This is version 1.2 of Walrod Initials, a freeware font available to the DTP community.
It is a fairly accurate knockoff of Geometrica, a font originally released in 1985 by Autologic from artwork prepared by Jeffrey G. Level and Bruce Frame. It contains only 26 initial caps -- there are no accompanying lower case letters or lining figures.
Geometrica, and its two sister fonts, Champ Fleury and Melencolia, are stylized renderings of the work of 16th century artists Geofroy Tory and Albrecht Dƒrer. Both wrote treatises outlining the procedure for the geometric construction of Roman capitals. Each envisioned the capital letter surrounded by a box that contained circles, arcs and bisecting lines which follow rigid constraints.
Dover publishes a $4 edition that highlights Dƒrer's discussion on capitals called "Of the Just Shaping of Letters." Tory's work, "Champ Fleury," is more difficult to find (I've only seen excerpts, not a full English translation). I highly recommend the Dover book for anyone interested in gaining an insight to the forms of capital letters. The volume is very popular among calligraphers.
Technically, this font was rendered on the Mac using Altsys╒ Fontographer 3.5.1 font editor. It is originally released as a Mac PostScript Type 1 font (this is the READ.ME file for the PC TrueType version). Each capital is type high, meaning they are EXACTLY equal to the font size called (in 12-pt. type, the font letters will render 12 points high, in 72-pt., they'll be 72 points high, etc.). This may cause a problem for some applications that expect a font to have a descender. Those applications may render the font on the screen a little squashed, but it should print out fine. If not, please drop me a message and I'll reduce the cap height.
Files included in this upload are:
WAL.TTF The PC TrueType font
READ.ME The file you are reading
This font is being released as freeware. It is my gift back to those who so frequently help me in my struggle to set decent type in a PostScript environment (such as Brad Walrod, for whom the font is named). The following restrictions, however, apply to its distribution: this font can be freely passed along to other users as long as it containes all files, including this READ.ME message. On CompuServe, Walrod Initials is available on the DTPFORUM exclusively. It is also available in New York on a great little BBS called Laserboard. Other bulletin boards wishing to upload the font should contact me for permission.
It is NOT to be included in shareware collections sold for profit. I dislike seeing my work lumped in with sales pitches that promise "Over 200 megs of fonts!"
I don't have a huge legal staff, but please respect my wishes. This font is intended to be shared among the telecommunicating typesetting community -- primarily those who also give, either of their programming or design talents, their knowledge or simply their sympathy when someone encounters a print production problem not easily solved from the desktop.
Being a Mac person, my PC experience is next to nil. According to Altsys, font installation in Windows 3.1 requires launching the Control Panel located in the Main Window, selecting the fonts utility and clicking the Add... button. Choose the appropriate drive and directories for the .TTF font, select the font and click the OK button. Your fonts shoud appear in the Installed Fonts window. Close the dialog and you're done. Supposedly, you don't have to even restart Windows.
Again, my apologies for my PC ignorance. I'm hoping John Cornicello, PC sysop on Compuserve's DTPFORUM, will sort some of this out. If he does, my thanks to him. If not, he is definitely not to blame.
Walrod Initials is released in memory of Glenn Rodgers, an apprentice typographer at Characters Graphic Services, Inc., who died tragically in 1992. He is sorely missed.
Notification of any problems with the font or requests for its upload on other bulletin boards can be made to:
Jonathan Hodges
61 Winchester Road
Ronkonkoma, New York 11779
CIS #76276,3102
Revision history:
version 1.2 changed the bitmap from 23-pt. to 24-pt. and is considered the release version of the font (that means I'll knock off TrueType and PC versions now). NFNT # was changed from 3060 to 3061 due to an internal conflict at Penguin Productions. Our mascot, Brad the Wonder Penguin, moved from under the equal sign to his proper home at Shift-Option-k, the spot Apple uses for its logo.
version 1.1 corrected four character so all characters have the same width and the same right sidebar.
