The ITC Berkeley Old Style® font family was created in 1983 as a revival of Fredric Goudy’s custom California Old Style™ typeface, which was originally created specifically for the University of California Press at Berkley. It is a serif font with unusually elongated descenders and a uniquely light style.
Until the age of 40, Frederic Goudy held a variety of work positions and at the age of forty held a position keeping books for a realtor. However, his studies with the Chicago School of Lettering in Bloomington Illinois eventually resulted in his success as a typographer and his invitation by the University of California to produce the original California Old Style typeface in 1937.
The California Old Style font was copyrighted by the University of California and continues to be owned by the school at the present time. However, in 1956, the Lanston Monotype Company (for whom Goudy was an art consultant from 1920 - 1940) released a slightly modified version of the typeface for general use, naming it “Californian.” Over the course of his life, Goudy produced 116 typefaces and published 59 volumes.
In the early nineteen-eighties, the International Typeface Corporation planned a revival of the California Old Style design and a typographer named Tony Stan was commissioned to reproduce the font, a task he completed in 1983. Thus, the ITC Berkeley Old Style typeface family was born, a direct reference to its former use at the Berkeley Press. The present version of the ITC Berkeley Old Style design is known for its striking use of longer than average descenders, elegant style and versatility, especially in print.
ITC Berkeley Old Style
Weights of ITC Berkeley Old StyleThe ITC Berkeley Old Style design continues to be enduringly popular as a publishing font. It and other similar typefaces lend themselves well to design. Similar fonts are used in popular publications like Harper’s Magazine. Colleges and Universities all over the world use serif typefaces in official communications and promotional materials.