Issued in 3 weights (mager, halbfett, fett) in 1928. A two-line open style (licht) was added in 1929, a normal in 1936, and 2 italic weights in 1938. [Bertheau, Seemann] Adopted for the Linotype. [Archiv, 1930] Bauer accused Stempel of plagiarizing their Futura. [Hansert] Stempel claimed the typeface was inspired by Möhring’s lettering for the cover of Gebrauchsgraphik 12/1926. [Gebrauchsgraphik March 1929]
Mager, normal and halbfett came in two variants: series I has pointed spurs in ‘a b d g n’ etc., while series II shows more conventional rectangular shapes (see Guildford/Windlesham). Alternates: ‘J’ with/without top bar, binocular ‘a’.

Also cast by Magyar. [Reichardt] Dutreix had a version named Universelles, also sold by Vanderborght as Antique Élégante. Caslon Machinery Ltd. had a copy named Elegant Sans, which was carried by Stephenson Blake as Guildford Sans.

Digital revivals by COUP for a single project (2008, unreleased), by Jo De Baerdemaeker as Elegant Contemporary (custom, commissioned by Sara De Bondt for the Contemporary Art Centre in Nottingham, 2009), by Harry Gassel (unreleased, 2012), and by Florian Paizs as Elegant Lux (2014). Inspired Wahoo, a custom design by Klim for Lotto New Zealand (2013). See also Matthieu Cortat’s Battling (2012, used for sample, based on Universelles) and Red Rooster’s Guildford (2011).