Stempel Garamond

John Savard

In researching a page discussing the roots of the American view of the Middle East situation, I happened to run across a mention of the historical significance of the poem Lalla Rookh by Thomas Moore.

In searching for the work itself, I found a 1930 illustrated edition which was set in a beautiful typeface which I took to be some form of Jenson.

However, the shape of the capital W fairly shouted Garamond. Using Identifont, and going through the specific characteristics of several letters, I finally recieved the suggestion of Stempel Garamond. That the bowl of the capital P was not closed, as in Plantin, had made me feel that this was a typeface that could be distinguished in this way.

However, while a digitization that made the text bolder could make a Garamond look like a Jenson, the descenders of this typeface seem to me to be too short for Stempel Garamond. Perhaps it is some obscure attempt to harmonize Jenson with the demands of modern typography of that era.

John Hudson

As I recall, short descender versions of Stempel Garamond were available for Linotype setting (which this is, note characteristic non-kerning f).