unadilla, NY was selling a set of these stencils on Ebay, and was nice enough to provide Jeff Levine some images to use as models for the design of this typeface.

Office Space JNL is based on “Condensed Edina” from the 1921 Miller & Richard type specimen book and is available in both regular and oblique versions. This spurred serif Art Nouveau monoline font is a milestone – marking the 1900th font design released by Jeff Levine Fonts since its inception in January of 2006.

A 1940s film taken around Coney Island happened to show a sandwich vendor’s stand with its hand painted signs. The stylized Art Deco lettering inspired Snack Stand JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Slabserif Grotesk JNL was modeled from an example of a wood type design called Antique Light Face, and is available in both regular and oblique versions. The numerals (although an odd fit to the overall design) make this vintage font quite unusual and charming.

Jive Jump JNL is a fun and playful font for any layout where a casual and friendly approach is needed.

Lettering Guide JNL from Jeff Levine further continues his series of stencil fonts made from original sources.

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.

Decorative, Display, Headline, Serif, 1920s, Hand Lettered, Engraved, Incised, Bold, Extra Bold, Retro, Vintage, Nostalgic An ad in the July 27, 1928 issue of The Film Daily for FBO Pictures was an encouragement to all theaters to accept the emergence of 'talking pictures' and "Don't be Panicked by Sound". The headline text was hand lettered in an extra bold serif type face with engraved [incised] lines. The lettering has been redrawn as the digital type face Movie Usher JNL, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

A vintage poster from the British Columbia Forest Service on the subject of forest fire prevention provided the hand lettering that was the design model for Quick Poster JNL; available in both regular and oblique versions.

Inspired by hand lettering on a 1940s toy game spotted on ebay called "Let's Go Shopping", Jeff Levine created "Bal Harbour JNL" and named it after a South Florida community famous for its luxury homes and trendy stores.

A poster for the 1932 film “Shanghai Express” starring Marlene Dietrich has the films name is a semi-Asian lettering style. This bold poster font is now available as Asian Railway JNL in both regular and oblique versions.

Type Catalog JNL was originally a design drawn by Jeff Levine around 2006. Type Catalog JNL has a distinctively retro look for many applications.

Trail Boss JNL emulates vintage wood type and was inspired by a few visual examples found online. The erratic widths of the letters are part of the intrinsic charm of this kind of lettering.

The 1946 foreign publication entitled "100 Alphabets Publicitaires" ("100 Advertising Alphabets") collects a number of interesting and attractive lettering samples for design inspiration. One such example is Asian-inspired and was re-drawn as the digital type face now named Martial Arts JNL.

Add some twinkling lights to a bold Art Deco font such as Art Lesson JNL, and the result is a typeface which truly puts your name (or message) up in lights. Opening Night JNL conjures up images of Broadway plays and Hollywood premiers.

The opening title card for 1931's pre-code movie drama "Other Men's Women" (with Mary Astor, Regis Toomey, James Cagney and Joan Blondell amongst the cast members) is the basis for the Art Deco type face Date Night JNL.

Answer Songs have been around for [probably] just as long as there have been songs. 1917's "If I Catch the Guy Who Wrote Poor Butterfly" was the answer to the 1916 hit "Poor Butterfly" [by Raymond Hubbell and John Golden], which in turn was inspired by the Puccini opera "Madame Butterfly". "Poor Butterfly" was so popular that this "answer" tune had as part of its lyrics "That melody haunts me in my sleep; it seems to creep." Nonetheless, the sheet music for William Jerome and Arthur Green's comic lament had the title hand lettered with an oval nib lettering pen and is now availably as a digital type face called Dip Pen JNL.

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.

In the days of metal type or paper clip art, spot illustrations with stock phrases were used to embellish ads and fliers in order to grab the attention of potential customers. The convenience of digital type puts art like this at a designer's fingertips. Attention Getters JNL contains fifty-two such ad phrases, certain to add a nostalgic, yet functional appeal to your printed or online piece.

The above-the-store signage for many newspaper stands, soda shops, candy stores, luncheonettes and pharmacies of the 1950s and early 1960s were what was referred to as “privilege signs” provided by one of the major cola brands. Consisting of the brand’s emblems on the left and right, the remainder of the sign would carry the desired message of the storekeeper (such as “Candy – Soda – Newspapers”) in prismatic, embossed metal letters. Inspired by these vintage signs, Privilege Sign JNL recreates the condensed sans serif lettering style in both regular and oblique versions. The typefaces are solid black, but adding a selected color and a prismatic effect from your favorite graphics program can reproduce the look and feel of those old businesses.

The box cover of “Drawing Stencils No. 3 for Use on Slate or Paper” [a children’s drawing set produced by Montgomery, Ward & Company of Chicago circa the 1890s] had its title in an elegant spurred Roman type face. Working from the few letters available, a complete character set was created that resulted in Antique Packaging JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions. To note, this is the 1500th font release from Jeff Levine Fonts since its inception in January of 2006.

Up until the late 1920s, it was a popular habit in American songwriting to use African Americans as the topic of compositions using denigrating themes, words and even exaggerated character illustrations on the covers of the published sheet music. One such example of what was considered "entertainment" for its time was a piece entitled "Little Black Me". While this now socially and morally unacceptable piece of forgettable tripe is collected by some only for the historical documentation of the times they reflected, one good "positive" came out of this negative chapter of our country's musical heritage: The beautiful floral ornamented letters in the song's title has yielded Fancy Free JNL. Originally hand-lettered on an arc, these spurred Roman letters have been re-drawn, and are offered in both the regular design and a companion version with the ornamentation removed for lettering that is less ornate.

The hand lettered title on the sheet music for "Gee, But I'd Like to Make You Happy" (from the 1930 MGM motion picture "Good News") presented a conundrum. Some of the lettering was a classic Art Deco "thick and thin" design while the others resembled comic book title lettering. Leaning toward the comic book style, the conflicting letters were revised and the finished result became Funny Business JNL; available in both regular and oblique versions.

Antique brass stencils hand-cut for shipping items during the early part of the 20th Century were for sale in an online auction; and are the basis for Carton Stencil JNL.