Cattle Annie

CATTLE ANNIE is my unauthorized digital interpretation of the analog font “Les Catalanes.” According to ABZ: More alphabets and other signs by Rothenstein and Gooding, it was designed n 1952 by Enric Crous-Vidal (1908-1987) but was never produced. Other Crous-Vidal fonts include Paris, Flash, and Ilerda from Fundición Tipográfica Bauer.

The original source (with an incomplete character set) says Crous-Vidal’s Paris show was “the graphic hit of the ’52 season” and refers to Les Catalanes as “this flamboyant character of Mediterranean inspiration.” You may imagine hooves, horns, heels, hats and moustaches in its distinctive features. Many such wood-type fonts have traditional names like Tuscan, Latin, or Egyptian, revealing their Mediterranean connection.

Fifty years later and thousands of miles away, it could be mistaken as a Wild West or circus style. But other such fonts (Playbill, for example) have long been used for a variety of display applications, having been rediscovered by eclectic designers. It’s definitely time again to reclaim these fonts for new purposes, rather like heavy metal and Goth culture revived “Old English” fonts.

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compressedcondensedwoodtype