A refinement of Roman inscriptional capitals designed by Bruce Rogers as a titling design for signage in the Metropolitan Museum. Rogers later designed for the Monotype Corporation a lowercase based on Jenson’s work, turning the titling into a full typeface, Centaur, the most elegant and Aldine of the Jenson derivatives. Centaur® font field guide including best practices, font pairings and alternatives.

Working at American Type Founders from a Bruce Foundry recutting, Morris Fuller Benton worked out the dramatics of the English Fat Face, and in 1928 produced Ultra Bodoni, a headline spectacular. Using Benton’s 1933 Ultra Bodoni Extra Condensed, Richard Lipton digitized Bodoni FB Bold Condensed, then took compression even further and designed Bodoni FB Bold Compressed, a real technical tour de force; FB 1992

In 1903, the typeface family Alternate Gothic was developed for ATF (American Type Foundry) by Morris Fuller Benton. It was Benton’s intent to solve many diverse layout problems with the development of a narrow Sans with different width values. The Alternate Gothic enjoys great popularity to this day. Therefore, Elsner+Flake re-worked the typeface family, added all European fixed accents and complemented it with an Antique version.

In 1903, the typeface family Alternate Gothic was developed for ATF (American Type Foundry) by Morris Fuller Benton. It was Benton’s intent to solve many diverse layout problems with the development of a narrow Sans with different width values. The Alternate Gothic enjoys great popularity to this day. Therefore, Elsner+Flake re-worked the typeface family, added all European fixed accents and complemented it with an Antique version.

Alternate Gothic was designed by Morris Fuller Benton for American Typefounders Company in 1903. All three weights of Alternate Gothic are bold and narrow. In fact, this face is essentially a condensed version of Benton’s other well-known sans serif types, Franklin Gothic and News Gothic. In the early twentieth century, the modern concept of type “families” had not yet been formed — and though Benton designed these sans serifs to harmonize with each other, the foundry gave them different names. Robust, dark, and coolly competent, Alternate Gothic is a good choice when strong typographic statements must fit into tight spaces. As a modern usage, it is currently the font of YouTube’s homepage logo.

Morris Fuller Benton’s drawings at the Smithsonian show a creative concern for effects of scale on typeface design. Tobias Frere-Jones began with 4pt ATF Franklin Gothic drawings, modifying proportions to mix with Poynter Oldstyle and Benton Gothic, and adjusting ends of the curved strokes of C G S a c e r s to suit news printing conditions. Poynter Gothic Text excels as subheads used with Poynter Oldstyle Text; FB 1997–99

ATF Franklin Gothic® A new take on an old favorite Franklin Gothic has been the quintessential American sans for more than a century. Designed by Morris Fuller Benton and released in 1905 by American Type Founders, Franklin Gothic quickly stood out in the crowded field of sans-serif types, gaining an enduring popularity. Benton’s original design was a display face in a single weight. It had a bold, direct solidity, yet conveyed plenty of character. A modern typeface in the tradition of 19th-century grotesques, Franklin Gothic was drawn with a distinctive contrast in stroke weight, giving it a unique personality among the more mono-linear appearance of later geometric and neo-grotesque sans-serif types. Franklin Gothic has been interpreted into a series of weights before, most notably with ITC Franklin Gothic. But as the original type was just a bold display face (later accompanied by a few similarly bold widths and italics), how Benton’s design is expanded to multiple weights and styles as a digital type family can vary significantly. Benton designed several gothic faces that harmonize with one another, including Franklin Gothic, News Gothic, and Monotone Gothic, that can serve as models for new interpretations of his work. With ATF Franklin Gothic, Mark van Bronkhorst looked to Benton’s Monotone Gothic—originally a single typeface in a regular weight, and similar to Franklin Gothic in its forms—as the basis for lighter styles. ATF Franklin Gothic may appear familiar given its heritage, but is a new design offering a fresh take on Benton’s work. The text weights are wider and more open than some previous Franklin Gothic interpretations, and as a result are quite legible as text, at very small sizes, and on screen. ATF Franklin Gothic maintains the warmth and the spirit of a Benton classic while offering a suite of fonts tuned precisely for contemporary appeal and utility. The 18-font family offers nine weights with true italics, a Latin-extended character set, and a suite of OpenType features. Download the PDF specimen for ATF Franklin Gothic.

Messily scrawled handwriting.

