EB Garamond
Georg Duffner, Octavio PardoSphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Serif · Variable · 5 weights · OFL · Türkçe
Free old-style fonts
A Renaissance serif — diagonal stress, modest contrast, and serifs that meet the stem on a curve.
About old-style typefaces
How to recognise it
- Diagonal stress: the thinnest parts of the o sit at about ten and four o’clock.
- Serifs that meet the stem on a curve rather than at a corner.
- Modest contrast between thick and thin strokes.
- A relatively small lowercase against the capitals, and a slanted bar in the e of the oldest revivals.
Old-style or transitional?
A transitional stands the stress upright and sharpens the contrast; an old-style keeps it leaning, the way a broad pen held at an angle would. Look at the o and nothing else.
Transitional fonts →Where it works
Books, long articles, annual reports — anything where the reader is expected to stay for a thousand words.
Where it does not
Interfaces and captions at 12px. The small lowercase that makes it elegant in a book makes it faint on a screen.
Crimson Pro
Jacques Le BaillySphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Serif · Variable · 8 weights · OFL · Türkçe
Cormorant Garamond
Christian ThalmannSphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Serif · Variable · 5 weights · OFL · Türkçe
Alegreya
Juan Pablo del PeralSphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Serif · Variable · 6 weights · OFL · Türkçe
Cardo
David PerrySphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Serif · 2 weights · OFL · Türkçe
Fraunces
Undercase Type, Phaedra Charles, Flavia ZimbardiSphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Display · Variable · 9 weights · OFL · Türkçe
Amiri
Khaled Hosny, Sebastian KoschSphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Serif · 2 weights · OFL · Türkçe
Young Serif
Bastien SozeauSphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Serif · 1 weight · OFL · Türkçe
Gentium Book Plus
SIL InternationalSphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Serif · 2 weights · OFL · Türkçe
Marcellus
AstigmaticSphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Serif · 1 weight · OFL · Türkçe
Cormorant
Christian ThalmannSphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Serif · Variable · 5 weights · OFL · Türkçe
Faustina
Omnibus-TypeSphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Serif · Variable · 6 weights · OFL · Türkçe
IM Fell English
Igino MariniSphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Serif · 1 weight · OFL · Türkçe
Libre Caslon Text
Pablo ImpallariSphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Serif · Variable · 4 weights · OFL · Türkçe
Sorts Mill Goudy
Barry SchwartzSphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Serif · 1 weight · OFL · Türkçe
Alice
Ksenya Erulevich, CyrealSphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Serif · 1 weight · OFL
Quattrocento
Impallari TypeSphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Serif · 2 weights · OFL
Rosarivo
Pablo UgermanSphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Serif · 1 weight · OFL
Brygada 1918
Capitalics, Mateusz Machalski, Borys Kosmynka, Ania Wieluńska, Przemysław HofferSphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Serif · Variable · 4 weights · OFL · Türkçe
Crimson Text
Sebastian KoschSphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Serif · 3 weights · OFL · Türkçe
Bellefair
Nick Shinn, Liron Lavi TurkenicSphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Serif · 1 weight · OFL · Türkçe
Lusitana
Ana Paula MegdaSphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Serif · 2 weights · OFL
Libre Caslon Display
Pablo ImpallariSphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Serif · 1 weight · OFL · Türkçe
Questions
- What is a old-style font?
- A Renaissance serif — diagonal stress, modest contrast, and serifs that meet the stem on a curve. Diagonal stress: the thinnest parts of the o sit at about ten and four o’clock.
- When should I use a old-style typeface?
- Books, long articles, annual reports — anything where the reader is expected to stay for a thousand words. Where it does not work: interfaces and captions at 12px. The small lowercase that makes it elegant in a book makes it faint on a screen.
- What is the difference between old-style and transitional fonts?
- A transitional stands the stress upright and sharpens the contrast; an old-style keeps it leaning, the way a broad pen held at an angle would. Look at the o and nothing else.
- Are these old-style fonts free for commercial use?
- Yes. All 23 of them are published under licences that permit commercial use — the SIL Open Font License, the Apache License 2.0, the Ubuntu Font Licence or a release into the public domain — with no fee and no credit required. Every download on this site includes the licence file inside the zip.