Developed by Brazilian designer, Paulo W, Indenture English Penman draws heavily from the work of 18th century writing master, George Bickham. Bickham’s The Universal Penman functioned as an overview of penmanship in his era and defined both drafting and engraving styles for years to come.

The extensive anthology of twenty-five contemporary writing masters contained more than 200 engraved plates and was meant to be used as a manual for the business man of the day. Bickham himself likely created 18 of the plates included. As a historical record of the writing hands of the time, the book is a priceless resource and was sourced by Paulo W. when developing the modern typeface Indenture English Penman.

IEP is a wide-ranging, handstyle typeface containing multiple options, including hundreds of glyphs like dozens of versals to each alphabet letter, a selection of versals in Old English style, and flourishes to use at beginnings of paragraphs or chapters.

Due to its romantic and period look, Indenture English Penman is suited to very particular style applications. It is useful in evoking a sense of elegance for a special occasion, for example, and works well on engagement and wedding announcements and printed materials. As a display font, it has legibility issues to the modern eye and is usually used for a visual accent or style element instead of for text display.