Library Guides: Graphic Design: Find Typography Specimens

Type specimens in the library

Type specimens are published by graphic design firms to showcase typefaces and experimental presentation formats.

The library holds many typography specimens in Southbank Special Collections, which you can view in person at the library on request.

Explore the links below to view various lists of type specimens and related materials in the library catalogue.

Call number: 744.452
Most (but not all) type specimens in the Southbank special collection are assigned this same Dewey Decimal number.
Subject heading: Graphic Design (Typography)
Subject heading: Type and type-founding

A flat-lay of various type specimens at Southbank library.

Online typography and book design reference resources

The A-Z of Typographic Terms
Adobe Type and Type Technology Resources
Counterspace Typography Timeline
Interactive timeline of typography across human history
Interactive Typography Cheatsheet
A quick, interactive guide to typeface anatomy and terminology.
On Snot and Fonts
An encyclopaedic treatment of type design, typefaces and fonts.
Printed Matter: Printing and Binding Glossary
Type Sizes: Historical and Contemporary

Online type collections

Type Foundries
A running list of type foundries curated by Unimelb Academic staff in Graphic Design.
Open Source Typography Resources
This is a collection of links to type foundries, type designers, font collections, projects, and type workshops who may have open source/libre/free typefaces.
St Bride Foundation Digital Collections
From the St Bride Foundation Website: "Many thousands of books, printing-related periodicals and physical objects are at the heart of St Bride Library. Volumes on the history of printing, typography, newspaper design and paper-making jostle for space alongside one of the world’s largest and most significant collections of type specimens."
Type Specimen Flickr Collection
A public collection of photographed or digitised printed type specimens.
Fonts in Use
Independent online archive of type at work in the real world.
Font Review Journal
Chinese Type Archive