serif

Serifs originated from the first official Greek writings on stone and in Latin alphabet with inscriptional lettering—words carved into stone in Roman antiquity. The explanation proposed by Father Edward Catich in his 1968 book The Origin of the Serif is now broadly but not universally accepted: the Roman letter outlines were first painted onto stone, and the stone carvers followed the brush marks, which flared at stroke ends and corners, creating serifs. Another theory is that serifs were devised to neaten the ends of lines as they were chiselled into stone.{{cite book|last=Samara|first=Timothy|title=Typography workbook: a real-world guide to using type in graphic design|year=2004|publisher=Rockport Publishers|isbn=978-1-59253-081-6|page=240|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=denl7KWyM4EC&pg=PA21|access-date=2020-10-28|archive-date=2024-02-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209075231/https://books.google.com/books?id=denl7KWyM4EC&pg=PA21#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}{{cite book|last=Goldberg|first=Rob|title=Digital Typography: Practical Advice for Getting the Type You Want When You Want It|year=2000|publisher=Windsor Professional Information|isbn=978-1-893190-05-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/digitaltypograph0000gold/page/264 264]|url=https://archive.org/details/digitaltypograph0000gold |url-access=registration}}{{cite book|title=The Linotype Bulletin|date=January–February 1921|page=265|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q4bnAAAAMAAJ&q=serif+chisel&pg=PA266-IA7|access-date=26 October 2011|archive-date=9 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209075214/https://books.google.com/books?id=Q4bnAAAAMAAJ&q=serif+chisel&pg=PA266-IA7#v=snippet&q=serif%20chisel&f=false|url-status=live}}

The origin of the word 'serif' is obscure, but apparently is almost as recent as the type style. The book The British Standard of the Capital Letters contained in the Roman Alphabet, forming a complete code of systematic rules for a mathematical construction and accurate formation of the same (1813) by William Hollins, defined 'surripses', usually pronounced "surriphs", as "projections which appear at the tops and bottoms of some letters, the O and Q excepted, at the beginning or end, and sometimes at each, of all". The standard also proposed that 'surripsis' may be a Greek word derived from {{lang|grc|σῠν-}} ({{Transliteration|grc|'syn-'}}, "together") and {{lang|grc|ῥῖψῐς}} ({{Transliteration|grc|'rhîpsis'}}, "projection").

In 1827, Greek scholar Julian Hibbert printed with his own experimental uncial Greek types, remarking that the types of Giambattista Bodoni's Callimachus were "ornamented (or rather disfigured) by additions of what [he] believe[s] type-founders call syrifs or cerefs". The printer Thomas Curson Hansard referred to them as "ceriphs" in 1825.{{cite book|last1=Hansard|first1=Thomas Curson|title=Typographia, an Historical Sketch of the Origin and Progress of the Art of Printing|date=1825|page=[https://archive.org/details/typographiaanhi01hansgoog/page/n432 370]|url=https://archive.org/details/typographiaanhi01hansgoog|access-date=12 August 2015}} The oldest citations in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) are 1830 for 'serif' and 1841 for 'sans serif'. The OED speculates that 'serif' was a back-formation from 'sanserif'.

Webster's Third New International Dictionary traces 'serif' to the Dutch noun {{lang|nl|schreef}}, meaning "line, stroke of the pen", related to the verb {{lang|nl|schrappen}}, "to delete, strike through" ({{lang|nl|'schreef'}} now also means "serif" in Dutch). Yet, {{lang|nl|schreef}} is the past tense of {{lang|nl|schrijven}} (to write). The relation between {{lang|nl|schreef}} and {{lang|nl|schrappen}} is documented by Van Veen and Van der Sijs.Etymologisch Woordenboek (Van Dale, 1997). In her book {{lang|nl|Chronologisch Woordenboek}},(Veen, 2001). Van der Sijs lists words by first known publication in the language area that is the Netherlands today:

• {{lang|nl|schrijven}}, 1100;
• {{lang|nl|schreef}}, 1350;
• {{lang|nl|schrappen}}, 1406 (i.e. {{lang|nl|schreef}} is from {{lang|nl|schrijven}} (to write), not from {{lang|nl|schrappen}} (to scratch, eliminate by strike-through)).

The OED{{'}}s earliest citation for "grotesque" in this sense is 1875, giving 'stone-letter' as a synonym. It would seem to mean "out of the ordinary" in this usage, as in art 'grotesque' usually means "elaborately decorated". Other synonyms include "Doric" and "Gothic", commonly used for Japanese Gothic typefaces.{{cite web|last1=Berry|first1=John|title=A Neo-Grotesque Heritage|url=http://acumin.typekit.com/history/|publisher=Adobe Systems|access-date=15 October 2015|archive-date=16 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016002936/http://acumin.typekit.com/history/|url-status=live}}

File:Garamond sample.svg, an example of an old-style serif{{efn|Note that this image includes 'Th' ligatures, common in Adobe typefaces but not found in the 16th century.}}]]

Old-style typefaces date back to 1465, shortly after Johannes Gutenberg's adoption of the movable type printing press. Early printers in Italy created types that broke with Gutenberg's blackletter printing, creating upright ("roman") and then oblique ("italic") styles that were inspired by Renaissance calligraphy.{{cite web|last1=Olocco|first1=Riccardo|title=The Venetian origins of roman type|url=https://articles.c-a-s-t.com/the-venetian-origins-of-roman-type-a856eb3f0cb|website=Medium|publisher=C-A-S-T|access-date=27 January 2018|archive-date=13 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231113230423/https://articles.c-a-s-t.com/the-venetian-origins-of-roman-type-a856eb3f0cb|url-status=live}} Old-style serif fonts have remained popular for setting body text because of their organic appearance and excellent readability on rough book paper. The increasing interest in early printing during the late 19th and early 20th centuries saw a return to the designs of Renaissance printers and type-founders, many of whose names and designs are still used today.{{cite journal|last1=Mosley|first1=James|title=Garamond, Griffo and Others: The Price of Celebrity|journal=Bibiologia|date=2006|url=http://www.libraweb.net/articoli.php?chiave=200608401&rivista=84|access-date=3 December 2015|archive-date=8 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208134351/http://www.libraweb.net/articoli.php?chiave=200608401&rivista=84|url-status=live}}{{cite web|last1=Coles|first1=Stephen|title=Top Ten Typefaces Used by Book Design Winners|url=http://fontfeed.com/archives/top-ten-typefaces-used-by-book-design-winners/|website=FontFeed (archived)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120228035307/http://fontfeed.com/archives/top-ten-typefaces-used-by-book-design-winners/|access-date=2 July 2015|archive-date=2012-02-28}}{{cite journal|last1=Johnson|first1=A.F.|author-link1=Alfred F. Johnson|title=Old-Face Types in the Victorian Age|journal=Monotype Recorder|date=1931|volume=30|issue=242|pages=5–15|url=http://www.metaltype.co.uk/downloads/mr/mr_30_242.pdf|access-date=14 October 2016|archive-date=5 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305105747/http://www.metaltype.co.uk/downloads/mr/mr_30_242.pdf|url-status=live}}

