1949 · Germany
Palatino
Also known as Palatino Linotype, Book Antiqua (clone)
Hermann Zapf's 1949 old-style serif — a calligrapher's roman with broad, open letterforms named after the Renaissance writing master Giambattista Palatino, drawn to stay legible on the rough paper of its day.
GearedBull (Jim Hood), public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palatino_font_sample.svg
About the style
Palatino was designed by Hermann Zapf for the Stempel foundry and released in 1949, named in homage to the sixteenth-century Italian writing master Giambattista Palatino. Rooted in Italian Renaissance humanist letterforms, it is unmistakably the work of a calligrapher: the strokes show a strong broad-nib modulation, the serifs are generously bracketed, and the proportions are wider and more open than most old-style faces, with a comparatively large x-height. Zapf widened the apertures and counters deliberately so the type would hold up when printed on the coarse, absorbent paper common in postwar Germany. The result is a warm, robust, highly readable book and display serif that became one of the most popular typefaces of the twentieth century — and, bundled with computers as Book Antiqua and Palatino Linotype, one of the most widely distributed.
Notable examples
- ▸Hermann Zapf — Palatino (Stempel, 1949)
- ▸Palatino Linotype, bundled with Microsoft systems
- ▸Book Antiqua — Monotype's near-identical 1991 clone
Anatomy of Palatino
The numbered markers call out the design elements that define this style. Hover or tap a marker to see its breakdown.
GearedBull (Jim Hood), public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palatino_font_sample.svg
The serifs flow into the stem on a generous bracket and dip slightly at their feet, a calligraphic detail that gives Palatino its warm, hand-cut character.
The lowercase o's thinnest points sit on a diagonal axis, the oblique old-style stress inherited from a broad nib held at an angle.
Bowls and counters are drawn unusually wide and open so the letters would not fill in on the coarse postwar paper Zapf designed them for.
The lowercase rides tall relative to the capitals, lending Palatino strong presence and legibility at small sizes.
How Palatino connects
Styles form a network, not a tree. Explore the direct neighbours below — click any to travel the map one hop at a time.
- Evolved from
- Influenced by
Hover or tap a style to preview it.
Evolved from Garalde (Old-style) — a calligraphic old-style serif in the Renaissance humanist tradition
Influenced by Humanist (Venetian) Serif — rooted in Italian Renaissance letterforms
Compare side by side
Describe it like this
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