From nice ladies to evil clowns.

A beautiful and stylish pen lettered alphabet appears within the pages of the 1921 publication “How to Write Show Cards” and its Art Nouveau stylings made it a perfect candidate for a digital revival. Pleasant Show Card JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Alf Becker graced the pages of "Signs of the Times" magazine month after month for decades, presenting attractive and unusual hand lettered alphabets as inspiration for other sign painters and show card writers. From straightforward text faces to novelty ideas, Becker's talent as a master sign crafter was constant in his work. Show Card Casual JNL is one example of what is referred to as a "one stroke" alphabet (utilizing a single brush stroke in each direction to form the letter or number). Its casual look and playful charm allow for a message to be presented in an informal format that is pleasing to the eye. The type design is available in both regular and oblique versions. Special thanks to Tod Swormstedt of ST Publications for providing the reference material.

The title and credits for the 1951 Dick Powell and Rhonda Fleming film “Cry Danger” were hand lettered in a freehand brush lettering often seen on store signs and show cards. Serving as the model for Show Card Freehand JNL, this pleasant and casual typeface is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Art Nouveau serif capitals and numerals in the 1917 instructional book “A Roman Alphabet and How to Use It” were the inspiration for Show Card Roman JNL; available in both regular and oblique versions.

This quaint headline typeface is based on an offering from the Cleveland Type Foundry, originally named Oxford. The centered small caps treatment makes for unusual and alluring headlines. All versions of this font include the Unicode 1250 Central European character set in addition to the standard Unicode 1252 Latin set.

Show Card Sans JNL (available in both regular and oblique versions) is based on a chart showing the basic construction of sans serif lettering in the 1922 instruction book “Modern Show Card Writing”.

Billing and Shipping JNL is the perfect dingbat font for replicating rubber stamps and labels used in the transit of packages.

The hand punched lettering of an antique French shipping stencil was the inspiration for French Shipping Stencil JNL; available in both regular and oblique versions.

A playful, casual take on round nib pen lettering was spotted amongst some online scans from an old lettering book. The free-form and stylized shapes of the letters and numbers are reminiscent of old-time show cards, movie titles and signage in vogue around the early 1900s through the 1920s. Fancy Show Card JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Just Shoes & Purses… from silly to sophisticated, a collection of 26 line drawings of shoes and purses and those same 26 with areas filled in. Lots of cute girlie stuff… if you need more check out Hat Doodles , Diva Doodles or Diva Doodles Too .

Driver's License photos from the zoo.

Show Card Deco JNL is a hybrid of examples from hand lettered titles found on various song folios from the Carl Fischer Music Library circa the 1930s and is available in both regular and oblique versions. This particular typeface lends itself perfectly to show cards, posters, headlines and display titling which captures the modern, streamlined design of the Art Deco era.

For decades, the National Show Card Writer Company of Minneapolis, MN produced sign making kits used by shopkeepers, schools, churches and many other types of organizations. The standard sets were comprised of two part stencils that when overlaid, produced finished lettering, or a buyer could choose the same type style designs with a standard stencil letter. From one of these templates comes Show Card Stencil JNL, in both regular and oblique versions. Take note that the U, V and W have the heavier vertical strokes reversed. As this was the way the original stencil design was manufactured, it has been retained for this digital type as well.

A poster for a Dutch stage revue from the nineteen-teens, designed by Willy Sluiter, provided the template for this warm, wavy and whimsical headline font. The Opentype version of this font supports Unicode 1250 (Central European) languages, as well as Unicode 1252 (Latin) languages.

One example in the 1919 instructional book “One Hundred Alphabets for the Show Card Writer” was for an elegant sans serif with a subtle Art Nouveau style to the letter forms. This is now available digitally as Show Card Elite JNL in both regular and oblique versions.

The very first Speedball-Lettering Book was published in 1915, and within its pages was a rough-hewn example of lettering with the name "Rapid Sho-Card Style". The design is now available as Antique Show Card JNL, in both regular and oblique versions.

A movie poster for the 1952 Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis comedy “Sailor Beware” had the text rendered in a casual style of brush lettering similar to that found on store show cards. This inspired Show Card Brush JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.