Greatest fonts countdown: 65 - Shelley

FontShop AG, the renowned type foundry, conducted a survey based on historical relevance, sales at FontShop.com, and aesthetic quality. With a few additions from the experts at Creative Bloq and Computer Arts magazine, the best fonts ever were selected for the new book, 100 Best Typefaces Ever.

Here we are counting down the 100 greatest fonts, but you can read interviews with some of the typefaces' creators, a brief history of type, the anatomy of a font, and much, much more in the book – find out how to get your copy in print or digital formats at the foot of this post.

But without further ado, here is the 65th best typeface…

65. Shelley

• Matthew Carter, 1972

Shelley is a classic cursive handwriting script crafted by legendary type designer Matthew Carter in 1972. The small family of typefaces have small x-heights relative to their ascenders and descenders, but longer descenders compared to Snell – another script designed by Carter in 1966.

Shelley is a revival of the handwriting of the early eighteenth century English writing master, George Shelley, and has five styles: Shelley Script Pro, Andante Script, Volante Script, Allegro Script and Script Pro Cyrillic.

The 100 Best Typefaces Ever

This is an extract from The 100 Best Typefaces Ever, the definitive guide to the greatest fonts ever created, in association with FontShop AG. Over 180 premium pages, the book dissects the world's greatest typefaces, bringing you some insightful background on each and interviews with their creators.

You can pick up the book at all good newsagents today or order it online. Or you can download a digital edition directly to your iPad from the Computer Arts app on iTunes.