Old-style type is characterized by a lack of large differences between thick and thin lines (low line contrast) and generally, but less often, by a diagonal stress (the thinnest parts of letters are at an angle rather than at the top and bottom). An old-style font normally has a left-inclining curve axis with weight stress at about 8 and 2 o'clock; serifs are almost always bracketed (they have curves connecting the serif to the stroke); head serifs are often angled.{{Cite web|url=http://www.fonts.com/FavoriteFonts/OldStyleSerif.htm|title=Old Style Serif|access-date=2009-06-25|archive-date=2009-02-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221095647/http://www.fonts.com/FavoriteFonts/OldStyleSerif.htm|url-status=live}}

Old-style faces evolved over time, showing increasing abstraction from what would now be considered handwriting and blackletter characteristics, and often increased delicacy or contrast as printing technique improved.{{cite web|last1=Boardley|first1=John|title=Unusual fifteenth-century fonts: part 1|url=http://ilovetypography.com/2014/02/08/unusual-fifteenth-century-fonts/|website=i love typography|date=7 February 2014|access-date=22 September 2017|archive-date=13 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913081705/http://ilovetypography.com/2014/02/08/unusual-fifteenth-century-fonts/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|last1=Boardley|first1=John|title=Unusual fifteenth-century fonts: part 2|url=http://ilovetypography.com/2015/07/01/unusual-fifteenth-century-fonts-part2/|website=i love typography|date=July 2015|access-date=22 September 2017|archive-date=30 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170930013956/http://ilovetypography.com/2015/07/01/unusual-fifteenth-century-fonts-part2/|url-status=live}} Old-style faces have often sub-divided into 'Venetian' (or 'humanist') and 'Garalde' (or 'Aldine'), a division made on the Vox-ATypI classification system.{{cite web|title=Type anatomy: Family Classifications of Type|url=http://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu/tutorials/process/type_basics/type_families.htm|website=SFCC Graphic Design department|publisher=Spokane Falls Community College|access-date=14 August 2015|archive-date=7 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150807200219/http://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu/tutorials/process/type_basics/type_families.htm|url-status=dead}} Nonetheless, some have argued that the difference is excessively abstract, hard to spot except to specialists and implies a clearer separation between styles than originally appeared.{{Citation |last=Dixon |first=Catherine |title=Typeface classification |publisher=Friends of St Bride |contribution=Twentieth Century Graphic Communication: Technology, Society and Culture |year=2002 |url=http://www.stbride.org/friends/conference/twentiethcenturygraphiccommunication/TypefaceClassification.html |access-date=2015-08-14 |archive-date=2014-10-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026120725/http://www.stbride.org/friends/conference/twentiethcenturygraphiccommunication/TypefaceClassification.html |url-status=dead }}{{efn|Specifically, Manutius's type, the first type now classified as "Garalde", was not so different from other typefaces around at the time. However, the waves of "Garalde" faces coming out of France from the 1530s onwards did tend to cleanly displace earlier typefaces, and became an international standard.{{cite journal|last1=Amert|first1=Kay|title=Stanley Morison's Aldine Hypothesis Revisited|journal=Design Issues|date=April 2008|volume=24|issue=2|pages=53–71|doi=10.1162/desi.2008.24.2.53|s2cid=57566512}}{{cite book|title=The Aldine Press: catalogue of the Ahmanson-Murphy collection of books by or relating to the press in the Library of the University of California, Los Angeles : incorporating works recorded elsewhere.|date=2001|publisher=Univ. of California Press|location=Berkeley [u.a.]|isbn=978-0-520-22993-8|pages=22–25|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wfiFtIkbNsEC&pg=PA22|quote=[On the Aldine Press in Venice changing over to types from France]: the press followed precedent; popular in France, [these] types rapidly spread over western Europe.}}}} Modern typefaces such as Arno and Trinité may fuse both styles.{{cite book|vauthors=Twardoch, Slimbach, Sousa, Slye|title=Arno Pro|date=2007|publisher=Adobe Systems|location=San Jose|url=http://wwwimages.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/products/type/pdfs/ArnoPro.pdf|access-date=14 August 2015|archive-date=30 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140830030331/http://wwwimages.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/products/type/pdfs/ArnoPro.pdf|url-status=dead}}

Early "humanist" roman types were introduced in Italy. Modelled on the script of the period, they tend to feature an "e" in which the cross stroke is angled, not horizontal; an "M" with two-way serifs; and often a relatively dark colour on the page. In modern times, that of Nicolas Jenson has been the most admired, with many revivals.{{cite web|last1=Olocco|first1=Riccardo|title=Nicolas Jenson and the success of his roman type|url=https://articles.c-a-s-t.com/nicolas-jenson-and-the-success-of-his-roman-type-9f0afeba4103|website=Medium|publisher=C-A-S-T|access-date=21 September 2017|archive-date=9 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209075216/https://articles.c-a-s-t.com/nicolas-jenson-and-the-success-of-his-roman-type-9f0afeba4103?gi=51c5b3759956|url-status=live}}{{cite web|last1=Boardley|first1=John|title=The first roman fonts|url=http://ilovetypography.com/2016/04/18/the-first-roman-fonts/|website=ilovetypography|date=18 April 2016|access-date=21 September 2017|archive-date=27 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170927071940/http://ilovetypography.com/2016/04/18/the-first-roman-fonts|url-status=live}} Garaldes, which tend to feature a level cross-stroke on the "e", descend from an influential 1495 font cut by engraver Francesco Griffo for printer Aldus Manutius, which became the inspiration for many typefaces cut in France from the 1530s onwards.{{cite book|last1=Carter|first1=Harry|title=A View of Early Typography up to about 1600|date=1969|publisher=Hyphen Press|location=London|isbn=0-907259-21-9|pages=72–4|edition=Second edition (2002)|quote=De Aetna was decisive in shaping the printers' alphabet. The small letters are very well made to conform with the genuinely antique capitals by emphasis on long straight strokes and fine serifs and to harmonise in curvature with them. The strokes are thinner than those of Jenson and his school...the letters look narrower than Jenson's, but are in fact a little wider because the short ones are bigger, and the effect of narrowness makes the face suitable for octavo pages...this Roman of Aldus is distinguishable from other faces of the time by the level cross-stroke in 'e' and the absence of top serifs from the insides of the vertical strokes of 'M', following the model of Feliciano. We have come to regard his small 'e' as an improvement on previous practice.}} Often lighter on the page and made in larger sizes than had been used for roman type before, French Garalde faces rapidly spread throughout Europe from the 1530s to become an international standard.{{cite book|last1=Vervliet|first1=Hendrik D.L.|author-link=H. D. L. Vervliet|title=The palaeotypography of the French Renaissance. Selected papers on sixteenth-century typefaces. 2 vols.|date=2008|publisher=Koninklijke Brill NV|location=Leiden|pages=90–91, etc.|quote=[On Robert Estienne's typefaces of the 1530s]: Its outstanding design became standard for Roman type in the two centuries to follow...From the 1540s onwards French Romans and Italics had begun to infiltrate, probably by way of Lyons, the typography of the neighbouring countries. In Italy, major printers replaced the older, noble but worn Italian characters and their imitations from Basle.|isbn=978-90-04-16982-1}}{{cite web|last1=Bergsland|first1=David|title=Aldine: the intellectuals begin their assault on font design|url=http://www.bergsland.org/2012/08/book-production/typography/aldine-the-intellectuals-begin-their-assault-on-font-design/|website=The Skilled Workman|date=29 August 2012|access-date=14 August 2015|archive-date=17 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220117063938/https://www.bergsland.org/2012/08/book-production/typography/aldine-the-intellectuals-begin-their-assault-on-font-design/|url-status=live}}