Cloister Open Face was designed in 1929 by Morris Fuller Benton as one weight of the Cloister Old Style family. Cloister itself appeared from 1897 with American Type Founders, and later for the typesetting machines of the Linotype, Intertype and Monotype companies. At that time, it was the truest modern industrial revival of the Jensonian Roman. Benton stayed close to the style of his model in both design and spacing. Cloister Open Face has an old-world elegance, and it works well for titling in books and magazines. In 1458, Charles VII sent the Frenchman Nicolas Jenson to learn the craft of movable type in Mainz, the city where Gutenberg was working. Jenson was supposed to return to France with his newly learned skills, but instead he traveled to Italy, as did other itinerant printers of the time. From 1468 on, he was in Venice, where he flourished as a punchcutter, printer and publisher. He was probably the first non-German printer of movable type, and he produced about 150 editions. Though his punches have vanished, his books have not, and those produced from about 1470 until his death in 1480 have served as a source of inspiration for type designers over centuries. His Roman type is often called the first true Roman." Notable in almost all Jensonian Romans is the angled crossbar on the lowercase e, which is known as the "Venetian Oldstyle e.""

Ryman Gothic is inspired by American Wood Types and Gothic Typefaces, mainly in the work of Edwin Allen and Morris Fuller Benton. The result is a hybrid combining gothic proportions with the contrast of wood types. While drawing consonants guided by gothic proportions, vowels were designed slightly wider, making them not only more legible when it comes to long text designs, but also more attractive. Ryman Gothic comes in 8 weights plus its matching italics, ranging from Thin to Heavy. Each weight includes extended language support (Latin + Cyrillic + Greek), ligatures, arrows and more.

From M.F. Benton 1917 and DTP types Limited 1992.

Under the commission of the American Century Magazine"", Linn Boyd Benton designed a new text typeface in 1894 with a design typical of the Neorenaissance movement in typography. Morris Fuller Benton produced various interpretations of this font for American Typefounders and the companies Linotype, Intertype and Monotype quickly took up the typeface. New Century Schoolbook font is a very legible font, fairly narrow and with relatively little stroke contrast. This font is from Morris F. Benton and appeared in 1915.

If there was an American Typeface Hall of Fame, Bank Gothic, designed by the great Morris Fuller Benton would hold a place of special distinction considering this design has survived so many trends in typographic fashion since being introduced in 1930. It's just as desirable today as it was over eighty years ago; arguably more. Today, Bank Gothic is a very popular choice as a titling face for science fiction books, posters and countless television and movie titles. It is also a popular typeface for use in computer games and digital graphics. GroupType’s 2010 revival of this American classic is true to the design, the period, and Benton’s aesthetic. GroupType worked with some of the most talented and experienced type designers that were historically grounded and sensitive to this design project. Fortunately, Mr. Benton has left us a large selection of other great typefaces for insight and guidance. GroupType’s new revival includes the original three weights in regular and condensed style but also a new small cap and lowercase in each font necessary for 21st century typography.

If there was an American Typeface Hall of Fame, Bank Gothic, designed by the great Morris Fuller Benton would hold a place of special distinction considering this design has survived so many trends in typographic fashion since being introduced in 1930. Its just as desirable today as it was over eighty years ago; arguably more. Today, Bank Gothic is a very popular choice as a titling face for science fiction books, posters and countless television and movie titles. It is also a popular typeface for use in computer games and digital graphics. GroupType’s 2010 revival of this American classic is true to the design, the period, and Benton’s aesthetic. GroupType worked with some of the most talented and experienced type designers that were historically grounded and sensitive to this design project. Fortunately, Mr. Benton has left us a large selection of other great typefaces for insight and guidance. GroupType’s new revival includes the original three weights in regular and condensed style plus two new distressed fonts. All have a new small cap and lowercase in each font necessary for 21st century typography.

An original design by Malcolm Wooden inspired by the works of Morris Fuller Benton.

Centennial appeared in 1986 in honor of Linotype’s 100th birthday. The roman and light cuts of the font are reminiscent of the Century typeface, particularly on that of Linn B. Benton and Morris F. Benton, designed around the turn of the 19th century for the American Type Founders. Like Century, Centennial too embodies a cool, reserved neutrality.

Designed by Morris Fuller Benton 1913-15, this Oldstyle family was digitized by Jim Rimmer in the early 2000's. It is a roman face closely styled to that of Nicholas Jensen's with a companion italic in the style of Aldus Manutius. Benton considered Cloister the ideal typeface and it does indeed lend itself to many uses.

Twenties nostalgic oldstyle revival supervised by F.H. Pierpont at Monotype with echoes of Jenson, Caslon, and Goudy.

Based on the ATF typeface by Morris F. Benton, circa 1934. Steve created two additional new weights.

Goodchild Pro is a pragmatic text face, equipped for sophisticated academic typography. The face has a large x-height, as there is little point in adding to the stock of rangy “book” Jensons. Despite this departure from the archetype, in other respects Goodchild is true to the original letter forms in its tight fit, modulation of stroke contrast, and manipulation of x-height and serif size. Jenson’s tiny tittles and diamond-shaped periods have, however, been relinquished. The finish is not the antiquing that one often finds in Renaissance revivals. 
Here clean, decisive details provide a freshly minted, contemporary appearance, providing a smart impression should one wish to use the face at display size.

