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Typeface · Serif

Hess Old Style

Hess Old Style is an old style serif font, designed by Sol Hess for Lanston Monotype based on designs of Nicolas Jenson from 1479.

About Hess Old Style

Hess Old Style is an old style serif font, designed by Sol Hess for Lanston Monotype based on designs of Nicolas Jenson from 1479. It was released in 1920 with a companion italic made available in 1923. It was intended by Monotype to compete with ATF's popular Cloister Old Style, but it is both neater and heavier, making it more suitable for hard-finish papers. Like most Jenson-inspired designs, it has a tilted cross-stroke on the 'e'.

From the Wikipedia article “Hess Old Style”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Using Hess Old Style in a book

Serif typefaces like this are the traditional choice for book body text: the serifs guide the eye along the line in long passages. Set novels at 10.5–12 pt with 125–140% leading.

Commercial typefaces require a licence that covers embedding in PDFs and ebooks; check the foundry's licence before you publish.

Sources & data

More serif typefaces

Times New Roman 1931 Antiqua 1600 Cooper Black 1922 Didone Source Serif 2014 Albertus 1940 Goudy Old Style 1915 Doulos SIL 1992

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