Looking for an old-fashioned font.
September 26, 2010 2:39 PM Subscribe
Is there anywhere where you can download a font like the one used in 16th-17th century books/manuscripts?
I'm talking about the all-caps font you often see in title pages like this and this. I don't know anything about the history of book printing to know what it would be called so Google is not helping me. It would be great if I could find a similar font, preferably free, on the internet. A friend wants to use the font for his tattoo.
Thanks!
I'm talking about the all-caps font you often see in title pages like this and this. I don't know anything about the history of book printing to know what it would be called so Google is not helping me. It would be great if I could find a similar font, preferably free, on the internet. A friend wants to use the font for his tattoo.
Thanks!
Best answer: The technical term would be old style or "humanist" serif: GLC does distressed versions that may fit your requirements, but they're not free to download.
posted by holgate at 2:48 PM on September 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by holgate at 2:48 PM on September 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
Essays 1743 is "based on the typeface used in a 1743 English translation of Montaigne's Essays. The font is released under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License".
posted by caek at 3:09 PM on September 26, 2010
posted by caek at 3:09 PM on September 26, 2010
I asked a very similar question.
Fell types
ITC Oldbook
Old Claude
Celestia Antiqua
Founders Caslon
Gryphius
Mayflower
1722
posted by fire&wings at 3:51 PM on September 26, 2010
Fell types
ITC Oldbook
Old Claude
Celestia Antiqua
Founders Caslon
Gryphius
Mayflower
1722
posted by fire&wings at 3:51 PM on September 26, 2010
The League of Movable Type have a few fonts that match your description.
posted by schmod at 6:47 PM on September 26, 2010
posted by schmod at 6:47 PM on September 26, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
Once you have the font, other things you can do to make the desired inscription look "old" (in the style of the title pages you linked) are: use all caps, increase the spacing between letters, replace U's with V's and/or J's with I's, and mess it up a little bit with an image filter.
posted by AkzidenzGrotesk at 2:48 PM on September 26, 2010 [1 favorite]