# Would you tell me what font this is.. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 22, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-tell-me-what-font-this-is/671960 "2013-10-22T19:37:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-tell-me-what-font-this-is/671960/1 "2013-10-22T19:37:36Z")
or something close. Bonus points if you know a way I can print off a few words using it. [http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic656008\_md.jpg](http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic656008_md.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![ArmenE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ArmenE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArmenE)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-tell-me-what-font-this-is/671960/2 "2013-10-22T20:03:49Z")
I don’t believe this is a standardized font, but rather something calligraphed by the carpenter or decorator. The lowercase e’s in the text are not standardized. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-tell-me-what-font-this-is/671960/3 "2013-10-22T20:10:21Z")
Concur it’s probably hand-formed. However, the carver might have been looking at an example. I’d look at italic versions of the classic fonts - Garamond, Caslon, Palatino etc. You might find a close enough match to do whatever it is you wanna do. The lowercase g, l and s are distinctive enough to use as markers. ---
**Author:** ![dataguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eada6e/32.png) [@dataguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dataguy)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-tell-me-what-font-this-is/671960/4 "2013-10-22T23:14:36Z")
I did a font search using the image. To my eye, the closest font in the results is [Calligri Extra Condensed Italic.](http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/summit-type/calligri/extracond-italic/) Hope that helps. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-tell-me-what-font-this-is/671960/5 "2013-10-22T23:39:39Z")
> [@dataguy](#): > > I did a font search using the image. To my eye, the closest font in the results is [Calligri Extra Condensed Italic.](http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/summit-type/calligri/extracond-italic/) > > Hope that helps. There are a lot of letters in the photo that are not present in your sample; and the lower case “p” is very different. But I think you’re in the ballpark somewhere. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-tell-me-what-font-this-is/671960/6 "2013-10-22T23:46:46Z")
Definitely done by hand. All the strokes seem to have equal thickness, and the degree of slant isn’t even consistent (compare the “k” and the “p”). Nor are the cap height or the x-height (compare the “K” and the “S”, and the “r” and the “q”). ---
**Author:** ![busterpickle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@busterpickle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/busterpickle)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-tell-me-what-font-this-is/671960/7 "2013-10-23T00:39:04Z")
It’s in German so I’d look for a German font. Also, that’s probably made from some scribing device that used a master set of letters in blocks. It’ll be unlikely that you’ll find an exact match. But, there are a lot of letters so you can make your own font and fill in the blanks with a close German font. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-tell-me-what-font-this-is/671960/8 "2013-10-23T02:43:21Z")
Thank you. I’ll look into all your suggestions. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-tell-me-what-font-this-is/671960/9 "2013-10-23T02:44:42Z")
You might try a site like Identifont: [http://www.identifont.com/identify.html](http://www.identifont.com/identify.html) ---
**Author:** ![JM\_Hanes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6a8cbe/32.png) [@JM\_Hanes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JM_Hanes)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-tell-me-what-font-this-is/671960/10 "2013-10-23T03:47:19Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > or something close. Bonus points if you know a way I can print off a few words using it. You might find something close if you scan the [Formal](http://www.fonts.com/browse/classifications/formal-script) script and [Casual](http://www.fonts.com/browse/classifications/casual-script) script font lists over at [Fonts.com](http://Fonts.com). It’s worth clicking on anything that seems even remotely similar, because fonts within each “family” can vary considerably (and have considerably different effects depending on how you space the letters). As for printing off a few words (presumably without having installed the relevant font on your computer), the only thing that occurs to me offhand, would be to type them into something like [Font.com](http://Font.com)’s “Try it” feature, and take a screenshot of it for printing. There are a gazillion fonts out there, and more being added everyday, which makes matching an obscure font infernally hard, but finding something similar in feel (which can conceivably be tweaked depending on what you’re doing with it) relatively easy.