Essay Text

Designed by Stefan Ellmer. Released 2014.

Essay Text is an elegant serif font family with many stylistic alternates and other typographic niceties. It is intended for setting books and is a highly legible text face that complements the natural flow of reading. Though looking back to the spirit of the French Renaissance, Essay Text rids itself of all antiquated sentimentality. In this way it becomes a contemporary interpretation of that period’s archetypes while fulfilling today’s typographic needs.

  • Typeface Design of 2014, Communication Arts
  • Rutenia 2014
  • ISTD 2014
  • Fontshop’s Best of 2014 
  • Typefacts’ Best of 2014 
  • Typographica’s Best of 2014
  • Finalist, 2014 European Design Awards

Ancient lost city found deep in jungles of Honduras.

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Expedition of archaeologists accompanied by ex-SAS survival experts makes stunning discovery of fabled “White City” where locals may have once worshipped a monkey god.

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The jungle-choked remains of a “lost city”, abandoned by a mysterious civilisation several centuries ago and long fabled for reports of its gold and “monkey children”, have been uncovered in the depths of the rainforests of Honduras.

A team of American and Honduran archaeologists, aided by the bushcraft and survival skills of former British SAS soldiers, has just emerged from one of the most remote locations on Earth with news of their stunning discovery.

The expedition was seeking the site of the legendary “White City”, also known as the “City of the Monkey God”, a goal for Western explorers since the days of the Spanish conquistadors of the 16th century.

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The city, believed to be one of many lost in the Mosquitia jungle, was home to an unknown people that thrived a thousand years ago but then vanished without trace — until now. Unlike the Maya, so little is known of this pre-Columbian culture that it does not even have a name.

The discovery was revealed by the National Geographic, which sent a writer and photographer to accompany the expedition to the riverside site in a crater-shaped valley, encircled by imposing mountains.

The archaeologists surveyed and mapped extensive plazas, earthworks, mounds, and an earthen pyramid, the magazine reported.

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The Backstory

Essay Text

An elegant serif font family with a broad palette of typographic goodies.

Essay Text is an elegant serif font family by Stefan Ellmer with many stylistic alternates and other typographic niceties. It is a highly legible text face that complements the natural flow of reading. Essay Text is intended for setting books and this is enhanced by a slight slant of the roman, the combination of open and closed apertures, and the amalgamation of organic strokes and counters with a static, fully straight baseline.

Essay Text’s regular style looks back to the spirit of the French Renaissance (between the 15th and early 17th centuries), when the Roman typographic letterforms became fully emancipated. Departing from that historical reference, Essay Text rids itself of all antiquated sentimentality and becomes a contemporary interpretation of that period’s archetypes. Essay Text’s italic style refers to that more vaguely, resulting in a formalised look with fairly upright and open shapes and minimal cursiveness. As in the Renaissance before the mating of roman and italic styles, Essay Text’s italic works as a distinct textface and a perfect secondary type.

The name Essay is derived from the literary meaning of the word: attempt or trial. The typeface can therefore be seen as an attempt to express an opinion about reading, the omnipresence of history, the importance of calligraphy, and the inevitability of deviating from that calligraphic source, as well as an attempt to crystallise lettershapes in balance between convention and the designer’s personal idiom.

Essay Text comes in two styles, speaks multiple languages, and, along with our entire catalogue, has been optimised for today’s varied screen uses.

About Us

TypeTogether is an indie type foundry committed to excellence in type design with a focus on editorial use. Additionally, TypeTogether creates custom type design for corporate use. We invite you to browse our library of retail fonts or contact us to discuss custom type design projects.