By David R. Siegel

A rare type specimen that tells the story of the AMS Euler typeface!

AMS Euler was a math typeface designed and created by Hermann Zapf in the early 1980s, working closely with computer scientist and mathematician Donald Knuth and his Stanford graduate students. The typeface included over 500 mathematical characters, and was meant to emulate a mathematician's style of handwriting calculations on a blackboard. Named after the 18th century mathematician Leonhard Euler, AMS Euler was produced using Knuth's METAFONT type design language.

Zapf designed and drew the Euler alphabets in 1980 and 1981 and provided critique and advice of digital proofs from 1983 on. Stanford computer science and/or digital typography students—Scott Kim, then Carol Twombly, Daniel Mills, and David Siegel—all worked on the typeface's METAFONT development.

This report, elegantly produced with a letterpress cover, shares the production history of the typeface, covering its early stages, phases of research and development, and post-production work. 

Published by Stanford University Computer Science Department, 1985

Softcover, 31 pages, b&w with images, 6 × 9 inches

This is a previously owned publication.