Rick Steves; body-text fonts, pt. 18: Walbaum
Sometimes, after working all day, Karin is too tired to follow a plot. Then – and only then – she consents to watch Rick Steves’ Europe with me.
Tonight we watched “Southeast England” – Dover, Canterbury, Brighton, Portsmouth. There are some incredible tourist sights in these towns. And, the video makes clear, some incredible numbers of tourists. Thank goodness for YouTube.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Inspired by Bodoni, first designed around 1800, Walbaum has been redrawn many times. Sometimes it’s heavy, sometimes it’s startlingly light.
The latter passage is set in Monotype Walbaum. This version is what you’re likeliest to come across in body text.
In 2018, Monotype released a large new Walbaum “family” with this heavier font and this lighter one (among others). These are the best Walbaums for body text, but I’ve yet to see books typeset with either of them.
Bailleul, which is free, is, for some purposes, a tolerable approximation.
Tonight we watched “Southeast England” – Dover, Canterbury, Brighton, Portsmouth. There are some incredible tourist sights in these towns. And, the video makes clear, some incredible numbers of tourists. Thank goodness for YouTube.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Inspired by Bodoni, first designed around 1800, Walbaum has been redrawn many times. Sometimes it’s heavy, sometimes it’s startlingly light.
In 2018, Monotype released a large new Walbaum “family” with this heavier font and this lighter one (among others). These are the best Walbaums for body text, but I’ve yet to see books typeset with either of them.
Bailleul, which is free, is, for some purposes, a tolerable approximation.