These type specimens were gathered from an 18-page reproduction of a 1955 Photo-Lettering catalog in Life with Letters, as they turned photogenic by
Edward Rondthaler, 1981. In 1955, as Ed puts it, ‘[p]hotographic lettering
was still so new that many art directors were unaware of its potential
or skeptical of its viability.’ Nevertheless, photo-typesetting proved
to be that medium that carried a tradition of typographic excellence from the era of metal type into
the digital age.