A capital titling face with numerals, erroneously labelled in Figgins specimen book of 1817 as an ‘antique’ or roman. With a very bold, nearly monoline construction and squared serifs as thick as the main stroke, this type surpassed even the fat face style in blackness, it was popularized by the advent of handbills and early advertising posters, which needed bold type styles to project messages from a distance. A sign-writer friend of mine theorizes that the Egyptian style originated with the North African campaigns (hence Egyptian) of Napoleon Bonaparte, and the type historian Ruari McLean also suggests that the Egyptian style originated with signwriters ‘block’ letters, just like the prototypical (and contemporary) sans serif of Caslon IV.” (Ben Archer).
