My early interest in fonts can be summed up in one word - Zipatone. 

Ah, yes, Zipatone - probably the most popular brand name for dry transfer lettering.  Long before there was Microsoft Word, there was Zipatone.

You went down to your local art store and picked up a pack of letters on this translucent film.  You applied the letters to a page by carefully placing the letter sheet on your page and then, with a pencil or other blunt object, rub firmly on the top of the letter until it had affixed itself to the page.  It was a long, slow process to produce beautifully typeset letters without a printing press, but there was something about it that still amazed me.

I was really blown away by their font catalogs.  Flipping through one of their books, I saw font after beautiful font.  I fell in love with fonts then and I still love them now.