Cedrat
Formagari · Emmanuel Besse · 2024
A three-optical-size serif drawn from 19th-century French 'Hollandaises' type, with a genuinely cursive italic and 1,030 glyphs across six weights per size.
About
Designed by Emmanuel Besse and released in 2024, Cedrat revives the hybrid-axis forms of Berthier & Durey's 1895 specimen, where contrast axes shift between letters rather than following a single consistent angle. The family resolves the original's display-only limitations by splitting across three optical sizes: Display for high-contrast titling, Standard for intermediate use, and Text for sustained reading. The italic departs from the historical source entirely, drawing instead from Times and ITC Caslon 223 to achieve genuine cursive character rather than a mechanical slant.
Classification
Derived from 19th-century 'Hollandaises' typefaces with mixed upright and oblique contrast axes, placing it at the transitional boundary between old-style and modern serif conventions. The hybrid axis behaviour and high contrast are characteristic of late 19th-century European type.