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Scotch Roman

Wikipedia: Scotch Roman refers to a class of typefaces popular in the early nineteenth century, particularly in the United States and to a lesser extent the United Kingdom. These typefaces were modeled on an original 1839 design by Samuel Nelson Dickinson, founder of the Dickinson Type Foundry in Boston, who had the design cut by Richard Austin, and cast by Alexander Wilson and Son in Glasgow, Scotland. This is wrong, because Richard Miller died in 1830. The William Miller foundry's Scotch Roman is from 1813.

The Scotch Roman typefaces are in the modern (didone) style, with long ascenders and an elegant aura that make them agreeable to the eye. Present day typefaces in the shadow of Scotch Roman include Caledonia, Georgia (Matthew Carter), and Escrow (Font Bureau).

Mac McGrew: Scotch Roman is derived from a typeface cut and cast by the Scotch foundry of Alexander Wilson&Son at Glasgow before 1833, when it was considered a novelty letter. The modern adaptation of the typeface was first made in 1903 by the foundry of A. D. Farmer&Sons, later part of ATF. It is a modern face, but less mechanical than Bodoni, and has long been popular. Capitals, though, appear heavier than lowercase letters and tend to make a spotty page. Hansen's National Roman is virtually the same face, with the added feature of an alternate r with raised arm in the manner of Cheltenham Oldstyle. When Monotype copied Scotch Roman in 1908, display sizes were cut to match the foundry face, but in keyboard sizes, necessarily modified to fit mechanical requirements, the caps were lightened and the entire typeface was somewhat regularized. Scotch Open Shaded Italic, a partial set of swash initials, was designed by Sol Hess in 1924. Similar swash letters, but not shaded, were also drawn by Hess and made by Monotype for regular Scotch Roman Italic. Linotype had adapted Scotch Roman to its system in 1903, retaining the heavier capitals, but in 1931, by special permission of Lanston Monotype, brought out Scotch No.2 to match the Monotype version. Compare Atlantic, Bell, Caledonia, Original Old Style.

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INTERNAL LINKS
Modern style [Bodoni, Didot, Walbaum, Thorowgood, Computer Modern, etc.] ⦿ Scotch Roman ⦿ Type in Scotland ⦿