Good book typefaces

I've been lurking on the alt.publish.books Usenet group for a while now. Going through my saved messages tonight I came across this post I'd saved from Stella Azbug.

Here is Stella's list of "good book typefaces:"

• Baskerville
• Bembo
• Californian or Berkeley
• Caslon
• Century
• Garamond (not ITC Garamond—Adobe Garamond is best)
• Cheltenham
• Jenson
• Goudy Old Style
• Minion
• New Century Schoolbook
• Palatino
• Sabon
• Stone Serif

and her list of "good sans serif typefaces for heads etc.:"

• Franklin Gothic
• Gill Sans
• Antique Olive
• Syntax
• Officina Sans
• Frutiger
• Optima
• Stone Sans
• Myriad

For my Mormon's Book project, I've chosen Palatino. And many years ago when I compiled Final Teachings, I chose to set it in Bembo. (Sadly, Adobe's online store doesn't seem to remember my purchase—having been almost a decade now, I guess I can't blame them for purging old data—and the computer I had installed that font on has long since been turned into a boat anchor.)

Another source for typeface advice: the interactive Esperfonto Typeface Selection System.

—Michael A. Cleverly
Tuesday, January 04, 2005 at 19:34

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