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Ladybird Book 'dinosaurs' font identification

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Can anyone identify the font used for 'dinosaurs' in the attached image. It's from a Ladybird Book from 1974. I have found a few similar fonts, but none quite the same. Square dot on the 'i', single story 'a', and 's' shape might be things to look at.

Many thanks

S.

 

IMG_3633.JPG

Solved by Riccardo Sartori

  • Author

That's the one! Thank you 🙂

 

Not sure why that didn't come up on any of the font-identifier sites !

  • Author
43 minutes ago, Riccardo Sartori said:

Interestingly, looking at some other samples, the |t| appears to be “Helvetica-like” in shape, rather than “Futura-like”, as in AG Schoolbook (or Helvetica Textbook, for that matter, which however offers a better matching straight |l|).

Yes ... at first glance I assumed it was a Helvetica variant until I noticed the single bowl 'a'. 

Hmmm ... so do I unmark this as solved?!

 

  • Solution
1 hour ago, PunkyDory said:

do I unmark this as solved?

It depends on what you need from the solution: AG Schoolbook seems to be the best available digital option for the shape and weight of the letters in “dinosaurs”. It is possible that pre-digital AG Schoolbook offered alternate characters for |l|t|, but also that one of the myriad of Helvetica-like typefaces available had an alternate |a| and it would be nearly impossible to pinpoint which one, especially if it hasn’t been digitised. 

To find a digital alternative to set the other titles in the series, I don’t know about AG/Akzidenz-Grotesk, but at least the latest iteration of Helvetica offers an alternate single-storey |a|.

  • Author
3 hours ago, Riccardo Sartori said:

It depends on what you need from the solution: AG Schoolbook seems to be the best available digital option for the shape and weight of the letters in “dinosaurs”. It is possible that pre-digital AG Schoolbook offered alternate characters for |l|t|, but also that one of the myriad of Helvetica-like typefaces available had an alternate |a| and it would be nearly impossible to pinpoint which one, especially if it hasn’t been digitised. 

To find a digital alternative to set the other titles in the series, I don’t know about AG/Akzidenz-Grotesk, but at least the latest iteration of Helvetica offers an alternate single-storey |a|.

Understood. I can see that Stylistic Set 02 of Helvetica Now has the single storey 'a', so I think that's probably the one.

I've also just noticed that AG Schoolbook and Helvetica Textbook have a tail-less 'u', which isn't a match.

Thanks for all your help!

8 hours ago, PunkyDory said:

I think that's probably the one.

Surely it’s not (Helvetica Now didn’t exist in 1974), but most probably something in that lineage.

 

8 hours ago, PunkyDory said:

I've also just noticed that AG Schoolbook and Helvetica Textbook have a tail-less 'u', which isn't a match.

Good catch!

Sorry to have missed the stemless u—and the fact that AG Schoolbook wasn’t released until 1983.

Doing a bit more research on the book series, they seem to have used a number of “infant” variations of other typefaces for the interior (Sassoon, for one). The cover text may be another that has not survived into the digital age.

 

  • 3 weeks later...

Found this download:

[link removed]

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