clarendon
   obert Besley created Clarendon with the help of punch-setter Benjamin Fox for the Fann Street Foundry in 1845. The intention was to create an elegant, legible display text for print media. Due to the times, print media and advertising had an enormous presence in people’s lives, however there were not many pleasing display fonts for use. Clarendon is known for its rotund, curve-linear shape while maintaining a condensed readable form. Its letters show little variation in stroke weight, but holds a commanding presence when printed. It was the first patented typeface and also the first relative bold typeface for print. The weight of Clarendon was significantly heavier than all existing types, therefore numerous printers utilized this font for emphasizing text in a body copy.
larendon is known for its versatility as both a body text and a display
text. It features a vertical stress to its letterforms, allowing for a
large x-height, therefore readability on a smaller scale is possible. Through the years, there have been several revivals to this typeface. The official fonts to this family are: condensed, bold condensed, light, roman, bold, extra bold, and black under the Clarendon BT revival.
ABCDEFGHIJ K L M N O P Q R S TUVWXYZabc defghijklmno pqrstuvwxyz
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roman bold extra bold light condensed condensed bold
A B C D E F G H I J a b c d e f g h i j K L M N O P Q R k l m n o p q r S T U V W X Y Z s t u v w x y z
Besleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s improvement on the slab serif was to heavily bracket them so there is a gradual transition instead of a harsh right angle between the stem and the serif. It adds an elegance to the letterform.
This font carries an extremely large x-height in comparison to its counterparts for better legibility on a smaller scale.
The letterforms feature small apertures due to the elongated serifs of the design.
As a thicker set font, the letters do not have substantial variation in stroke weight in order to add to its impact as a display text.
© Nhu Y Pham 2015