Century type family
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 The Century Magazine. ATF rapidly expanded it into a very large family, first by Linn Boyd, and later by his son Morris. With ATF no longer operating, a wide variety of variants and revivals with varying features and quality are available.
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 emphasizes crispness and elegance, with ball terminals, minimalist brackets, prominent slab serifs, and high contrast between thick and thin strokes. Generous whitespace between the letters is intended to offset the weight of the thick strokes. Readability is improved by line spacing because of taller x-height.
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. The Supreme Court also uses Century Schoolbook for its published opinions. 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'."
Distinctive characteristics
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.
Variations
Century Roman
, the printer of Century Magazine, wanted a more legible typeface for the 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 fellow printer William Morris decried this "growing effeminacy" and called for a reversion to sturdier faces. The face 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. 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.Century
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. Following this, he was given the task of adapting Century No. 2 to meet the Typographical Union standards of the time. Records now in the Smithsonian show that M.F. 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. had recently acquired. The result was Century Expanded, which proved hugely successful. By 1912 the A.T.F. catalog no longer offered the original Century Roman, while displaying 64 pages of samples of other members of the Century family. Following the successful introduction of this type, M.F. 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. The faces were issued over a period of ten years, all of which were designed by Benton and issued by A.T.F.:- Century Expanded
- Century Italic + Century Bold
- Century Bold Condensed
- ''Century Bold Extended''
Hot metal copies
- Century Bold Condensed Italic
- Century Extra Bold Extended, designed for use in newspaper and magazine headlines.
Cold type copies
- Century Expanded – Autologic, Berthold, Dymo, Harris, Mergenthaler, Monotype, Varityper, Linotype, Bitstream
- Century X – Alphatype
- Century Light – Compugraphic
- Censtar Expanded – Star/Photon
- Cambridge Expanded – Graphic Systems Inc.
- Digi-Antiqua – Hell AG
- ITC Century - ITC: a less faithful version with increased x-height, but extremely popular, has also been digitised.
Digital variants
A digital version named Benton Modern Text was first prepared by Font Bureau for the Boston Globe and the Detroit Free Press. It was designed by Tobias Frere-Jones and is based on Century Expanded, but the accompanying italic and bold are based upon Century Schoolbook and were designed by Richard Lipton and Christian Schwartz. Benton Modern was released in two optical sizes: text for general use and display for large text sizes. Font Bureau had already digitised as a separate project Century Bold Condensed on its own, intending it particularly for newspaper headlines.Century Oldstyle
Century Oldstyle was released at a time when heavier faces with bracketed serifs were returning to vogue. The faces, all designed by Benton, were issued by A.T.F. over a period of six years. Century Oldstyle is Linn Boyd Benton's and Morris Fuller Benton's renovation of Phemister's Miller & Richard Old Style for ATF forty-five years later, using the Century name for marketing purposes. Despite the name it is not purely an old-style serif font, but retains many more modern characteristics such as its curling capital Q.- Century Oldstyle + italic + bold
- Century Oldstyle Bold Italic
- ''Century Oldstyle Bold Condensed''
Hot metal copies
Cold type copies
As oldstyle faces gained in popularity during the photo-comp era, Century Oldstyle was copied more widely then than during the hot type era. Copies were made under following names:- Century Oldstyle – Alphatype, Berthold, Harris, Mergenthaler
- Cambridge Oldstyle – Graphic Systems Inc.
Century Catalogue
Baskerville Italic, only the A, V and W being different. Both were designed by M.F. Benton and released by A.T.F. in 1917. As far as is known, Century Catalogue was never copied by other foundries, for machine composition, or as cold type. Raph Levien has produced a "nearly complete" digitization of Century Catalogue under the terms of the Open Font License.
Century Schoolbook Monospace
Century Schoolbook
Century Schoolbook is a transitional serif typeface designed by Morris Fuller Benton in 1919 for the American Type Founders at the request of Ginn & Co., a textbook publisher, which wanted an especially easy-to-read face for textbooks. Century Schoolbook has elements similar to the Didone classification. Century Schoolbook is based on the earlier Century Roman.Century Schoolbook is familiar to many in North America as being the typeface with which many first learned to read. Morris Fuller Benton utilized research done by Clark University that showed young readers more quickly identified letterforms with contrasting weight, but with the lighter strokes maintaining presence. Tests also showed the importance of maintaining counter-form in recognizing the face at smaller sizes. In designing Century Schoolbook, M. F. Benton increased the x-height, the stroke width, and overall letterspacing. The faces were issued over a period of five years, all of which were designed by Benton and issued by A.T.F.:
- Century Schoolbook
- Century Schoolbook Italic
- Century Schoolbook Bold