TypographicaJun 14, 2025

I had assumed Letraset pioneered dry transfer type (https://fontsinuse.com/tags/4507/dry-transfer-lettering) in 1961. They were certainly the most successful brand in the space.

But here’s Prestype, the New Jersey competitor, filing a trademark for “dry-ink transfer letters” in January 1960 (https://archive.org/details/officialgazette756unit/page/n855/mode/2up?q=prestype), getting press coverage for the product in March (https://archive.org/details/sim_modern-lithography_1960-03_28_3/mode/2up?q=prestype), and filing a patent in June (https://patents.google.com/patent/US3013917A/en?oq=3013917).

#Prestype #Letraset #TransferType #DryTransferLettering

dry transfer lettering

Widely assumed to be pioneered by Letraset in 1961, (though a similar product was announced by Prestype in 1960), dry transfer lettering (a.k.a. instant lettering, rub-on, rubdown, or press type), empowered designers (especially amateurs) to cheaply and quickly set type without needing traditional type or composing equipment. Watch a how-to video and Dan Rhatigan’s talk about the social impact. See also: lettering from alphabet sample. Other brands and manufacturers include Abifol/Jürafix/Typofix (Typopress, GDR), Alfac (Decadry), Apcoset (Armenian typefaces, made in Germany), Artype (Trans-Artype, USA), Cello-Tak (USA), Chartpak (Deca-Dry, Velvet Touch, USA), DYMO (Transplus), Formatt (USA), GeoType, Kalgraf (Poland), Mecanorma (Normatype, France), Prestype, Propisot (Czechoslovakia), Rapitype (Graphic Systems, UK), R41 (Reber, Italy; also distributed by Edding, Germany), Transotype (Germany), Typophane (Deberny & Peignot, France), and Para-Tipe and Zipatone (Para-Tone, later Zipatone Inc., USA).

Fonts In Use
Letterform ArchiveAug 19, 2023

Letraset Graphic Arts Products Catalog, Letraset USA, Inc., 1973. The cover features Stripes https://fontsinuse.com/typefaces/39223/stripes, a typeface designed by Tony Wenman specifically for the dry-transfer medium.

@marksimonson comments, “I love how [Wenman] was aiming at a design that took advantage of the ‘instant sheet medium’. In the examples they show how you can just rub down some of the lines to get different effects.”

#Letraset #TypeDesign #Typography #Fonts #Typefaces #DryTransferLettering #TransferType

Stripes in use

An 8-line typeface designed by Tony Wenman and made available by Letraset for dry-transfer lettering as part of Letragraphica 11 in 1973. [Daines] No lowercase, but with several alternates that allow users to turn it into “a completely flowing, linking face”. Users were further encouraged to create variations “just by eliminating some lines, or filling them in”. [Letraset] Lettergraphics shows a phototype adaptation as Lined Stripes. [1976 catalog] There is a commercial digitization by Ralph M. Unger (profonts, 2006, also sold by Thinkdust), but it doesn’t include the alternates nor the original dotted ‘i’. See Iván Moreno’s Octothorpe (PampaType, 2020) for a much more ambitious reinterpretation and expansion.

Fonts In Use