Century refers to a family of typefaces derived from the original Century Roman designed by Linn Boyd Benton in 1894. Despite originating in the 19th century, the Century typeface remains widely used, such as in periodicals, textbooks, and literature. The typefaces are highly legible, so much so that the U.S. Supreme Court requires briefs be typeset in a Century font. Linn Boyd Benton's son, Morris Fuller Benton, later consolidated and standardized the typefaces when several foundries merged, and adapted Century No. 2 to meet union standards at the time while also drawing from Bruce Type Foundry's font.

1. Century
Century refers to a family of type faces
derived from the original Century Ro-
man cut by American Type Found-
ers’ designer Linn Boyd Benton in
1894. Despite originating in the nine-
teenth century, use of the typeface
remains strong, for periodicals, text-
books, and literature. The faces are
noted for their exceptional legibility,
so much so that the Supreme Court of
the United States requires that briefs
be typeset in Century family type.
With the merging of twenty-three
foundries into American Type Founders
in 1892, Linn Boyd Benton’s son, Mor-
ris Fuller Benton, was given the task
of consolidating and purging the faces
of these manufacturers into a coherent
selection. Following this, he was given
the task of adapting Century No. 2 to
meet the Typographical Union stan-
dards of the time. Records now in the
Smithsonian show that M.F. Benton
not only re-designed his father’s face,
but did so with reference to #16 Roman
of the Bruce Type Foundry which A.T.F.
had recently acquired. (And which,
probably not coincidentally, had been
introduced in the Bruce Foundry cata-
log of 1877 which had been printed by
De Vinne.)