Garamond

Garamond fonts are nearly as plentiful as mosquitoes in August. There’s a version from International Typeface Corporation (ITC)®, a version developed for Adobe Systems®, one produced by the Monotype® foundry, another drawn for Simoncini™ and still another for Berthold™. Linotype® has two versions (three, if you count the Stempel™ Garamond design). And this doesn’t even take into account Garamond faces that use different names, such as the Sabon™ and Granjon® designs.

Since Claude Garamond made his first font more than 450 years ago in France, there have been so many versions of this typestyle that it’s a challenge to know them all without a full-scale database. In foundry type, machine-set type, phototype, and now in digital form, literally hundreds of Garamond designs have graced pages over the centuries.

From the first issue of Illuminating Fonts, a new series from Fonts.com. Subscribers to the newsletter can receive future issues by e-mail; also available in PDF download here.