Type specimens allow foundries and type designers to demonstrate a typeface’s visual character, legibility, and range. Foundries and type designers produce them in many formats, including books, booklets, pamphlets, posters, and individual sheets. Before desktop publishing and digital distribution, printed specimens were the primary way foundries promoted their typefaces; happily, some companies still produce and distribute them today.

The samples shown here are a small portion of the hundreds of type specimens—in a wide variety of formats with some dating back to the 1930s—in HMCT's collection. Together, they represent the work of local, national, and international type designers and foundries.