Memphis Type Specimen (15400511180, cropped)

Memphis is a

slab-serif In typography, a slab serif (also called ''mechanistic'', ''square serif'', ''antique'' or ''Egyptian'') typeface is a type of serif typeface characterized by thick, block-like serifs. Serif terminals may be either blunt and angular ( Rockwell), ...

typeface A typeface (or font family) is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight (e.g. bold), slope (e.g. italic), width (e.g. condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font. There are list of type ...

designed b
Dr. Rudolf Wolf
and released in 1929 by the Stempel Type Foundry. Memphis is a "geometric" slab serif, reflecting the style of German geometric sans-serifs (in particular Futura) which had attracted considerable attention, and adapting the design to the slab serif structure. Its structure is strictly monoline, with a "single-storey" 'a' similar to blackletter or handwriting, in an almost-perfect circle. It was released in several weights and with

alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film * ''The Alternative ...

characters such as swashes, which digitisations have mostly not included. Memphis has an

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

ian name, in reference to the fact that early slab serifs were often called "Egyptians" as an exoticism by nineteenth-century typefounders. Memphis and other similar designs were popular in printing during the hot metal typesetting period and several foundries brought out similar designs or direct imitations such as

Karnak The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (, which was originally derived from ar, خورنق ''Khurnaq'' "fortified village"), comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construct ...

and Stymie in the United States and Rosmini from Nebiolo in Italy, and (more loosely) Rockwell from Monotype. Digital designs in a similar style include Neutraface Slab and

Archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In mo ...

. Memphis itself has been released digitally by Linotype, who licensed it from Stempel, and by Bitstream in a release including condensed weights under the name "Geometric Slabserif 703".

References

{{notelist, 30em

External links

Fonts in Use

Sample image of Memphis
showing alternative characters
Condensed weight

Modern revival
letterpress typefaces Geometric slab-serif typefaces Stempel typefaces Linotype typefaces