At the behest of Matthew Carter, Gudrun Zapf von Hesse (the German bookbinder, calligrapher, and type designer) designed Carmina BT from 1984-86 for Bitstream, Inc. Carmina BT is available in four weights (light, medium, bold, and black), each with its own italic. Although Carmina BT is a neutral design, optimized for use in digital publishing, Zapf von Hesse's unique calligraphic spirit is still quite visible in the family's letterforms.

This is not surprising, as all of Zapf von Hesse's typefaces are calligraphic in nature. Yet Carmina BT is suitable for almost any conceivable digital text application, from book design up through signage use. If you like Carmina BT, take a look at some of the other typefaces from Zapf von Hesse's profilic body of work, including Alcuin, Ariadne, Columbine, Diotima, Shakespeare, and Smaragd.

Additionally, a unique type anthology, The Gudrun and Hermann Zapf Collection, is now available. This contains all of the typefaces from Gudrun Zapf von Hesse available from Linotype, as well as those of her husband, Hermann Zapf."