LL Catalogue is a contemporary update of a 19th century serif font of Scottish origin. Initially copied from an old edition of Gulliver’s Travels by designers M/M (Paris) in 2002, and first used for their redesign of French Vogue, it has since been redrawn from scratch and expanded, following research into its origins and history.

The typeface originated from a 1858 design by Alexander Phemister for renowned foundry Miller & Richard, with offices in Edinburgh and London. The technical possibilities and restrictions of the time determined the conspicuously upright and bold verticals of the letters as well as their almost clunky serifs. The extremely straight and robust typeface allowed for an accelerated printing process, more economical production, and more efficient mass distribution in the age of Manchester capitalism.

When Phemister emigrated to the US, he took his technique with him, and soon various versions of the original design flooded the market. Serving a growing population of European and American readers and a rising demand for novels and ‘news’, these fonts emerged as symptom of a new culture of mass education and entertainment.

In our digital age, the particularities of such historical letterforms appear both odd and unusually beautiful. To capture the original matrices, we had new hot metal types moulded, and our resultant prints provided the basis for a digital redrawing that honoured the imperfections and oddities of the metal original. At the same time, the transition to pixels allowed for a fastidious re-appraisal of the shapes and slight adjustments for optical improvement.

The designer created three different serif styles for the font, paying homage to some of the versions that spread following the original design’s success; we opted for the original one to be published at this point. We also added small caps, a generous selection of special glyphs and, finally, a bold and a light cut to the family, to make it more versatile. Like its historical predecessors, LL Catalogue is a jobbing font for large amounts of text. It is ideally suited for uses between 8 and 16 pt, providing both excellent readability and a distinctive character.