HWT Aetna
Saja Typeworks · Aaron Bell · 2017
A four-width digital revival of the 19th-century Aetna wood type, with a separate four-layer chromatic version for recreating Victorian streamer and shadow effects.
About
The design synthesises letterforms from multiple historical producers of the Aetna style, settling closest to William Page's original. Four widths mirror the range commonly offered by 19th-century wood type manufacturers. The accompanying chromatic component set is modelled on Page's Wm. Page Chromatic Types, enabling layered colour printing effects with an all-caps character set. Both the width variants and the streamer fonts support Western and Eastern European Latin.
Classification
A revival of 19th-century Roman wood type, specifically the Aetna style. The chromatic layering system and multiple width variants are characteristic of display wood type traditions from that period.