Collective entry for a design that is known under three different names; Celtic (Facsimile Fonts), Forum Flair (Lettergraphics), and University Roman (Letraset).

Based on an alphabet “designed by Ross F. George after the principles of his mentor, William Hugh Gordon. It appears in Speedball lettering catalogues of the late thirties as Stunt Roman. This face is the culmination of Gordon’s style, stated in Cincinnati in 1918 as: ‘Use full round ovals – condense the vertical elements – and a slightly broken alignment adds to the unique appearance of the entire production.’ Revived in the late sixties by Paul Bailey at Lettergraphics as Forum Flair, a film font for headlines, the design was widely copied, with Letraset achieving the greatest popularity with their slightly more disciplined version, University Roman.” — Bitstream/MyFonts

Bob Trogman of Facsimile Fonts claims to have designed Celtic plus a bold version with additional swash characters, ten years before Linotype [sic] made University Roman. [Dr. Type] Phototype versions under the name Celtic are shown in Berthold’s E1 catalog (1974, with Facsimile Fonts credits), Typeshop’s 1973 catalog, a Filmomaster catalog from c.1974, and in Phil’s Photo catalog (1980, as Celtic Cursive in two weights w/ alts).

Forum Flair is shown in the Lettergraphics catalog from 1976, but not yet in catalogs dated 1968 and 1969. Also shown in a c. 1976 Fürst catalog in a single style with many swash alternates. It appears to be identical with Celtic. It’s not clear which came first.

University Roman is Letraset’s adaptation for dry-transfer lettering. It is different in several details. Most notably, ‘g’ has a simpler link, ‘t’ has no top serif, ‘EFH’ have a high middle bar, top bowl of ‘B’ bulges less, ‘U’ is unstemmed, middle serifs in ‘W’ are separate and bilateral. Introduced by Letraset in 1972. [Letraset] Made available from Letraset dealers in the U.S. in Feb. 1976. [ad in U&lc Vol.2 No.4 p49] A Mergenthaler ad from 1976 mentions that University Roman was adopted for their phototype range, and that it was designed for Letraset by Robert Newman. The shown face, however, matches Celtic/Forum Flair, not University Roman. [ad in U&lc Vol.3 No.3 p49]
A revised version incl. many swash alternates was “produced by Phillip Kelly in the Letraset Type Studio [in 1977?], based on his and Mike Daines’ original design.” The italic was added by Freda Sack. [Letraset]
Extended to four styles; University Roman (1972), Bold (1977), Display (1983), and Italic (1984). Only the italic is shown with swash alts. [Letraset 1987/88 catalog] Mike Daines gives other dates: University Roman (Daines, 1983), Bold (Daines, 1984), Display and Italic (both by Freda Sack, 1984). [Faces from Letraset] The date for the initial style is either an error or refers to a revision. Elsner+Flake credit the design to George Hunt, [FontShop] which appears to be a misnomer for Ross George/C. Howard Hunt.

Mecanorma’s Celtic was issued for dry-transfer lettering after 1975 and is shown in their 1988 catalog in 3 styles; Celtic with Italic and Bold. While the upright styles are actually University Roman, the Italic follows Celtic/Forum Flair and is the only style shown with swash alternates. Italic and Bold are credited to VGC. [Graphic Book 14]

There are several digitizations. ITC’s University Roman has Regular, Italic, and Bold; w/ swash alts for the Italic and, unlike Letraset’s, for the Regular. [MyFonts] The Regular is also available with Cyrillics. [FontShop] Scangraphic’s follows the Letraset version but has a ‘t’ with top serif. Bitstream’s University Roman mixes elements of both Celtic/Forum Flair (‘g’) and Letraset’s version (‘tEFHUW’). Tilde’s is based on Bitstream’s and adds Cyrillic characters that are different from ITC’s. Mecanorma’s digital Celtic follows their analog version, but omits the italic swash alts.