Extract from British Standards 2961:1967
British Standards Institution, London, 1967
(verbatim text)
December 7, 2001

British Standards for Type Classification


Humanist  


Type faces in which the cross stroke of the lower case e is oblique; the axis of the curves is inclined to the left; there is no great contrast between thin and thick strokes; the serifs are bracketed; the serifs of the ascenders in the lower case are oblique. Note. This was formerly known as "Venetian", having been derived from the fifteenth-century minuscule written with a varying stroke thickness by means of an obliquely-held broad pen.


Verona
Centaur
Kennerley


Garalde  


Type faces in which the axis of the curves is inclined to the left; there is generally a greater contrast in the relative thickness of the strokes than in Humanist designs; the serifs are bracketed; the bar of the lower case e is horizontal; the serifs of the ascenders in the lower case are oblique. Note. These are types in the Aldine and Garamond tradition and were formerly called "Old Face" and "Old Style".


Bembo
Garamond
Caslon
Vendôme


Transitional  


Type faces in which the axis of the curves is vertical or inclined slightly to the left; the serifs are bracketed, and those of the ascenders in the lower case are oblique. Note. Influenced by the letter-forms of the copperplate engraver. It may be regarded as a transition from Garalde to Didone, and incorporates some characteristics of each.


Fournier
Baskerville
Bell
Caledonia
Columbia


Didone  


Type faces having an abrupt contrast between thin and thick strokes; the axis of the curves is vertical; the serifs of the ascenders of the lower case are horizontal; there are often no brackets on the serifs. Note. These are type faces as developed by Didot and Bodoni. Formerly called "Modern".


Bodoni
Corvinus
Modern Extended


Slab-serif  


Type faces with heavy, square-ended serifs, with or without brackets.


Rockwell
Clarendon
Playbill


Lineale:  
Grotesque  


Lineale: Type faces without serifs. Grotesque: Lineale type faces with nineteenth-century origins. There is some contrast in thickness of strokes. They have squareness of curve, and curling close-set jaws. The R usually has a curled leg and the G is spurred. The ends of the curved strokes are usually horizontal.


SB Grotesque No. 6
Condensed Sans No. 7
Headline


Lineale:  
Neo-grotesque  


Lineale type faces derived from the grotesque. They have less stroke contrast and are more regular in design. The jaws are more open than in true grotesque and the g is often open-tailed. The ends of the curved strokes are usually oblique.


Edel/Wotan
Univers
Helvetica


Lineale:  
Geometric  


Lineale type faces constructed on simple geometric shapes, circle or rectangle. Usually monoline, and often with single-storey a.


Futura
Erbar
Eurostyle


Lineale:  
Humanist  


Lineale type faces based on the proportions of inscriptional Roman capitals and Humanist or Garalde lower case, rather than early grotesques. They have some stroke contrast, with two-storey a and g.


Optima
Gill Sans
Pascal


Glyphic  


Type faces which are chiselled rather than calligraphic in form.


Latin
Albertus
Augustea


Script  


Type faces that imitate cursive writing.


Palace Script
Legend
Mistral


Graphic  


Type faces whose characters suggest that they have been drawn rather than written.


Libra
Cartoon
Old English


  



Copyright © 2001 Luc Devroye
School of Computer Science
McGill University
Montreal, Canada H3A 2K6
luc@cs.mcgill.ca
http://luc.devroye.org/index.html