A Complete Type System.

Some typefaces are designed for a moment. Telegdi Antiqua was built for centuries.

In 1577, Abbot Nicolaus Telegdi acquired the dormant press of the Vienna Jesuits — funded by Emperor Rudolf and the Esztergom Chapter — and installed it in his own house in Nagyszombat (Trnavia). He held the title of Bishop of Pécs, but the Ottomans occupied the city. He could not go south. He went north instead and built what would become one of the most important Catholic printing centers of 16th-century Central Europe.

The typefaces that came with that press were already worn. Telegdi did not wait for new ones. He set his sermons in letters marked by decades of use — high contrast, sharp terminals, a rhythm slightly irregular from age and pressure. That decision, to embrace imperfection as authenticity, became the soul of everything that followed.

Four hundred and forty-nine years later, that soul is still legible.

Telegdi Antiqua was originally released in 1999 under Fontanatype — Hungary’s first internationally distributed independent type foundry — and distributed through the International House of Fonts, P22 Type Foundry’s curated boutique platform, where it became one of the top-selling families. It appeared in the IndieFonts compendium (P-Type Publications, 2002), in the WarCraft book series, on a Suzanne Vega album cover, and in editorial, cultural, and commercial contexts across two and a half decades.

Microsoft Typography News observed:
“We like Telegdi Antiqua from Hungarian designer Amondó Szegi — no excuses for using Caslon Antique anymore.”

In 2026, after twenty-five years in circulation, Telegdi Antiqua returns under Monovo — remastered, complete, and properly named for the first time.

The family consists of six fonts.

Telegdi Antiqua was originally published under Fontanatype (1999) and the International House of Fonts / P22 Type Foundry. The 2026 Anniversary Edition marks its return to its designer’s foundry, Monovo.