[Excerpts are from a review by Philip B. Meggs of The Florentine Set, which appeared in PRINT magazine, June 1998.]

Beata's delicately slender letters have exquisite proportions.

Donatello is a classically proportioned design...with affinities to Hermann Zapf's 1958 Optima.

Perched somewhere between a sans serif and classical Roman letter, with a rich variety of formal themes, Ghiberti exudes a subtle unconventionality.

Although intended for titling, the Florentine fonts have excellent legibility in small sizes and could even be used for short text settings where typographic eloquence is required. Their conventional use will be display settings when dignity, tradition, or honor need to be conveyed.

[Philip Meggs is School of the Arts Research Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond and author of A History of Graphic Design.]

LetterPerfect's new Florentine Set - consisting of three original type designs: Beata, Donatello and Ghiberti - is the second release in the Legacy of Letters series of type designs modeled on historical lettering styles. This suite of fonts - original and unique styles refreshingly suited to contemporary publishing - takes its inspiration from the distinctive sans serif inscriptional lettering of the early Florentine Renaissance. Included in the set for a limited time is a bonus fourth font, Donatello Alternates. All four fonts were designed by Paul Shaw in collaboration with Garrett Boge over a two-year period of careful research, design and production.
     Beata is a delicate, attenuated design with elegant proportions. It is modeled on the inscription for the tomb of Beata Villana by sculptor Bernardo Rossellino, dated 1451, in the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. Beata is an ideal choice for dressing large display settings in a refined or feminine voice.
Donatello is a clean, classically-proportioned design with subtly-tapered strokes. It was inspired by the lettering on the fifteenth-century cantoria by Luca della Robbia in the Museum of the Duomo in Florence. This sturdy and most characteristic Florentine style is bundled with the complementary Donatello Alternates, offering a versatile and lucid palette for setting titles, headings and short runs of text.
     Ghiberti is a contemporary interpretation of the bold Florentine lettering used with inlaid marble and cast bronze inscriptions of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It is named after sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti whose signature on his bronze doors for the Baptistery shows an early use of this strong style. Its wedged-shaped terminals and boldly tapered stems lend strength and sparkle to titling at any size.
     Each typeface consists of both full-sized caps and small caps, extensive kern pairs, and complete character sets. They are available in PostScript and TrueType formats for both the Macintosh and Windows platforms. The retail price is $45 per face with a special bundled price of $99 for the set of four, or $150 for the collector's edition which includes: the four fonts; a booklet with an essay by lettering historian Nicolete Gray, "Sans Serif and Other Experimental Inscribed Lettering of the Early Renaissance"; and a duotone print of a rubbing of the Beata Villana tombstone.
     These fonts may be purchased direct by calling or faxing LetterPerfect: (US & Canada) 800-929-1951; (international) 001-206-467-7275.