I’m doing a project on William Caslon & this came up while doing research. I’m so in awe of this, I had to share.

Caslon suicide note tattoo

As I run an online venture called TypographyShop I’m always on the lookout for unique and engaging uses of type.

I met this young man while I was attending the annual Philadelphia Open Studios Tour and noticed type on his wrist peeking out from his shirt and was astounded to see well drawn typography in a recognizable typeface in a tattoo. Although the kerning could have been better.

“It’s Adobe Caslon Pro,” he proudly told me and gladly agreed to let me photograph him. Shot in the studio of his friend, the very talented silkscreener Tory Franklin. He posed in front of Tory’s stunning work and told me that the tattoo was a suicide note in its entirety from a psychiatrist in the 1920’s.