Besley Shaded
Commercial Type · Paul Barnes
A revival of Thorowgood and Besley's shaded condensed grotesque from the 1830s, with a shallow lower-right shadow that lifts letters gently off the page.
About
A shaded display sans revived by Paul Barnes for Commercial Classics, based on Two Lines Small Pica Grotesque, a condensed shaded grotesque first shown by Thorowgood in the 1830s and continued by his successor Robert Besley. The shadow falls to the lower right, with a depth around three and a half times that of the outline, much shallower than Caslon Antique Shaded. There is no bevelled angle, so the letters lift gently from the page rather than reading as fully three-dimensional. The condensed forms have plenty of character: a G without a crossbar, an R tail that tapers to a flat point, and numerals that taper to flat ends where one would expect a closed curve.
Classification
A Commercial Classics revival of Two Lines Small Pica Grotesque, a condensed shaded sans first shown by Thorowgood and continued by his successor Robert Besley. The shadow is to the lower right, shallow, and without the bevelled angle of Caslon Antique Shaded, giving a gentler lift from the page.