Baskerville vs Times New Roman

Times New Roman was influenced by Baskerville.

Type specimen — Baskerville (Transitional serif); shown in Libre Baskerville (OFL)

Baskerville

John Baskerville's 1757 transitional serif — crisper and higher in contrast than the old-styles, with a near-vertical stress and sparkling sharp serifs, printed on his own glossy paper with blacker ink.

  • Higher contrast than old-style, near-vertical stress
  • Crisp, sharply finished bracketed serifs
  • Open lowercase 'g' with an unclosed lower loop
  • Flourished tail on the capital 'Q'
  • Teardrop terminals on a, c, f
Full Baskerville guide →
Type specimen — Times New Roman (Transitional serif); shown in Tinos, a metric match (OFL)

Times New Roman

The 1932 newspaper face commissioned for The Times of London under Stanley Morison and drawn by Victor Lardent — a compact, sharp, economical transitional serif that became the twentieth century's default.

  • Relatively high contrast, near-vertical stress
  • Sharp, pointed bracketed serifs
  • Large x-height with condensed proportions
  • Compact, economical character widths
  • Sturdy, crisp forms tuned for small sizes
Full Times New Roman guide →

At a glance

BaskervilleTimes New Roman
Era17571932
DisciplineTypographyTypography
RegionEngland, BirminghamEngland, London
FamilySerifSerif
Formal traitstransitional, bracketed-serif, vertical-stress, high-contrasttransitional, bracketed-serif, vertical-stress, high-contrast

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