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