Bookman Old Style is a readable, slightly old-fashioned-looking serif typeface with noticeably wide letters. It works both in paragraphs and in headlines, though the generous width of its letters means you won’t fit many words into a short line. It’s best used when a certain spaciousness seems called for.
Bookman Old Style’s bold weight is especially strong and expressive; either the bold or the bold italic can work independently in titles or logos. The italic is particularly round-looking, with curly end strokes on some of the lowercase letters. The capital ‘T’ is distinctive for its slanting top serifs.
The origins of Bookman are in the middle of the 19th century, in a metal typeface with the redundant name Oldstyle Antique, which was designed by type designer A.C. Phemister for the Scottish type foundry Miller and Richard. Various versions were produced by other type foundries and the style became quite popular.
