Scotch Roman Fonts

October 30, 2005 5:19 PM

Yet another font identification question. Kinda. Please come inside if you know anything about Scotch Roman.

Ok, I'm trying to match a font used by the publisher JS Pratt, of London, circa 1842. Scanned example.

Identifont identified it as Modern No 20, a remarkably good match. This appears to be one of a family of fonts descended from Scotch Roman.

Now, on to my problem: I want to match the look of the 1842 text as closely as possible (while correcting out-and-out errors) but the modern fonts look too good. Everything's crisp and sharp and well laid-out, while in my 1842 font things are a bit more cramped, and the lines and serifs are thicker - due to the limitations of technology, I guess.

I don't want to reproduce errors in the process (misaligned letters, ink splodges, etc), I just want a "heavier" feel than the modern Scotch Romans I've found so far. So... is there a Scotch Roman font out there that looks something like Victorian lead type?

posted by Leon to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

Best answer: Font Bureau has a Scotch of their own that comes in several weights, most of which look clearly beefier than the two fonts linked in your original post. You might even try their Belizio in one of the lighter weights if you're not setting big blocks of text.
posted by letourneau at 5:36 PM on October 30, 2005

Response by poster: letourneau: Thanks, those are certainly heavier. Unfortunately the overall shape is further away from my scanned example (you can see it especially clearly in the serifs on the 4 and 7). If I have to compromise, I'll go for shape over weight.

Hmm. I wonder how hard it is to edit a font...
posted by Leon at 2:03 AM on October 31, 2005

Editing a font is hard. But if you just need a single digital image, you can fake an ink print look in Photoshop by overlaying some layers of the image expanded with noise added. Here's an example; not quite the look you want, but maybe it gives you an idea?
posted by Nelson at 2:45 AM on October 31, 2005

(You might also ask at Typophile.)
posted by Utilitaritron at 6:13 AM on October 31, 2005

Editing a font isn't all that hard but it is very meticulous and time consuming work to do it well. Also, check the licence to make sure you bought right to edit the outlines.
posted by Grod at 7:18 AM on October 31, 2005