The StoryBook Font & Fairy Tale Font

Carl Shank • December 15, 2023

Introducing the StoryBook and Fairy Tale Fonts. I like reading old books with fanciful crafted title caps (called "versals" in the typographic world). They remind me of days gone by when a children's book, full of illustrations of well-know children's tales and Mother Goose stories, captured the attention of children and adults alike (See Illustration Below).  What happened to those old, fun-loving illustrations and typefaces of long ago? Many would say they have outlived their time and usefulness. I disagree and have set about designing two new typefaces, called StoryBook and FairyTale, which seek to get us back to these fantastic old books and illustrations.


Using a flowery old-fashioned border in the StoryBook Font, I have set capital letters against a backdrop of well-known nursery rhyme illustrations. These fanciful caps can be set as opening letters to a children's book or series of children's stories. I have attempted to find either public domain illustrations and then make outlines of the main characters using Adobe InDesign and Photoshop tools, or have purchased resources for fair use in such background designs.


In the Fairy Tale Font, which has specialized characters,  I have mostly utilized the fine work of others and adapted such work to scannable pieces from which I could create a suitable font. You will have to be the judge of the final product. I am very interested in your evaluations and comments.


There are three iterations of the StoryBook font — StorybookSerif, StoryBookSansSerif, and StoryBookBackgrounds. The Serif font version uses letters adapted from the open source Libre Baskerville font. The SansSerif version uses Sans Serif open source font. The Backgrounds version has no inset font in the background diagrams. It also has a page where the font diagrams have been transformed into outline versions, thus allowing the user to employ the background in a variety of ways. One such variation is to use an outline font placed over the backgrounds to give the user more "storybook" like appeal.


The StoryBook font is a collection of capitals along with some  illustrations that can be utilized in a children's book. The Fairy Tale Font are illustrative pieces that can be used in texts or displays. I have also included in the Fairy Tale Font additional explanatory pages of the origins and use of the font. Samples of the fonts, used in well-known nursery and children's rhymes throughout the ages, are below. If you are interested in using the fonts, contact CARE Typography at cshanktype@gmail.com, for securing them.





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Advanced Practical Typography: A Review of Walter B. Gress’s Contribution (1)

By Carl Shank • August 6, 2026
Walter B. Gress was associated with the American printing trade during the era when letterpress printing, hot-metal composition, and mechanized presses dominated commercial printing. Rather than introducing new typefaces or typographic theories, Gress focused on practical craftsmanship, emphasizing accuracy, efficiency, and standardized production methods. Gress’s lasting contribution lies in documenting the craft knowledge of the traditional printing office. His work bridges the nineteenth-century tradition of manual typography and the increasingly mechanized printing industry of the twentieth century, preserving techniques and standards that shaped generations of American printers. His most famous work was The American Handbook of Printing (1913). This book covered nearly every aspect of an early American commercial printing office. It addressed such topics as typography and composition hand typesetting, proof correction, imposition, lock-up and presswork, paper selection, inks, estimating jobs, printing-office management and printing terminology. Gress was most interested in the professional ideals of American commercial printing in the early twentieth century, consisting of legibility over ornament, consistency in composition, careful spacing and alignment, correct use of type families, high standards of proofreading, and the efficient workflow in the composing room. His work and teaching occurred during a transitional period in printing history, where hand composition still existed alongside mechanical typesetting. Linotype and Monotype systems were becoming standard. Commercial printing was expanding rapidly. Trade schools increasingly required instructional texts.

Small Caps

By Carl Shank • August 4, 2026
small capitals (often called small caps) are specially designed uppercase letterforms that have the proportions and stroke weight of lowercase letters while retaining the shapes of capitals. They are not simply reduced full capitals; true small capitals are drawn specifically for the typeface. Small capitals originated during the Renaissance as printers sought a harmonious way to incorporate the dignity of Roman capitals into continuous lowercase text. Over five centuries, they became a hallmark of fine typography, especially in books, Bibles, scholarly editions, legal documents, and reference works. When properly designed as true small capitals rather than scaled-down capitals, they provide elegant emphasis, improve textual hierarchy, and contribute to the refined appearance that has characterized high-quality typography since the sixteenth century.
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