What font is that printed page?
Match the shapes you see to known letterpress type families. No typography degree needed.
Match Your Sample
Pick the features that best describe what you see in your printed sample. The more you select, the tighter the match.
Matching Type Families
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Browse by Era & Region
Explore common letterpress type families organized by when and where they were used.
Commonly Confused Pairs
These families look similar but have key differences. Check this table when your sample almost matches but not quite.
| Family A | Family B | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|---|
| Garamond (16th c.) | Caslon (1720s) | Garamond has a smaller x-height and more irregular letterforms. Caslon is more uniform with a heavier lowercase 'e' crossbar placed higher. |
| Caslon (1720s) | Baskerville (1750s) | Baskerville has sharper, more abrupt serifs and greater stroke contrast. Caslon's serifs are softer and more bracketed. |
| Baskerville (1750s) | Bodoni (1780s) | Bodoni has extreme hairline serifs with no bracketing at all. Baskerville keeps visible curves where serifs meet the stroke. |
| Clarendon (1845) | Rockwell (1934) | Clarendon has bracketed slab serifs (slight curve at the join). Rockwell's slabs are unbracketed with uniform thickness. |
| Futura (1927) | Gill Sans (1928) | Futura is purely geometric (perfect circles, triangle 'a'). Gill Sans has humanist proportions and a double-story 'g'. |
| Jenson (1470) | Centaur (1915 revival) | Original Jenson shows uneven inking and slight irregularities. Centaur is a cleaner revival with more consistent weight. |
Handset vs Machine-Set Clues
Knowing whether type was set by hand or machine helps narrow the date and family. Handset type (individual sorts placed by a compositor) tends to show slight spacing variation, occasional inverted or rotated letters, and uneven inking. Machine-set type from Linotype or Monotype systems is more mechanically precise but may show characteristic hairline joins, slightly squared corners where round letters meet the slug, and uniform baseline alignment. Most type families were available in both formats once machine composition arrived in the 1880s–1900s, so the setting method alone won't identify the face, but it helps confirm whether a sample fits a particular era.
How to Examine Your Sample
A short guide to getting useful information from a printed page before you start matching.
Look at the lowercase 'g'
The ear, the link, and the tail of the lowercase 'g' are the single most useful letters for identification. A double-loop 'g' with a closed lower bowl points to older families. A single-loop 'g' with an open tail suggests 18th century or later.
Check the capital 'R'
Does the leg of the 'R' curve outward, go straight down, or have a slight notch where it leaves the bowl? This one letter separates Garalde from Transitional from Modern faces more reliably than almost any other.
Measure the x-height
Compare the height of a lowercase 'x' to a capital 'H'. Older typefaces tend to have a smaller x-height relative to the capitals. 19th-century display faces and 20th-century sans serifs often have larger x-heights.
Note the ink spread
Letterpress printing pushes ink into the paper fibers. Slight ink squeeze around letter edges is normal and can make thin strokes look heavier than the digital version would suggest. A loupe helps you see the actual stroke width under the ink spread.
Date the paper, not just the type
Watermarks, chain lines, and paper texture can help date your sample. A typeface first cut in 1520 might still be used in 1750 if the printer had old sorts. The paper date gives you a latest-possible date for the printing.
Photograph with a loupe
A small magnifying loupe (10x or 20x) reveals details invisible to the naked eye: the exact shape of serif brackets, whether a stroke tapers gradually or abruptly, and tiny punchcutter marks. This is the single best investment for anyone who regularly examines printed type.