Jacob Riley is based on antique 18th century printers’ specimens and has been hand-illustrated with calligraphy nibs dipped in walnut ink. A goodly fellow, Jacob delights in uses varied and sundry including personal correspondence, rustic decor and even amongst the pages of children’s books.
Jacob Riley was one of the first fonts I designed, largely as an excuse to finally put all of ye olde 18th century ephemera I’ve collected over the years to use! The 1700s were such a fascinating time in type design: all sorts of letter shapes were being developed and refined. From William Caslon’s monumental (and gorgeous) typeface collection to Italian and French styles, the lettersets of this era eventually formed the basis of most modern fonts.
Jacob Riley is my attempt at a rough expression of 18th century style; something a beginning punchcutter might have created as he studied the work of Caslon and Baskerville. I illustrated each letterform by hand with antique calligraphy nibs and walnut ink, then digitized the characters to create a basic font. The intentionally irregular spacing and dancing baseline mimic the look of quickly printed period leaflets.
I love how historical Jacob Riley looks, and hope you do too!