Also during this period, italic type evolved from a quite separate genre of type, intended for informal uses such as poetry, into taking a secondary role for emphasis. Italics moved from being conceived as separate designs and proportions to being able to be fitted into the same line as roman type with a design complementary to it.{{cite web|last1=Boardley|first1=John|title=Brief notes on the first italic|url=http://ilovetypography.com/2014/11/25/notes-first-italic/|website=i love typography|date=25 November 2014|access-date=21 September 2017|archive-date=19 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019195111/http://ilovetypography.com/2014/11/25/notes-first-italic|url-status=live}}{{cite book|first=Hendrik D. L.|last=Vervliet|title=The Palaeotypography of the French Renaissance: Selected Papers on Sixteenth-century Typefaces|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6sidSDlif48C&pg=PA287|year=2008|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-16982-1|pages=287–289|access-date=2017-09-21|archive-date=2023-11-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101004525/https://books.google.com/books?id=6sidSDlif48C&pg=PA287#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}{{cite journal|last1=Lane|first1=John|author-link=John A. Lane|title=The Types of Nicholas Kis|journal=Journal of the Printing Historical Society|date=1983|pages=47–75|quote=Kis's Amsterdam specimen of c. 1688 is an important example of the increasing tendency to regard a range of roman and italic types as a coherent family, and this may well have been a conscious innovation. But italics were romanised to a greater degree in many earlier handwritten examples and occasional earlier types, and Jean Jannon displayed a full range of matching roman and italic of his own cutting in his 1621 specimen...[In appendix] [György] Haiman notes that this trend is foreshadowed in the specimens of Guyot in the mid-sixteenth century and Berner in 1592.}}{{efn|Early italics were intended to exist on their own on the page, and so often had very long ascenders and descenders, especially the "chancery italics" of printers such as Arrighi.{{cite book|first=Hendrik D. L.|last=Vervliet|title=The Palaeotypography of the French Renaissance: Selected Papers on Sixteenth-century Typefaces|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6sidSDlif48C&pg=PA287|year=2008|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-16982-1|pages=287–319|access-date=2017-09-21|archive-date=2023-11-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101004525/https://books.google.com/books?id=6sidSDlif48C&pg=PA287#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}} Jan van Krimpen's Cancelleresca Bastarda typeface, intended to complement his serif family Romulus, was nonetheless cast on a larger body to allow it to have an appropriately expansive feel.}}

Examples of contemporary Garalde old-style typefaces are Bembo, Garamond, Galliard, Granjon, Goudy Old Style, Minion, Palatino, Renard, Sabon, and Scala. Contemporary typefaces with Venetian old style characteristics include Cloister, Adobe Jenson, the Golden Type, Hightower Text, Centaur, Goudy's Italian Old Style and Berkeley Old Style and ITC Legacy. Several of these blend in Garalde influences to fit modern expectations, especially placing single-sided serifs on the "M"; Cloister is an exception.{{cite web|last1=Shen|first1=Juliet|title=Searching for Morris Fuller Benton|url=http://typeculture.com/academic-resource/articles-essays/searching-for-morris-fuller-benton/|website=Type Culture|access-date=11 April 2017|archive-date=11 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170411135132/http://typeculture.com/academic-resource/articles-essays/searching-for-morris-fuller-benton/|url-status=live}}

A new genre of serif type developed around the 17th century in the Netherlands and Germany that came to be called the "Dutch taste" ({{lang|fr|goût Hollandois}} in French). It was a tendency towards denser, more solid typefaces, often with a high x-height (tall lower-case letters) and a sharp contrast between thick and thin strokes, perhaps influenced by blackletter faces.{{cite book|last1=Updike|first1=Daniel Berkeley|title=Printing Types: Their History, Forms and Uses: Volume 2|date=1922|publisher=Harvard University Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/printingtypesthe02updi/page/6 6]–7|url=https://archive.org/details/printingtypesthe02updi|access-date=18 December 2015|chapter=Chapter 15: Types of the Netherlands, 1500-1800}}{{cite web|url=https://typofonderie.com/gazette/post/type-history-1/|work=Typofonderie Gazette|title=Type History 1|access-date=23 December 2015|archive-date=23 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223141313/https://typofonderie.com/gazette/post/type-history-1/|url-status=live}}{{cite journal|last=Johnson|first=A. F.|author-link=Alfred F. Johnson|title=The 'Goût Hollandois'|journal=The Library|date=1939|volume=s4-XX|issue=2|pages=180–196|doi=10.1093/library/s4-XX.2.180}}{{cite web|last1=Mosley|first1=James|title=Type and its Uses, 1455-1830|url=http://www.ies.sas.ac.uk/sites/default/files/files/LRBS/Outline%20of%20Course_Type%26itsUses2013_2.pdf|publisher=Institute of English Studies|access-date=7 October 2016|quote=Although types on the 'Aldine' model were widely used in the 17th and 18th centuries, a new variant that was often slightly more condensed in its proportions, and darker and larger on its body, became sufficiently widespread, at least in Northern Europe, to be worth defining as a distinct style and examining separately. Adopting a term used by Fournier le jeune, the style is sometimes called the 'Dutch taste', and sometimes, especially in Germany, 'baroque'. Some names associated with the style are those of Van den Keere, Granjon, Briot, Van Dijck, Kis (maker of the so-called 'Janson' types), and Caslon.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009181144/http://www.ies.sas.ac.uk/sites/default/files/files/LRBS/Outline%20of%20Course_Type%26itsUses2013_2.pdf|archive-date=9 October 2016}}{{cite web |last1=de Jong |first1=Feike |last2=Lane |first2=John A. |title=The Briot project. Part I |url=https://pampatype.com/blog/the-briot-project |website=PampaType |publisher=TYPO, republished by PampaType |access-date=10 June 2018 |archive-date=12 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612144055/https://pampatype.com/blog/the-briot-project |url-status=live }}

