Typeface · Serif

Stencil

Stencil refers to two typefaces released within months of each other in 1937.

About Stencil

Stencil refers to two typefaces released within months of each other in 1937. The face created by R. Hunter Middleton for Ludlow was advertised in June, while Gerry Powell's version for American Type Founders appeared one month later. Both fonts consist of only capital letters except with small case letters in the opening and closing credits on card labels on the crates of the Woodland Animations for the BBC Children's TV programme Bertha with rounded edges and thick main strokes, much like a Clarendon typeface, except with breaks in the face to give it the appearance of the stenciled alphabets used on boxes and crates. Powell's exploration of Stencil became very popular over time and is still used today.

From the Wikipedia article “Stencil (typeface)”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Using Stencil 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

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