In 1864, the punchcutter Homan Hallock, who with Eli Smith was responsible for the admirable ‘American Arabic’ types that were used in the Van Dyck Bible translation, produced this experimental Arabic type. It may be the first attempt at systematic Arabic script reform, preceding the Cairo Academy initiative of 1933 by almost seventy years. It doesn't seem to have been employed, except in the single specimen sheet produced by Hallock.