Artists in the "Dutch taste" style include Hendrik van den Keere, Nicolaas Briot, Christoffel van Dijck, Miklós Tótfalusi Kis and the Janson and Ehrhardt types based on his work and Caslon, especially the larger sizes.

Image:Times New Roman sample.svg, a modern example of a transitional serif design.]]

Transitional, or baroque, serif typefaces first became common around the mid-18th century until the start of the 19th.{{cite book|author=Paul Shaw|title=Revival Type: Digital Typefaces Inspired by the Past|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n7e0DgAAQBAJ&pg=PA85|date=18 April 2017|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-21929-6|pages=85–98|access-date=22 June 2017|archive-date=9 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209075213/https://books.google.com/books?id=n7e0DgAAQBAJ&pg=PA85#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}} They are in between "old style" and "modern" fonts, thus the name "transitional". Differences between thick and thin lines are more pronounced than they are in old style, but less dramatic than they are in the Didone fonts that followed. Stress is more likely to be vertical, and often the "R" has a curled tail. The ends of many strokes are marked not by blunt or angled serifs but by ball terminals. Transitional faces often have an italic 'h' that opens outwards at bottom right.{{cite journal|last1=Morison|first1=Stanley|title=Type Designs of the Past and Present, Part 3|journal=PM|date=1937|pages=17–81|url=http://magazines.iaddb.org/issue/PM/1937-11-01/edition/4-3/page/19|access-date=4 June 2017|archive-date=2017-09-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904064848/http://magazines.iaddb.org/issue/PM/1937-11-01/edition/4-3/page/19|url-status=dead}} Because the genre bridges styles, it is difficult to define where the genre starts and ends. Many of the most popular transitional designs are later creations in the same style.

Fonts from the original period of transitional typefaces include early on the {{lang|fr|"romain du roi"}} in France, then the work of Pierre Simon Fournier in France, Fleischman and Rosart in the Low Countries,{{cite book|author=Jan Middendorp|title=Dutch Type|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sR9g5xPPJVQC&pg=PA27|year=2004|publisher=010 Publishers|isbn=978-90-6450-460-0|pages=27–29}} Pradell in Spain and John Baskerville and Bulmer in England.{{cite journal|last1=Corbeto|first1=A.|title=Eighteenth Century Spanish Type Design|journal=The Library|date=25 September 2009|volume=10|issue=3|pages=272–297|doi=10.1093/library/10.3.272|s2cid=161371751}}{{cite journal|last1=Unger|first1=Gerard|title=The types of François-Ambroise Didot and Pierre-Louis Vafflard. A further investigation into the origins of the Didones|journal=Quaerendo|date=1 January 2001|volume=31|issue=3|pages=165–191|doi=10.1163/157006901X00047}} Among more recent designs, Times New Roman (1932), Perpetua, Plantin, Mrs. Eaves, Freight Text, and the earlier "modernised old styles" have been described as transitional in design.{{efn|Monotype executive Stanley Morison, who commissioned Times New Roman, noted that he hoped that it "has the merit of not looking as if it had been designed by somebody in particular".{{cite web|last1=Alas|first1=Joel|title=The history of the Times New Roman typeface|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a2fa033e-7ca1-11de-a7bf-00144feabdc0.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a2fa033e-7ca1-11de-a7bf-00144feabdc0.html |archive-date=2022-12-10 |url-access=subscription|website=Financial Times|access-date=16 January 2016}}}}

Later 18th-century transitional typefaces in Britain begin to show influences of Didone typefaces from Europe, described below, and the two genres blur, especially in type intended for body text; Bell is an example of this.{{cite journal|last1=Johnson|first1=Alfred F.|author-link1=Alfred F. Johnson|title=The Evolution of the Modern-Face Roman|journal=The Library|date=1930|volume=s4-XI|issue=3|pages=353–377|doi=10.1093/library/s4-XI.3.353}}{{cite book|last1=Johnston|first1=Alastair|title=Transitional Faces: The Lives & Work of Richard Austin, type-cutter, and Richard Turner Austin, wood-engraver|date=2014|publisher=Poltroon Press|location=Berkeley|url=http://www.poltroonpress.com/book/transitional-faces-the-lives-work-of-richard-austin-type-cutter-and-richard-turner-austin-wood-engraver/|isbn=978-0918395320|access-date=8 February 2017|archive-date=11 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211075548/http://www.poltroonpress.com/book/transitional-faces-the-lives-work-of-richard-austin-type-cutter-and-richard-turner-austin-wood-engraver/|url-status=live}}{{efn|It should be realised that "Transitional" is a somewhat nebulous classification, almost always including Baskerville and other typefaces around this period but also sometimes including 19th and 20th-century reimaginations of old-style faces, such as Bookman and Plantin, and sometimes some of the later "old-style" faces such as the work of Caslon and his imitators. In addition, of course Baskerville and others of this period would not have seen their work as "transitional" but as an end in itself. Eliason (2015) provides a leading modern critique and assessment of the classification, but even in 1930 A.F. Johnson called the term "vague and unsatisfactory."{{cite journal|last1=Eliason|first1=Craig|title="Transitional" Typefaces: The History of a Typefounding Classification|journal=Design Issues|date=October 2015|volume=31|issue=4|pages=30–43|doi=10.1162/DESI_a_00349|s2cid=57569313}}}}

{{Main|Didone (typography)}}

Image:Bodoni sample.svg, an example of a modern serif]]