Steve Jackaman & Ashley Muir. Packard Old Style is based on lettering drawn by Oswald Cooper for the Packard Motor Company (ATF 1913). The bold weight is credited to Morris Fuller Benton (ATF 1916), but it is highly probable that Benton did the adaptation for both weights. Packard Old Style Pro contains all the high-end features expected in a quality OpenType Pro font.

Based on the earliest ATF/M.F. Benton versions of the Bank Gothic typefaces. ‘Fleshed-out’ into a full family.

News Gothic No. 2 is an enhanced version of News Gothic produced by the D. Stempel AG type foundry in 1984. It added more weights to the News Gothic family than were available in other versions, increasing its use in contemporary design and communication. The lighter weights of the original News Gothic were designed by Morris Fuller Benton in 1908 for American Typefounders (ATF). News Gothic typeface is quite similar to Benton's other sans serifs from the early twentieth century, including Franklin Gothic and Lightline Gothic. The bold weights were added to the News Gothic scheme in 1958. The capital letters in News Gothic No. 2, just like those found in News Gothic, have a similar visual width to each other. The lowercase is compact and powerful. These design attributes contributed to Benton's strong handle on the sans serif genre, and for years his types have been popular for newspaper headlines and many other uses. Still a popular presence on the font charts, News Gothic has proven its ability to get the job done right.

Steve Jackaman & Ashley Muir. Packard New Style is a smooth version of the lettering drawn by Oswald Cooper for the Packard Motor Company (ATF 1913). The bold weight is credited to Morris Fuller Benton (ATF 1916), but it is highly probable that Benton did the adaptation for both weights. Packard New Style Pro contains all the high-end features expected in a quality OpenType Pro font.

In 1894, Linn Boyd Benton finished a commission for a new text typeface with the American periodical, Century magazine. Century is typical of the neorenaissance movement in typography at the end of the 19th century. Morris Fuller Benton drew a number of versions of the font for the font foundry, American Typefounders, and Century was later taken up by the firms Linotype, Intertype and Monotype.

In 1894, Linn Boyd Benton finished a commission for a new text typeface with the American periodical, Century magazine. Century is typical of the neorenaissance movement in typography at the end of the 19th century. Morris Fuller Benton drew a number of versions of the font for the font foundry, American Typefounders, and Century was later taken up by the firms Linotype, Intertype and Monotype.

A condensed American blackletter designed for ATF in 1932 by Morris Fuller Benton; the face grows out of nineteenth century roots.

Based on the early original Monotype design, you can definitely see the influence of Italian Old Style, Jenson and Morris’ Golden Type.

This family was inspired by the edition De Civitate Dei (by Sanctus Augustinus) printed in 1467 in Sobiano (Italy, Roma) by Konrad Sweynheym and Arnold Pannartz who was the Punchcutter. It is one of the first few “Roman style” fonts, just before the birth of Jenson’s pattern (look at 1470 Jenson Latin). The present font contains all of the specific latin abbreviations and ligatures used in the original (about 54). Added are the accented characters and a few others not in use in this early period of printing. Decorated letters such as 1512 Initials, 1550 Arabesques, 1565 Venetian, or 1584 Rinceau can be used with this family without anachronism. If Italic style is required (not yet existing in early time of printing), we recommend using 1557 Italique.

A bold weight of a moderately flourished script designed for ATF by Morris Fuller Benton in 1908, and an industry standard since then.

Designed by Morris Fuller Benton in 1907; an improved version of the familiar nineteenth century blackletter as he had executed it in his Wedding Text.

In 1924 Morris Fuller Benton designed for ATF a new variation on his father’s design, Century Oldstyle. Century Schoolbook has become a synonym for readability.

In 1924 Morris Fuller Benton designed for ATF a new variation on his father’s design, Century Oldstyle. Century Schoolbook has become a synonym for readability.

Based on Art Nouveau models, Greeting Monotype was created by M.F. Benton in 1927. The Greeting Monotone font works well for titling, packaging and greeting cards.

The original Tower Condensed font design is attributed to Morris Fuller Benton (1934). PL Tower Condensed is a tall, condensed slab serif typeface; good for headlines.

In 1994, John Benson designed Balzano, Alexa and Caliban, three typefaces with a similar calligraphic character. Balzano differs from the other in its vertical figures, adding a static element to the otherwise lively, flowing components. Balzano is good for short texts and headlines, anywhere in which a personal, elegant look is desired.

Manual Typewriter JNL was modeled from an example of the 1933 design originally created by Morris Fuller Benton, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.