CCENTAUR

designed by Bruce RogersBorn in Indiana in 1870, Bruce Rogers, was “one of the greatest artificers of the book who ever lived,”1 according to Francis Meynell, founder of the Nonesuch Press. Known best for the creation of the typefaces Montaigne and Centaur, he was also an accomplished book designer.

From 1896 through 1900, Rogers worked as a book designer at Houghton Mifflin in Boston. There he developed his hallmark style, characterized by “a subtle lightness in the seemingly easy placement of words on a page, and above all, a sense of order.”1

Origins of Centaur“At an exhibition of books at the Boston Public Library, I saw for the first time a copy of Nicolas Jenson’s Eusebius of 1470,” he later recalled.

Produced between 1912 and 1914, Centaur was Roger’s second typeface. Rogers thought the design of Centaur to be of historic importance because it exemplified “an original design of cultivation and grace. Because of its classical elegance and its aristocratic Renaissance ancestry, the type calls for special handling. On the other hand, among devotees of fine printing, it has been accepted as one of the great type designs, and once the cutting was completed

for the Monotype machine, it was welcomed be sensitive designers and printers for many of the best books and ephemera.”2 In creating Centaur, Rogers once again turned to the work of Jenson and the Da Evangelica Præparatione for inspiration.

Early uses of Centaur were exclusively for the signage and titling work produced at the Metropolitan Museum in New York as well as for Rogers’s personal book projects. It wasn’t until 15 years later in 1929 that a commercial version of Centaur was made available to machine composition by the English Monotype Company.

1

Type Anatomy

cap height

x-height

baseline

stem apex

axis

shoulder counter

finial crotch

serif

descender

bowl crossbar

2

Type Anatomy

cap height

x-height

baseline

stem apex

axis

shoulder counter

finial crotch

serif

descender

bowl crossbar

3

JWA

J A distinguishing characteristic of the font Centaur is

that the apexes and overshoots of the letters A, M,

N, V, W and Z are fairly pointed. However, although it

appears to be pretty sharp of a point, when examined

at a higher resolution, the point plateaus. Many fonts

are more blunt and less elegant than Centaur, and this

aspect of the font helps to contribute to the elegance.

The descender portion of the J in Centaur is very

unique. It curves more downwards, instead of curling

back upwards. Also, most all of the descenders and

terminals and have a thin stroke leading into a thicker,

distinct bulb shape, as seen in the J.

The W in Centaur does not have an apex Instead,

the stem coming from the left center ends at the

intersection of the two stems. This then allows the

right center stem to continue up to a delicate serif.

5

Characteristics of Centaur

o9

The crossbar of the e in Centaur is at a slant,

instead of being completely horizontal across. In a

way, this creates an appearance of the font being

semi-italic, or more fancy.

The axis of the o of Centaur is at an angle, as

opposed to being vertically straight up and down.

Again, this makes the font appear to be at a slight tilt,

again creating a more classically fancy look.

The 9 in the font Centaur does not have a fully

closed counter. Though this is the only character

besides the 6 that has this characteristic, it is

definitely a defining piece to the font.

7

8

Pointed vs. FlatWhen comparing Centaur to Bembo, it

is clear to see that the apexes of letters,

like the A, have a different shape. Centaur

has more of a point, whereas Bembo has

much more of a flat edge.

Centaur vs. Bembo

Straight vs. CurvedThe stroke of the letter K varies between the fonts

Centaur and Bembo. In Centaur the strokes of the

arm and leg are straight. However in Bembo, both

the arm and leg have a curve to them.

KK

44

Serif vs. Sans SerifThe 4 of Centaur has serifs, whereas the 4 in

Bembo has no serifs.

9

Curved vs. StraightThe stroke and serif of letters, such as I take on different

characteristics in Centaur vs. Bembo. The bottom of the serif has

a slight curve to it in Centaur, as well as the stroke as a whole.

Conversely, both the bottom of the serif and stroke are straight in

Bembo.

Public Uses of Centaur

HARVARD10

Exclusively used by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in its early stages, Centaur’s first main public use was huge.

11

In some print sources, Harvard University uses the font Centaur. Considering that Harvard’s reputation among American’s universities is very elite, this gives a better idea of the feeling of the typeface.

Though Columbia Sportswear Company does not use exactly Centaur, the font they use is extremely similar.

Footnotes1 Joseph Blumenthal, Bruce Rogers: A life in Letters, 1870-1957 (Austin: W.T. Taylor, 1989), 10.

2 Ibid, 33.

BibliographyBringhurst, Robert. The Elements of Typographic Style. Vancouver: Hartley and Marks, 1997. (A&A: Z246 B745 1996 and Vault)

Carter, Sebastian. Twentieth Century Type Designers. Great Britain: Lund Humphries, 2002. (A&A: Z250 A2 C364 1995 and Vault)

Revival of the Fittest: Digital Versions of Classic Type faces, essays by Carolyn Annand ... [et al.]; edited by Philip B. Meggs and Roy McKelvey, New York: RC Publications, 2000. (A&A: Z250.R45 2000)

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This book was made by Adira Weixlmann for Typography Studio, Fall 2010 at Washington University in St. Louis.

It is printed on a Ikon CPP 500 printer. The fonts used were Centaur,

Bembo and Arial.