Didone, or modern, serif typefaces, which first emerged in the late 18th century, are characterized by extreme contrast between thick and thin lines.{{efn|Additional subgenres of Didone type include "fat faces" (ultra-bold designs for posters) and "Scotch Modern" designs (used in the English-speaking world for book and newspaper printing).{{cite web|last1=Shinn|first1=Nick|title=Modern Suite|url=http://shinntype.com/wp-content/uploads/files/pdf/Scotch_Modern.pdf|publisher=Shinntype|access-date=11 August 2015|archive-date=25 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225042806/http://shinntype.com/wp-content/uploads/files/pdf/Scotch_Modern.pdf|url-status=dead}} }} These typefaces have a vertical stress and thin serifs with a constant width, with minimal bracketing (constant width). Serifs tend to be very thin, and vertical lines very heavy. Didone fonts are often considered to be less readable than transitional or old-style serif typefaces. Period examples include Bodoni, Didot, and Walbaum. Computer Modern is a popular contemporary example. The very popular Century is a softened version of the same basic design, with reduced contrast.{{cite web|last1=Shaw|first1=Paul|title=Overlooked Typefaces|url=http://www.printmag.com/imprint/overlooked-typefaces/|website=Print magazine|date=10 February 2011|access-date=2 July 2015|archive-date=22 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150622135314/http://www.printmag.com/imprint/overlooked-typefaces/|url-status=live}} Didone typefaces achieved dominance of printing in the early 19th-century printing before declining in popularity in the second half of the century and especially in the 20th as new designs and revivals of old-style faces emerged.{{cite journal|last1=Ovink|first1=G.W.|title=Nineteenth-century reactions against the didone type model - I|journal=Quaerendo|date=1971|volume=1|issue=2|pages=18–31|doi=10.1163/157006971x00301}}{{cite journal|last1=Ovink|first1=G.W.|title=Nineteenth-century reactions against the didone type model - II|journal=Quaerendo|date=1971|volume=1|issue=4|pages=282–301|doi=10.1163/157006971x00239}}{{cite journal|last1=Ovink|first1=G.W.|title=Nineteenth-century reactions against the didone type model-III|journal=Quaerendo|date=1 January 1972|volume=2|issue=2|pages=122–128|doi=10.1163/157006972X00229}}

In print, Didone fonts are often used on high-gloss magazine paper for magazines such as Harper's Bazaar, where the paper retains the detail of their high contrast well, and for whose image a crisp, "European" design of type may be considered appropriate.{{cite book|last1=Frazier|first1=J. L.|title=Type Lore|date=1925|location=Chicago|page=[https://archive.org/details/typelorepopularf00fraz/page/14 14]|url=https://archive.org/details/typelorepopularf00fraz|access-date=24 August 2015}}{{cite web|title=HFJ Didot introduction|url=http://www.typography.com/fonts/didot/overview/|publisher=Hoefler & Frere-Jones|access-date=10 August 2015|archive-date=14 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150814033142/http://www.typography.com/fonts/didot/overview/|url-status=live}} They are used more often for general-purpose body text, such as book printing, in Europe.{{cite web|title=HFJ Didot|url=http://www.typography.com/fonts/didot/features/|publisher=Hoefler & Frere-Jones|access-date=10 August 2015|archive-date=8 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130708130812/http://www.typography.com/fonts/didot/features/|url-status=live}} They remain popular in the printing of Greek, as the Didot family were among the first to establish a printing press in newly independent Greece.{{cite web|last1=Leonidas|first1=Gerry|title=A primer on Greek type design|url=http://leonidas.org/text-archive/|publisher=Gerry Leonidas/University of Reading|access-date=14 May 2017|archive-date=4 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170104212416/http://leonidas.org/text-archive/|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=GFS Didot|url=http://www.greekfontsociety.gr/pages/en_typefaces19th.html|publisher=Greek Font Society|access-date=10 August 2015|archive-date=21 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150821044456/http://www.greekfontsociety.gr/pages/en_typefaces19th.html|url-status=dead}} The period of Didone types' greatest popularity coincided with the rapid spread of printed posters and commercial ephemera and the arrival of bold type.{{cite book|last1=Eskilson|first1=Stephen J.|title=Graphic design : a new history|date=2007|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|isbn=9780300120110|page=[https://archive.org/details/graphicdesignnew00eski/page/25 25]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/graphicdesignnew00eski/page/25}}{{cite web |last1=Pané-Farré |first1=Pierre |title=Affichen-Schriften |url=https://forgotten-shapes.com/affichen-schriften?article=affichen-schriften |publisher=Forgotten-Shapes |access-date=10 June 2018 |archive-date=12 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612140720/https://forgotten-shapes.com/affichen-schriften?article=affichen-schriften |url-status=live }} As a result, many Didone typefaces are among the earliest designed for "display" use, with an ultra-bold "fat face" style becoming a common sub-genre.{{cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=Alfred F.|author-link1=Alfred F. Johnson|title=Selected Essays on Books and Printing|date=1970|pages=409–415|chapter=Fat Faces: Their History, Forms and Use}}{{cite web|last1=Phinney|first1=Thomas|title=Fat faces|url=http://graphic-design.com/typography/design/decorative-display-typestyles|publisher=Graphic Design and Publishing Centre|access-date=10 August 2015|archive-date=9 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151009143543/http://www.graphic-design.com/typography/design/decorative-display-typestyles|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|last1=Kennard|first1=Jennifer|title=The Story of Our Friend, the Fat Face|url=http://fontsinuse.com/uses/5578/the-story-of-our-friend-the-fat-face|website=Fonts in Use|date=3 January 2014|access-date=11 August 2015|archive-date=9 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211109184124/https://fontsinuse.com/uses/5578/the-story-of-our-friend-the-fat-face|url-status=live}}

{{Main|Slab serif}}

Image:Rockwell sample.svg

Image:Clarendon sample.svg

Slab serif typefaces date to about 1817.{{efn|Early slab-serif types were given a variety of names for branding purposes, such as 'Egyptian', 'Italian', 'Ionic', 'Doric', 'French-Clarendon' and 'Antique', which generally have little or no connection to their actual history. Nonetheless, the names have persisted in use.}}{{cite thesis|last1=Miklavčič |first1=Mitja |title=Three chapters in the development of clarendon/ionic typefaces |type=MA Thesis |publisher=University of Reading |date=2006 |url=http://www.typefacedesign.org/resources/essay/MitjaMiclavcic_essay_scr.pdf |access-date=14 August 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125001608/http://www.typefacedesign.org/resources/essay/MitjaMiclavcic_essay_scr.pdf |archive-date=November 25, 2011 }} Originally intended as attention-grabbing designs for posters, they have very thick serifs, which tend to be as thick as the vertical lines themselves. Slab serif fonts vary considerably: some, such as Rockwell, have a geometric design with minimal variation in stroke width—they are sometimes described as sans-serif fonts with added serifs. Others, such as those of the "Clarendon" model, have a structure more like most other serif fonts, though with larger and more obvious serifs.{{cite web|title=Sentinel: historical background|url=http://www.typography.com/fonts/sentinel/history/|publisher=Hoefler & Frere-Jones|access-date=15 July 2015|archive-date=5 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905170730/http://www.typography.com/fonts/sentinel/history/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|last1=Challand|first1=Skylar|title=Know your type: Clarendon|url=http://idsgn.org/posts/know-your-type-clarendon/|publisher=IDSGN|access-date=13 August 2015|archive-date=24 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224122009/http://idsgn.org/posts/know-your-type-clarendon/|url-status=live}} These designs may have bracketed serifs that increase width along their length.

