ITC New Baskerville®

The ITC New Baskerville font family is based on a design that was first shown by John Baskerville of Birmingham in 1724. It is important historically because it represented a deliberate move away from the Old Style faces of the preceding centuries, and foretold the Moderns that were to follow. ITC New Baskerville imparts an elegant and distinctive look without distracting the reader.

The ITC New Baskerville™ typeface family is a modern interpretation of the original types cut in 1762 by British type founder and printer John Baskerville. During the centuries since its creation, Baskerville has remained one of the world’s most widely used typefaces.

The first modern revival of Baskerville was in 1923, under the design direction of Stanley Morison for Monotype. This design was released in just two versions, roman and italic, and is still available as a digital font. In 1978, Mergenthaler Linotype Company released a revised and updated version of Baskerville that included additional weights with corresponding italics.

Through a licensing arrangement with Linotype, ITC gained the rights to the family and released ITC New Baskerville in 1982. This release made the design’s roman, semi bold, bold and black weights (each with a corresponding italic) available to a much larger audience.

The original Baskerville and its revivals share design traits with old style typefaces while foreshadowing the innovations of Didot and Bodoni. As with an old style, Baskerville’s serifs are heavily bracketed and its lowercase head-serifs are obliqued. Contrast in stroke weight is more pronounced than in Garamond or Caslon, yet it does not approach the extremes reached by Didot. As in a Didone, Baskerville’s weight stress is vertical – gone is the inclined axis of curves found in Bembo or Centaur

Baskerville was created for setting books, and its modern revivals are ideally suited to the setting of continuous text. Magazines, booklets, brochures and pamphlets are natural uses. New Baskerville is also an exceptionally legible design, with a genial, attractive feel. More than merely easy to read, New Baskerville is inviting to the reader.