Ligatures

Illustrated above are the five Latin ligatures. Some fonts offer more extensive ligature families.

The reason for ligatures is that the terminal on the lowercase f tends to run into the letters which follow it, so type designers created elegant solutions to the problem. In the digital age, with so many non-professionals setting type, these eyesores have reappeared.

Professional design programs offer automated substitutions of ligatures and many roman fonts offer, at the least, these five ligatures.

Type Anatomy

Character Anatomy

We’ve expanded upon a type anatomy chart which first appeared in U&lc magazine in the ’80s. (Email us for a high resolution version.)

Ampersand…

The ampersand is a ligature, which combines e and t to form the Latin et, which means and. The array of typographic designs for the ampersand are wildly varied, but in most of them, one can still make out the e and the t.

F. W. Goudy Broadside…

While browsing items typographic on eBay, I happened upon a 1921 broadside from the Marchbanks Press in New York. It advertises foundry type designed by Frederic Goudy. It’s a stunningly flawless work. The border ornamentaion is mitered perfectly, and the black and red print is beautifully saturated.

Winning bid: $26.99