Because of the clear, bold nature of the large serifs, slab serif designs are often used for posters and in small print. Many monospace fonts, on which all characters occupy the same amount of horizontal space as in a typewriter, are slab-serif designs. While not always purely slab-serif designs, many fonts intended for newspaper use have large slab-like serifs for clearer reading on poor-quality paper. Many early slab-serif types, being intended for posters, only come in bold styles with the key differentiation being width, and often have no lower-case letters at all.

Examples of slab-serif typefaces include Clarendon, Rockwell, Archer, Courier, Excelsior, TheSerif, and Zilla Slab. FF Meta Serif and Guardian Egyptian are examples of newspaper and small print-oriented typefaces with some slab-serif characteristics, often most visible in the bold weights. In the late 20th century, the term "humanist slab-serif" has been applied to typefaces such as Chaparral, Caecilia and Tisa, with strong serifs but an outline structure with some influence of old-style serif typefaces.{{cite web |last1=Phinney |first1=Thomas |title=Most Overlooked: Chaparral |url=https://blog.typekit.com/2005/11/07/most_overlooked_1/ |website=Typekit Blog |publisher=Adobe Systems |access-date=7 March 2019 |archive-date=16 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200216105812/https://blog.typekit.com/2005/11/07/most_overlooked_1/ |url-status=live }}{{cite book|author-link=Ellen Lupton|first=Ellen|last=Lupton|title=Type on Screen: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Developers, and Students|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gswEBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT16|date=12 August 2014|publisher=Princeton Architectural Press|isbn=978-1-61689-346-0|page=16|access-date=7 March 2019|archive-date=9 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209075055/https://books.google.com/books?id=gswEBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT16#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}{{cite book |last1=Bringhurst |first1=Robert |author-link=Robert Bringhurst |title=The Elements of Typographic Style |title-link=The Elements of Typographic Style |year=2002 |publisher=Hartley & Marks |isbn=9780881791327 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780881791327/page/218 218, 330] |edition=2nd }}

{{clear}}

During the 19th century, genres of serif type besides conventional body text faces proliferated.{{cite book|last1=Gray|first1=Nicolete|title=Nineteenth-century Ornamented Typefaces|date=1976}} These included "Tuscan" faces, with ornamental, decorative ends to the strokes rather than serifs, and "Latin" or "wedge-serif" faces, with pointed serifs, which were particularly popular in France and other parts of Europe including for signage applications such as business cards or shop fronts.{{cite book|last1=Frutiger|first1=Adrian|title=Typefaces – the complete works|date=8 May 2014|isbn=9783038212607|pages=26–35|publisher=Walter de Gruyter }}

Well-known typefaces in the "Latin" style include Wide Latin, Copperplate Gothic, Johnston Delf Smith and the more restrained Méridien.

Serifed typefaces are widely used for body text because they are considered easier to read than sans-serif typefaces in print.Merriam-Webster's Manual for Writers and Editors, (Springfield, 1998) p. 329. Colin Wheildon, who conducted scientific studies from 1982 to 1990, found that sans serif typefaces created various difficulties for readers that impaired their comprehension.{{cite book|title= Type and Layout: How Typography and Design Can Get your Message Across – Or Get in the Way|last= Wheildon|first= Colin|year= 1995|publisher= Strathmoor Press|location= Berkeley|isbn= 0-9624891-5-8|pages= [https://archive.org/details/typelayouthowtyp0000whei/page/57 57, 59–60]|url= https://archive.org/details/typelayouthowtyp0000whei/page/57}} According to Kathleen Tinkel, studies suggest that "most sans serif typefaces may be slightly less legible than most serif faces, but ... the difference can be offset by careful setting".Kathleen Tinkel, "Taking it in: What makes type easy to read", [https://www.adobe.com/products/adobemag/archive/pdfs/9603fekt.pdf adobe.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019140934/http://www.adobe.com/products/adobemag/archive/pdfs/9603fekt.pdf |date=2012-10-19 }} Accessed 28 December 2010. p. 3.

Sans-serif are considered to be more legible on computer screens. According to Alex Poole,Literature Review Which Are More Legible: Serif or Sans Serif Typefaces? [http://www.alexpoole.info/academic/literaturereview.html alexpoole.info] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100306051141/http://www.alexpoole.info/academic/literaturereview.html |date=2010-03-06 }}. "we should accept that most reasonably designed typefaces in mainstream use will be equally legible". A study suggested that serif typefaces are more legible on a screen but are not generally preferred to sans serif typefaces.Effects of Font Type on the Legibility The Effects of Font Type and Size on the Legibility and Reading Time of Online Text by Older Adults. [http://psychology.wichita.edu/mbernard/articles/elderly.pdf psychology.wichita.edu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091007023610/http://psychology.wichita.edu/mbernard/articles/elderly.pdf |date=2009-10-07 }}. Another study indicated that comprehension times for individual words are slightly faster when written in a sans serif typeface versus a serif typeface.Moret-Tatay, C., & Perea, M. (2011). Do serifs provide an advantage in the recognition of written words? Journal of Cognitive Psychology 23, 5, 619-24.. [http://www.valencia.edu/mperea/serif_JCP.pdf valencia.edu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516205407/http://www.valencia.edu/mperea/serif_JCP.pdf |date=2011-05-16 }}.

