A new release from the never-boring P22 type foundry lays claim to being the first time a font has been made available simultaneously in both digital and metal formats, a detail of which is shown above. RTF Stern takes its name from the late printer Christopher Stern, and is an upright italic intended for such uses as poetry settings.

We've covered German publisher Gestalten here before but not from the perspective of its typographic offerings. While it doesn't release a large number of fonts, those it does choose to add to its modest collection always provide a new typographic twist. Why we mention this now is that Gestalten has just made Jens Gehlhaar's Old Style Figures Black available as a free download in a limited character set version.

While not yet announced, the FontStruct site, created by noted font vendor FontShop, is already attracting attention from those eager to try out its font-creation capabilities, as well as download fonts from the galleries.

The creation of what was to become FF Meta is well-covered in Made with FontFont, (Mark Batty Publishers). The font was originally designed for a large corporate client, but it was never put into use and a version of it was eventually released in 1991 by its creator, Erik Spiekermann, one of the founders of FontFont.

Pre-orders are being taken for the DVD version of Helvetica - A Documentary Film by Gary Hutswit.

Perhaps the most timeless and recognizable of all fonts, Helvetica turns 50 this year.

It’s been around for years but we just revisited it and it’s as entertaining as ever. It’s the Bembo Zoo, an entire alphabetically complete zoo made only of letters and punctuation marks from the lovely font Bembo.

Do you love hand drawn type? I mean do you REALLY love hand drawn type? Well, if you do, head on over to the website of Andy Smith to get your fill of excellent illustrations and, of course hand drawn type.

This year marks the 50th birthday of the typeface Helvetica. To kick off the festivities, Helvetica gets it's own MOVIE! That's right, Helvetica is a documentary about the proliferation of this very famous font, and the way type affects us in ways we don't think about. You can also check out some clips from the film at their website.

Think Iranian/Persian typography must be boring? Think again.

Flickr user tspauld has an awe-inspiring collection of vintage signs that were shot around Sacramento and its suburbs. Makes me wish signage like this would never be torn down.