1. Anticus is a digital font designed by Poul Steen Larsen to have stylistic roots in early Renaissance Roman typefaces from the 15th-16th centuries, but with modifications like stronger contrast and weakened pen style. 2. The font is intended for use in book bodies sized 12pt or larger, as well as display text like book titles and posters. 3. Anticus was originally designed in 1996 under a different name and has since been improved, with its public release under the name Anticus occurring in October 2008.

1. Poul Steen Larsen. Paltholm Terrace 8 F. DK-3520 Farum, Denmark. Phone: (+45) 45 81 61 07. Email: psl@psl.dk
Anticus A N T IC U S
A digital font with stylistic roots in abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvxyzæøå
early renaissance Roman, i.e. letter-
foms in early 15th and 16th century ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQR S T UVWXY
typefaces.
The design of Anticus, however, ZÆ ØÅ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 . ; : ! ? / - – ---
has been modified on several points.
A stronger contrast between body ( )[ ] ∂ ˘ † ‡ “ ” > < > > < < § * © ® @ &
and hair strokes, a weakened pen
style, and serifs shaped to look more
like early 17th cast type. Still the "A book is essentially not a talked thing, but a written
renaisance look shows in the broad
thing; and written, not with a view of mere communi-
capitals and the slanting hairstrokes
of letter “e”. cation, but of permanence. The book of talk is printed
I have named the font “Anticus”, only because its author cannot speak to thousands of
which is Latin for “from old age”. people at once; if he could, he would - the volume is
Anticus was designed as “Regu- mere multiplication of his voice. But a book is written,
lar” (“Plain”), only, with non-ligning
figures and is therefore ill suited for
not to multiply the voice merely, not to carry it merely,
vertical tabling. And any electronical but to P E RP E T UAT E it."
slanting into (so called) “Italic” and C.T.Jacobi: Books & Printing. London: 1902.
“Bold” will spoil the design.
Anticus is a dedicated bookface,
Quousque tandem
calling for pointsizes not smaller than
12 pt. It should be well suited for text
matter in books in 8vo size and lar-
abutere, Catilina,
ger, and as a display font for for text
in large, spaced capitals, like book
titles and lettering on posters.
patientia nostra!
The design of Anticus was created
back in 1996 -under the name of
Colonna©. It was designed and digi-
tized with Fontographer© and Font-
SPQR VAT
Lab© software for my personal use
as screen work on my Macintosh
computer. Over the years I have
corrected and changed the design of
most letterforms and improved their
metrics and kerning.
The font should therefore be ready
for use in ordinary word processing Maecenas atavis edite regibus,
software like Word without tailored
document dependant letter spacing. O et praesidium et dulce decus mevm,
Anticus is released for use among
family and friends with an interest in
Sunt quos curriculo pulverem Olympicum
typography on October 14th 2008 Collegisse juvat; metaque fervidis
under its copyright name.
Evitata rotis, palmaque nobilis
L Terrarum dominos evehit ad Deos.
Anticus I designed in 1996 - though under another name - for my
personal use. Now in 2008 - with several graphic improvements,
I venture to launch it under the name of Anticus to be used also
by family and friends with an interest in typography.