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Bookman Bold Swash

Bookman Bold Swash is a version of Bookman of unclear origin. According to Mark Simonson, who dubs it “Sixties Bookman”, it might have originated as a custom font created for ad campaign in the mid-sixties. From the specimen to Simonson’s Bookmania (pdf):

Sixties Bookman was widely available by 1970 in film fonts, as well as rub-down and cut-out type. […] It’s closest to the larger sizes of ATF Bookman Oldstyle, but significantly bolder, with more contrast between the thicks and thins than other Bookmans and with smaller serifs. Sixties Bookman expanded on ATF Bookman’s modest but distinctive swash character repertoire with 25 in the roman and 47 in the italic. […] One unfortunate thing about Sixties Bookman’s italic is that most of the characters are slanted mechanically, with no optical correction. VGC, maker of the Typositor, created their own version [as Bookman Bold with Swash], but with optically correct italics and a somewhat different set of swash characters.

Phototype versions are shown by Fürst (w/ italic) [1970 catalog], Berthold (roman only) [Berthold 1974], and Typeshop [Typeshop 1973], among others. Some have additional swash alternates, e.g. for ‘f’ [1985 Stulle specimen]. Dry transfer versions are shown by Mecanorma (as Bookman w/ Bookman Italic) [1970 catalog], by Letraset (as Bookman Bold w/ Bold Italic) [Letraset Gesamtkatalog 1971] [Letraset 1976], and Formatt (italic only) [Formatt 1974]. Letraset added Bookman Bold Condensed in 1980.

Lettergraphics’s Bookman Swash is similar, but has more swash glyphs and weights. [Lettergraphics 1968–1975] See also More…

Bookman Bold Swash is a version of Bookman of unclear origin. According to Mark Simonson, who dubs it “Sixties Bookman”, it might have originated as a custom font created for ad campaign in the mid-sixties. From the specimen to Simonson’s Bookmania (pdf):

Sixties Bookman was widely available by 1970 in film fonts, as well as rub-down and cut-out type. […] It’s closest to the larger sizes of ATF Bookman Oldstyle, but significantly bolder, with more contrast between the thicks and thins than other Bookmans and with smaller serifs. Sixties Bookman expanded on ATF Bookman’s modest but distinctive swash character repertoire with 25 in the roman and 47 in the italic. […] One unfortunate thing about Sixties Bookman’s italic is that most of the characters are slanted mechanically, with no optical correction. VGC, maker of the Typositor, created their own version [as Bookman Bold with Swash], but with optically correct italics and a somewhat different set of swash characters.

Phototype versions are shown by Fürst (w/ italic) [1970 catalog], Berthold (roman only) [Berthold 1974], and Typeshop [Typeshop 1973], among others. Some have additional swash alternates, e.g. for ‘f’ [1985 Stulle specimen]. Dry transfer versions are shown by Mecanorma (as Bookman w/ Bookman Italic) [1970 catalog], by Letraset (as Bookman Bold w/ Bold Italic) [Letraset Gesamtkatalog 1971] [Letraset 1976], and Formatt (italic only) [Formatt 1974]. Letraset added Bookman Bold Condensed in 1980.

Lettergraphics’s Bookman Swash is similar, but has more swash glyphs and weights. [Lettergraphics 1968–1975] See also ITC Bookman and Bookman Meola. For other phototype-era Bookmans, incl. such with swashes, see the generic Bookman entry.

Digital interpretations and expansions include OPTI Bookman Bold Italic Swash (Castcraft, 1990–1991; limited quality), Bookman JF (Jason Walcott, 2005, used for sample) and Bookmania (Mark Simonson, 2011). Scrubby (Ray Larabie, before 2007) is a grunged version of the italic.

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Bookman Bold Swash in use

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