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David Thometz's top 10 favorite text typefaces

• Hightower (Font Bureau: Tobias Frere-Jones, 1994-1996, based on Nicolas Jenson) and Cloister Old Style (Font Company/URW++; Nicolas Jenson; Morris Fuller Benton, 1897): "Nicolas Jenson's model is, in many typophiles' judgement, simply the best roman ever designed. Morris Fuller Benton's Cloister Old Style is by far my favorite of all the attempts to revive Jenson. ITC's Legacy Serif is too sterile, Adobe Jenson Pro lacks the same charm, and Monotype's Centaur is just a bit too spindly. Monotype's Italian Oldstyle and Jim Parkinson's Parkinson are good, but diverged a bit too much from the original form. Cloister Old Style has enough meat on its bones to print well at small sizes, but its forms are intriguing enough to keep it interesting at larger sizes. The Font Company/URW++ cut is the best that I've found, although its outlines are on the klunky side. Tobias Frere-Jones' Hightower is another font based on the same form. I haven't had it long enough to judge it completely fairly, but so far it has satisfied my expectations. It is slightly more sterile than Cloister, but not such that it completely loses its charm, and its outlines are better that any cutting of Cloister that I've yet come across. "
• Cheltenham Old Style (Bitstream; Hannibal Ingalls Kimball, Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, Morris Fuller Benton, 1896-1911; 1990): "Demand the original design, as Bitstream's version has followed, and burn all copies of ITC's bastardization. Cheltenham Old Style is absolutely not for everyday use. Still, for those occasions when it is appropriate, it's a font you can kick off your shoes by the fire to read."
• Stempel Garamond (Stempel/Linotype AG; Claude Garamond, c.1480-1561; 1924): "This is a truly beautiful text font, and the only "Garamond" in which both the roman and the italic are based on Claude Garamond's work, and not Jean Jannon's."
• Mrs Eaves (Emigre; Zuzana Licko, 1996): Emigre's version of Baskerville isn't particularly true to Baskerville's design, but Zuzana Licko's alterations result in a fresh, new typeface that is well-suited to the realities of today's digital printing demands. The italic is especially beautiful, and the range of ligatures is (with a few exceptions) a bonus.
• FF Scala and FF Scala Sans (FontShop; Martin Majoor, 1990).
• HTF Didot (Hoefler Type Foundry; Firmin Didot, c.1784; Jonathan Hoefler, c.1992?) and Didot LH (Linotype AG; Firmin Didot, c.1784; Adrian Frutiger, 1992): "Didot is currently my favorite of the didone fonts, and both of these versions are good, each having different strengths. Still, Berthold Bodoni Old Face, Berthold Bodoni Antiqua, Bauer Bodoni and Berthold Walbaum slip into my top tier from time to time."
• Perpetua (Linotype AG; Eric Gill, c. 1925-1930; 1959; 1991): Strangely, Perpetua's flowing grace and stately structure is often too beautiful to be used for certain texts, which is why I don't use it even as often as I'd like.
• Serapion (Storm Type Foundry; Frantisek Storm, 2001): Serapion is klunky and untamed, but filled with a beautiful energy. William Berkson says in 2012: Well, I don't think Serapion is a good text face, because it's color is too uneven. You can get variety by doing uneven color, easily. To get variety while also getting even color to me is the challenge. Storm is a good designer, but to me this one is not a success. Large it's ugly as well, if you ask me. To me it's visually incoherent.
• Plantin (Agfa-Monotype; Frank Hinman Pierpont, ?): The original is much better than its descendant, Times New Roman.
• Bookman/Old Style (Ludlow, 1925; Merganthaler-Linotype, 1936; Agfa-Monotype ?): AGFA-Monotype has the best version that I've found; Bitstream's is okay. Avoid ITC's parody.

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David Thometz's top 10 favorite text typefaces
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INTERNAL LINKS
Choice of fonts ⦿ Modern style [Bodoni, Didot, Walbaum, Thorowgood, Computer Modern, etc.] ⦿ Lapidary typefaces ⦿ Garalde or Garamond typefaces ⦿ Venetian or antiqua typefaces ⦿ Cheltenham ⦿ Baskerville ⦿ Eric Gill and his typefaces ⦿ Bookman ⦿