New from Adobe Type: Bickham Script Pro 3

Today we’re delighted to add the newest release from the Adobe Type team to our subscription library, Bickham Script Pro 3. Designed by Richard Lipton, this updated version of Bickham Script expands the character set to cover Greek and Cyrillic scripts and plugs in even more of the contextual alternate programming that makes this typeface perform so beautifully.

Bickham Script Pro specimen image

Bickham Script is based on the masterful penmanship of George Bickham, who compiled examples of his finest work and that of his contemporaries in The Universal Penman in the 18th century. It makes for a fantastic display face — undeniably elegant without feeling fanciful. (The English round hand style started out as a business hand, after all.)

Check the Bickham Script website for a historical and typographic overview series by accomplished type historian John D. Berry, covering the script’s stylistic origins, the typeface’s construction, and the technological considerations for bringing an 18th-century script into modern interfaces.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all those swashes and alternates, our Practice lesson on OpenType features is a great place to begin gaining a little familiarity, regardless of whether you intend to try Bickham Script in a design application or on the web. (Web people might find our OpenType in CSS walkthrough useful, too.)

Bickham Script Pro 3 is available on Typekit for use on the web or for syncing, and also available for sale from our partners at Fontspring. Let us know if you have any questions, either by email at support@typekit.com or on Twitter, and we’ll be happy to help.

One Response

  1. What an absolutely beautiful font! It makes me want to write a romance novel just so I could use it on the cover. Well, maybe not quite that radical. I don’t have the foggiest idea what one is like, my only association with them having been that I’ve read Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice.

    If you’re looking for a topic for a future posting, one on choosing the right font for book covers would be excellent.. Given the requirements of legibility, there’s not as much freedom in font choices for body text. They can differ, but not that much.

    On the other hand, speciality fonts are great for covers. Bickham would be marvelous for a romance novel, especially one set long ago. I doubt it would do for a tale about a zombie apocalypse set in 2050.

    The article could explore unique Typekit fonts that would do for specific sorts of books, fiction and non-fiction. You might even discover a little-known gem or two.

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Sally Kerrigan

Content Editor at Typekit. Usually knows the way to the nearest public library. Lives in San Francisco in real life, @draftwerk in Twitter life.

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