When size of an individual glyph is 9–20 pixels, proportional serifs and some lines of most glyphs of common vector typefaces are smaller than individual pixels. Hinting, spatial anti-aliasing, and subpixel rendering allow to render distinguishable serifs even in this case, but their proportions and appearance are off and thickness is close to many lines of the main glyph, strongly altering appearance of the glyph. Consequently, it is sometimes advised to use sans-serif typefaces for content meant to be displayed on screens, as they scale better for low resolutions. Indeed, most web pages employ sans-serif type.The Principles of Beautiful Web Design, (2007) p. 113. Recent introduction of desktop displays with 300+ dpi resolution might eventually make this recommendation obsolete.

As serifs originated in inscription, they are generally not used in handwriting. A common exception is the printed capital I, where the addition of serifs distinguishes the character from lowercase L (l). The printed capital J and the numeral 1 are also often handwritten with serifs.

Below are some images of serif letterforms across history:

Jenson006.jpg|The roman type of Nicolas Jenson

De Aetna 1495.jpg|De Aetna, printed by Aldus Manutius

Houghton TypTS 515.52.370 - Alphabetum Graecum.jpg|Title page printed by Robert Estienne

Garamond's Second Great Primer Roman Vervliet.png|Great Primer type (c. 18 pt) by Claude Garamond

Claude Garamond Gros Canon image basic characters.jpg|Gros Canon type by Garamond

Michael Praetorius Missodia Sionia (1611).jpg|1611 book, with arabesque ornament border

Hendrik van den Keere La Plus grande Romaine from Plantin specimen c. 1585.jpg|Large roman by Hendrik van den Keere, introducing the "Dutch taste" style

Christoffel van Dijck Ascendonica Romein.jpg|Type by Christoffel van Dijck

Romain du roi sample (1702).png|The Romain du roi, the first "transitional" typeface

Ehrhardt specimen.png|Condensed, high x-height types in the "Dutch taste" style, {{Circa|1720}}

Publii Virgilii Maronis Bucolica, Georgica, et Æneis by John Baskerville 1757.jpg|Title page by John Baskerville, 1757

Type sample, Pierre Simon Fournier, Manuel Typographique 1766.png|Alphabet by Pierre-Simon Fournier in his Manuel typographique, 1760s

Fleischman Paragon roman & italic.jpg|Transitional type by Joan Michaël Fleischman of Amsterdam, 1768

Feria Sexta.jpg|Modern-face types by the Amoretti Brothers, 1797

Code civil des Français (Firmin-Didot).jpg|Didone type in a book printed by the company of Firmin Didot, 1804

Manuale-Tipografico1.jpg|Bodoni's posthumous Manuale Tipografico, 1818

Caslon inline Great Primer Columbia specimen.jpg|Inline modern face

Austin Foundry 1838 12 Lines Ornamented, No. 4.jpg|Display type with pattern inside

Redford & Robins - poster - Google Art Project.jpg|"Fat face" ultra-bold Didone type

Fann Street Foundry Clarendon image with text for emphasis.jpg|The original Clarendon typeface

Boston Type Foundry Clarendon.jpg|Display-size slab-serifs

Miller & Richard Old Style Type Specimen (15399996818).jpg|Miller and Richard's Modernised Old Style, a reimagination of pre-Didone typefaces

Kelmscott Press Typefaces.jpg|William Morris's Golden Type in the style of Jenson and other typefaces of his Kelmscott Press

ATF 1923 Garamond specimen page 22.jpg|ATF's "Garamond" type, an example of historicist printing

Sir Harry Johnston memorial plaque.JPG|Memorial plaque by Eric Gill, {{circa|1920s}}

Linotype Textype sample Legibility Group typeface.jpg|Sample of the Linotype Legibility Group typefaces, the most popular newspaper typefaces during the twentieth century.{{cite book|last1=Hutt|first1=Allen|title=The Changing Newspaper: typographic trends in Britain and America 1622-1972|date=1973|publisher=Fraser|location=London|isbn=9780900406225|pages=100–2 etc.|quote=the majority of the world's newspapers are typeset in one or another of the traditional Linotype 'Legibility Group', and most of the rest in their derivatives.|edition=1. publ.}}

Kindle3-it (cropped).png|Humanist slab-serif PNM Caecilia on an Amazon Kindle

{{Main|Ming (typeface)}}

File:Ming serif.svg

In the Chinese and Japanese writing systems, there are common type styles based on the regular script for Chinese characters akin to serif and sans serif fonts in the West. In Mainland China, the most popular category of serifed-like typefaces for body text is called Song ({{lang|zh|宋体}}, {{Transliteration|zh|Songti}}); in Japan, the most popular serif style is called {{nihongo||明朝|Minchō}}; and in Taiwan and Hong Kong, it is called {{Transliteration|zh|Ming}} ({{lang|zh|明體}}, {{Transliteration|zh|Mingti}}). The names of these lettering styles come from the Song and Ming dynasties, when block printing flourished in China. Because the wood grain on printing blocks ran horizontally, it was fairly easy to carve horizontal lines with the grain. However, carving vertical or slanted patterns was difficult because those patterns intersect with the grain and break easily. This resulted in a typeface that has thin horizontal strokes and thick vertical strokes{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}. In accordance with Chinese calligraphy (kaiti style in particular), where each horizontal stroke is ended with a dipping motion of the brush, the ending of horizontal strokes are also thickened{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}. These design forces resulted in the current Song typeface characterized by thick vertical strokes contrasted with thin horizontal strokes, triangular ornaments at the end of single horizontal strokes, and overall geometrical regularity.

In Japanese typography, the equivalent of serifs on kanji and kana characters are called {{Transliteration|ja|uroko}}—"fish scales". In Chinese, the serifs are called either {{Transliteration|zh|yǒujiǎotǐ}} ({{lang|zh|有脚体}}, lit. "forms with legs"){{citation needed|date=March 2023}} or {{Transliteration|zh|yǒuchènxiàntǐ}} ({{lang|zh|有衬线体}}, lit. "forms with ornamental lines").

The other common East Asian style of type is called black ({{lang|zh|黑体/體}}, {{Transliteration|zh|Hēitǐ}}) in Chinese and {{nihongo|Gothic|ゴシック体|Goshikku-tai}} in Japanese. This group is characterized by lines of even thickness for each stroke, the equivalent of "sans serif". This style, first introduced on newspaper headlines, is commonly used on headings, websites, signs and billboards. A Japanese-language font designed in imitation of western serifs also exists.{{cite web | url=http://www.akibatec.net/wabunfont/library/dynafont/design.html#ugaso | title=和文フォント大図鑑 [ダイナコムウェア／その他] }}

{{see also|Thai typography}}

Farang Ses, designed in 1913, was the first Thai typeface to employ thick and thin strokes reflecting old-style serif Latin typefaces, and became extremely popular, with its derivatives widely used into the digital age. (Examples: Angsana UPC, Kinnari){{cite web |author1=Pracha Suveeranont |title=ฝรั่งเศส |url=https://thaifaces.com/thaitype/farangses/ |website=๑๐ ตัวพิมพ์ กับ ๑๐ ยุคสังคมไทย (10 Faces of Thai Type and Thai Nation) |publisher=Thaifaces |accessdate=22 May 2020 |language=th}} Originally exhibited 18–31 October 2002 at the Jamjuree Art Gallery, Chulalongkorn University, and published in Sarakadee. 17 (211). September 2002.

