*** Welcome to piglix ***

Century Type Family

Century
CenturySchoolbookSAIB.svg
Category Serif
Classification Didone, Scotch Modern
Designer(s) Linn Boyd and Morris Fuller Benton
Foundry American Type Founders
Date released 1894–1923
Variations Century Expanded, Century Schoolbook, Century Old Style, Century Catalogue
Shown here Century Schoolbook
Century Roman
Category Serif
Classification Modern
Designer(s) Linn Boyd Benton
Commissioned by Theodore Low De Vinne for the Century Magazine
Foundry American Type Founders
Date created 1894
Date released November, 1895 issue of Century Magazine
Century
Category Serif
Classification Modern
Designer(s) Morris Fuller Benton
Commissioned by American Type Founders
Foundry American Type Founders
Date created 1900
Date released 1900–1910
Re-issuing foundries Barnhart Brothers & Spindler, Linotype, Intertype, Monotype, Ludlow
Design based on Century Roman + Bruce #16 Roman
Also known as Century Expanded
Century Oldstyle
Category Serif
Classification Old Style
Designer(s) Morris Fuller Benton
Commissioned by American Type Founders
Foundry American Type Founders
Date created 1909
Date released 1909–1915
Re-issuing foundries Linotype, Intertype, Monotype
Design based on Century Roman + Caslon
Also known as Old Style No. 9 (Linotype)
Century Catalogue
Category Serif
Classification Modified Old Style
Designer(s) Morris Fuller Benton
Commissioned by American Type Founders
Foundry American Type Founders
Date created 1917
Date released 1917
Design based on Century Expanded
Century Schoolbook
CenturySchoolbookSAIB.svg
Category Serif
Classification Transitional
Designer(s) Morris Fuller Benton
Commissioned by Ginn & Company
Foundry American Type Founders
Date created 1918
Date released 1918–1923
Re-issuing foundries Linotype, Intertype, Monotype, Ludlow
Design based on Century Expanded
Also known as Century Modern (Ludlow)

Century is a family of serif type faces particularly intended for body text. 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 his Century magazine. ATF rapidly expanded it into a very large family, first by Linn Boyd and later by his son Morris.

Century 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. Its design emphasises crispness and elegance, with strokes ending in fine tapers, ball terminals and crisp, finely pointed serifs. However, compared to many earlier typefaces in the genre, stroke contrast is quite low, creating a less sharp and highly readable structure. With ATF no longer operating, a wide variety of variants and revivals with varying features and quality are available.

Despite originating in the nineteenth century, use of the typeface remains strong for periodicals, textbooks, and literature. The Supreme Court of the United States requires that briefs be typeset in Century family 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. 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'."

Characteristics of this typeface are:

lower case: curl ending in a ball terminal on top of letter c. Ball terminal on hook of f, ear of g, and tail of j.

upper case: curled tail on the capital R and reflexive curled tail on the capital Q. Prominent top spur on capital C.

figures: curl ending in a ball terminal on both tails of 3, and on single tail of 2, 5, 6 and 9.

Theodore Low De Vinne, publisher of the Century Magazine, wanted a more legible font for his magazine. He commissioned his friend Linn Boyd Benton from the newly formed American Type Founders to devise such a face. 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. De Vinne and aesthete William Morris decried this “growing effeminacy” and called for a reversion to blacker faces. The face L.B. Benton produced, Century Roman, had a larger x-height than most faces and thicker hair-lines than was common, yet the proportions of a condensed face because De Vinne believed this to be more legible. This was made only in foundry type and later an accompanying face of normal width was produced by L.B. Benton, called variously Century Broad Face or Century No. 2. 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.


...
Wikipedia

...