Old century font sample series#

Benton embarked upon the creation of the first planned type family, and it is this conception of 'type families' that is probably Benton's single greatest achievement. Following the successful introduction of this type, M.F. catalog no longer offered the original Century Roman, while displaying 64 pages of samples of other members of the Century family. (And which, probably not coincidentally, had been introduced in the Bruce Foundry catalog of 1877 which had been printed by De Vinne.) The result was Century Expanded, which proved hugely successful. Benton not only re-designed his father's face, but did so with reference to #16 Roman of the Bruce Type Foundry which A.T.F. Records now in the Smithsonian show that M.F. 2 to meet the Typographical Union standards of the time. Following this, he was given the task of adapting Century No. With the merging of twenty-three foundries into American Type Founders in 1892, Linn Boyd Benton's son, Morris Fuller Benton, was given the task of consolidating and purging the faces of these manufacturers into a coherent selection. Despite being the original member of the Century family, it is not popular compared to the later members of the family with more normal proportions.īarnhart Brothers & Spindler, Linotype, Intertype, Monotype, Ludlow Benton, called variously Century Broad Face or Century No. This was made only in foundry type and later an accompanying face of normal width was produced by L.B. Benton produced, Century Roman, had a larger x-height than most faces and thicker hair-lines than was common, giving the appearance of a condensed face because De Vinne believed this to be more legible. De Vinne and fellow printer William Morris decried this 'growing effeminacy' and called for a reversion to sturdier faces. Over the course of the nineteenth century, largely because of the influence of Bodoni, common printing fonts had become thin, making a weak impression on the page. He commissioned his friend Linn Boyd Benton from the newly formed American Type Founders to devise such a face. Theodore Low De Vinne, the printer of Century Magazine, wanted a more legible typeface for the magazine. Theodore Low De Vinne for the Century Magazine

Old century font sample series#

Beginning as foundry type, Century has withstood a series of technical transformations into Linotype, Monotype, Ludlow, phototype, transfer type, digital type, and Xerox-like 'toner type'.' According to Charles Shaw, 'The rugged simplicity of the Century family of types has made it an enduring favorite of American typographers for almost one hundred years. The Supreme Court of the United States requires that briefs be typeset in Century family type. With ATF no longer operating, a wide variety of variants and revivals with varying features and quality are available.ĭespite originating in the nineteenth century, use of the typeface remains strong for periodicals, textbooks, and literature.

However, compared to many earlier typefaces in the genre, stroke contrast is quite low, creating a less sharp and highly readable structure. Its design emphasizes crispness and elegance, with strokes ending in fine tapers, ball terminals and crisp, finely pointed serifs.

ATF rapidly expanded it into a very large family, first by Linn Boyd and later by his son Morris.Ĭentury is based on the 'Scotch' genre, a style of type of British origin which had been popular in the United States from the early nineteenth century and is part of the 'Didone' genre of type popular through the entire nineteenth century. The family originates from a first design, Century Roman cut by American Type Founders designer Linn Boyd Benton in 1894 for master printer Theodore Low De Vinne, for use in The Century Magazine.

Century Expanded, Century Schoolbook, Century Old Style, Century CatalogueĬentury is a family of serif type faces particularly intended for body text.