In Germany and other Central European countries, blackletter remained the norm in body text for longer than in Western Europe; see the Antiqua–Fraktur dispute, often dividing along ideological or political lines. After the mid-20th century, Fraktur fell out of favor and Antiqua-based typefaces became the official standard in Germany. (In German, the term "Antiqua" refers to serif typefaces.{{cite web |publisher=Linotype |title=Renner Antiqua – Reviving a serif typeface from the designer of Futura |url=https://www.linotype.com/5689/rennerantiqua.html |quote=Antiqua is a term used in German to denote serif typefaces, many of them oldstyles (Garamond-Antiqua, Palatino-Antiqua, etc.). The word is used in very much the same way as "roman" [is used] in English-speaking typography to differentiate between upright and italic typefaces in a family.}})

{{Wiktionary}}

• Homoglyph
• Ming (typeface), a similar style in Asian typefaces
• The analogs of serifs, known in Japanese as {{lang|ja|鱗}} uroko, literally "fish scales"
• San Serriffe, an elaborate typographic joke

• List of serif typefaces
• List of typefaces#Serif
• Old-style
• Transitional
• Didone

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

• Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style, version 4.0 (Vancouver, BC, Canada: Hartley & Marks Publishers, 2012), {{ISBN|0-88179-211-X}}.
• Harry Carter, A View of Early Typography: Up to about 1600 (London: Hyphen Press, 2002).
• Father Edward Catich, The Origin of the Serif: Brush Writing and Roman Letters, 2nd ed., edited by Mary W. Gilroy (Davenport, Iowa: Catich Gallery, St. Ambrose University, 1991), {{ISBN|9780962974021|}}.
• Nicolete Gray, Nineteenth Century Ornamented Typefaces, 2nd ed. (Faber, 1976), {{ISBN|9780571102174|}}.
• Alfred F. Johnson, Type Designs: Their History and Development (Grafton, 1959).
• Stan Knight, Historical Types: From Gutenberg to Ashendene (Oak Knoll Press, 2012), {{ISBN |9781584562986|}}.
• Ellen Lupton, [http://issuu.com/papress/docs/thinking_with_type?mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Fcolor%2Flayout.xml&backgroundColor=FFFFFF&showFlipBtn=true&pageNumber=6 Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students], 2nd ed. (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2010), {{ISBN|9781568989693|}}, .
• Indra Kupferschmid, "[http://kupferschrift.de/cms/2016/01/type-classification-texts/ Some Type Genres Explained]," Type, kupferschrift.de (2016-01-15).
• Stanley Morison, A Tally of Types, edited by Brooke Crutchley et al., 2nd ed. (London: Cambridge University Press, 1973), {{ISBN |978-0-521-09786-4}}. (on revivals of historical typefaces created by the British company Monotype)
• ———, “Type Designs of the Past and Present,” was serialized in 4 parts in 1937 in PM Magazine (the last 2 are available online):
• “Part 1,” PM Magazine, 4, 1 (1937-09);
• “Part 2,” PM Magazine, 4, 2 (1937-12);
• “[http://magazines.iaddb.org/issue/PM/1937-11-01/edition/4-3/page/19 Part 3] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904064848/http://magazines.iaddb.org/issue/PM/1937-11-01/edition/4-3/page/19 |date=2017-09-04 }},” PM Magazine, 4, 3 (1937-11): 17–32;
• “[http://magazines.iaddb.org/issue/PM/1937-12-01/edition/4-4/page/63 Part 4] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210724205300/https://magazines.iaddb.org/issue/PM/1937-12-01/edition/4-4/page/63 |date=2021-07-24 }},” PM Magazine, 4, 4 (1937-12): 61–81.
• Sébastien Morlighem, The 'modern face' in France and Great Britain, 1781-1825: typography as an ideal of progress (thesis, University of Reading, 2014), [https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?did=1&uin=uk.bl.ethos.651303 download link]
• Sébastien Morlighem, Robert Thorne and the Introduction of the 'modern' fat face, 2020, Poem, and [https://vimeo.com/516485231 presentation]
• James Mosley, Ornamented types: twenty-three alphabets from the foundry of Louis John Poucheé, I.M. Imprimit, 1993
• Paul Shaw, Revival Type: Digital Typefaces Inspired by the Past (Brighton: Quid Publishing, 2017), {{ISBN|978-0-300-21929-6|}}.
• Walter Tracy, Letters of Credit: A View of Type Design, 2nd ed. (David R. Godine, 2003), {{ISBN|9781567922400|}}.
• Daniel Berkeley Updike, Printing Types, their History, Forms, and Use: A Study in Survivals, 2 vols. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1922), volume 1 and volume 2—now outdated and known for a strong, [http://typefoundry.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/elzevir-letter.html not always accurate] dislike of Dutch and modern-face printing, but extremely comprehensive in scope.
• H. D. L. Vervliet, The Palaeotypography of the French Renaissance: Selected Papers on Sixteenth-Century Typefaces, 2 vols., Library of the Written Word series, No. 6, The Handpress World subseries, No. 4 (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2008-11-27), {{ISBN|978-90-04-16982-1|}}.
• ———, Sixteenth Century Printing Types of the Low Countries, Annotated catalogue (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, 1968-01-01), {{ISBN|978-90-6194-859-9}}.
• ———, French Renaissance Printing Types: A Conspectus (Oak Knoll Press, 2010).
• ———, Liber librorum: 5000 ans d'art du livre (Arcade, 1972).
• Translation: Fernand Baudin, The Book Through Five Thousand Years: A Survey, edited by Hendrik D. L. Vervliet (London: Phaidon, 1972).
• James Mosley's reading lists: [https://web.archive.org/web/20161009181144/http://www.ies.sas.ac.uk/sites/default/files/files/LRBS/Outline%20of%20Course_Type%26itsUses2013_2.pdf "Type and its Uses, 1455–1830"], [http://rarebookschool.org/2008/reading/typography/t55/ 1830-2000]

{{Typography terms}}

Category:Typography