The University Roman™ typeface design began life as a lettering sample in a Speedball Lettering™ book of the late 1930s. Called "Stunt Roman" in the Speedball book, the name was changed when the design was first released as a phototype font in the early 1970s. Its decorative shapes and swash-like characters immediately caught the attention of graphic designers, making the design an overnight success.

More characters, in addition to a bold and oblique design, were added when University Roman was made into digital desktop fonts. This perennial favorite is also available as a Web font and was rated 43 in last month's Top 100 Web Fonts list.

Here's the full list of December's Top 100 Fonts.com Web Fonts:

Neue Helvetica

Avenir

Avenir Next

Futura

Soho

Trade Gothic

Slate

Brandon Grotesque

Neue Swift

Charcuterie

Proxima Nova

Helvetica

Neo Sans

Gill Sans

Univers

DIN Next

Century Gothic

Thirsty Script

ITC Caslon No. 224

PMN Caecilia

ITC Avant Garde Gothic

Zapfino Extra

Neue Helvetica Compressed

Frutiger

Times

Rockwell

Bodoni LT

Monotype Baskerville

Harmonia Sans

Veneer

Optima

VAG Rounded

Melany Lane

Naive Inline

Linotype Didot

Eurostile LT

ITC Lubalin Graph

Snell Roundhand

Minion

Myriad

Cochin

Fairfield

University

Harley Davidson Letterpress

Museo Sans

Swift

Linotype Univers

ITC Franklin Gothic

ITC American Typewriter

Chaparral

Swiss 721

Neue Helvetica eText

Shelley Script

Tahoma

Courier PS

M Yuen HK

ITC Edwardian Script

Granjon

French Script

Bernhard Modern

ITC Tiffany

Felix Titling

Joanna

Engravers

Gloucester

Vladimir Script

Flemish Script

Helinda Rook

C Xing Kai PRC

Linoscript

Alana

Estilo

Citadel Script

Chevalier

Sassoon Infant

Caslon Open Face

Bernhard Fashion

Fette Fraktur

Liberty

Commercial Script

Skitch

C Xing Kai HK

AT Uncial

Wedding Text

Linotext

ITC Tempus Serif

Sho

Fling

Ruling Script

Sabon

Museo

Frutiger Next

Trade Gothic Next

Orator

ITC Fenice

Calibri

Papyrus

Neue Frutiger

Arial

Kepler