For some time, Eric de Berranger had wanted to create a distressed typeface design – one that gave the appearance of antique printing and showed signs of wear, yet was still highly readable. He was busy designing a new typeface that was later to become the Maxime™ family, when an idea struck: “I realized that I could use these lettershapes as the basis for my antique typeface,” he says. The two faces ended up being designed in tandem. De Berranger released Maxime as part of his own offering and licensed the other exclusively to ITC, as the ITC Oldbook™ family.
While ITC Oldbook clearly captures the flavor of aged, uneven and imperfect printing, it also meets de Berranger’s goal of being exceptionally readable in text sizes. Beginning with well-drawn characters was the key, and these were carefully modeled into the distressed forms. “The process was more difficult than I originally thought,” says de Berranger. “The antique letters had to be tested and modified several times to work correctly.”
ITC Oldbook elegantly simulates antique printing in both text and display sizes. And while stroke weights are uneven and curves are irregular, the design has remarkably even color when set in blocks of text copy. Add to this the design’s inherent legibility, and ITC Oldbook acquires a range far beyond replication of things old; it’s suitable for any project that calls for warm and weathered typography.
ITC Oldbook is available in roman and bold weights with complementary italic designs. Small caps, old style figures and a suite of alternate characters and ornaments provide additional flexibility and personality to the design.