Multifaceted Bembo

Back on topic: (I have a topic? Well, sure I do. This blog was to be concerned with design and related issues. So back to it.) Typography. Specifically, the type that makes up typography. Most of you who have kept up with my blog, to a certain extent, know of my love for the printed word. And you know the fonts that I would like to one day add to my collection (if not already in it). Some time ago, I attended a course given by Edward Tufte, a very good presenter, by the way. He has published three books. All three use the same fonts. Notably: Bembo and Gill Sans. Bembo for the body copy (the majority of the book) and Gill Sans for data representation and footnotes.

I like Bembo. It is clean and very readable. It is also very professional looking and has a decent weight. Not too heavy, not too light. A nice set of curves. Something to keep the printed page warm at night. I digress. I have used it on projects in the past (ex: a program for an award ceremony — of which I will be entering into the local ADDYs) and find it very suitable for the UT System. However… Tufte uses some hybrid or special version of Bembo I can’t figure out. All the letters are right, but the numbers are different. The number 1 looks like the Roman numeral variety and the baselines/x-heights for the numbers fluctuate (1 & 2 being similar, 3 dipping below the baseline, 4 sharing 1&2's baseline but not the x-height, etc.). If there is an Expert version of the font, I am not aware of it and do not have it (EDIT: there is). If there is a secret trick (key sequence) to activate the special numbers, I don’t know it (EDIT: No tricks). I would really like to use what Tufte uses in his books, but I find it hard to believe that he manually changed each number to a different font to accomplish what appears in the books (EDIT: He didn’t).

I still like Bembo, though. And all it’s dirty little secrets.