Papyrus

• Name — Papyrus • Style — Fantasy • Creationdate — 1982 • Releasedate — 1983 • Creator — Chris Costello • Foundry — Letraset • Foundries — Linotype ITC • Shown Here — Papyrus EF Alternatives

Costello created the font in 1982, when he was 23 years old and just out of college. He had been studying the Bible and came onto the idea of what a written font would have looked like during biblical times in the Middle East. He hand-drew the font over a period of six months by means of calligraphy pen and textured paper. Costello described his goal as a font that would represent what English language texts would have looked like if written on papyrus 2,000 years ago. The font, titled Papyrus, was released by Letraset in 1983. Papyrus has a number of distinctive characteristics, including rough edges, irregular curves, and high horizontal strokes in the capitals. ITC, the current owner of the typeface, describes it as an "unusual roman typeface [that] effectively merges the elegance of a traditional roman letterform with the hand-crafted look of highly skilled calligraphy". Costello sold the rights to the font for $750, and as of 2017, states he still receives "very low" royalty payments despite its inclusion since 1997 on all personal computers using a Mac or Windows operating system, or Microsoft Office. In any case, Costello claims "it was not my intent (for it) to be used for everything...it's way overused".

Papyrus has been included in many Microsoft programs for Windows, including Microsoft Office. macOS includes the font as part of its basic installation (starting with version 10.3 Panther, released in 2003).