English Egyptian
Abyme · John Morgan and Adrien Vasquez · 2011
A scholarly revival of William Caslon's 1816 'Two Lines English Egyptian', arguably the first commercially sold sans serif printing type, extended from its original incomplete uppercase into a usable display face.
About
Designed by John Morgan and Adrien Vasquez between 2011 and 2017, this revival draws on the anonymous vernacular lettering of early nineteenth-century buildings, engravings and maps to complete what Caslon's original specimen left unfinished. The typeface ships as a single uppercase-only style, faithful to the elemental, incised character that links the industrial revolution's graphic culture to ancient Greek and Roman inscriptions. Available from £240, it sits firmly in the territory of historically informed display work.
Classification
A revival of the 1816 Caslon Egyptian, considered the first commercial sans serif printing type; uppercase-only with incised, elemental letterforms rooted in neo-classical and vernacular traditions, making it a display face rather than a text sans.