Cheap type, truetype: Exploring inexpensive typefaces Available to Purchase

A curious and unexpected thing has happened to personal computing typography: it's gotten cheaper and much more interesting, thanks to TrueType, a new digital typography standard that nobody (including the author) took seriously when it was first proposed. The author evaluates eight TrueType type collections costing from 10 cents to $1.25 per typeface. This article discusses that evaluation, and also evaluates a $19 CD‐ROM with more than 400 typefaces. The results may surprise you. They certainly surprised the author, when a company perhaps best known for selling cheap software in Canadian convenience stores proved to have not only the cheapest (per typeface) but also the best all‐around inexpensive typeface collection. The author also provides notes on the literature for April‐June 1993, including the last issues of PC Sources.