Poster Details: Larry King + 7 wives

Larry King

Engravers + Rosewood

[ Engravers LT STD Bold Face, Rosewood Std Fill with Adobe Wood Type Ornaments ]

Larry King has fallen in love over and over and over again, even with the same woman. It is also interesting that his last name is King, the title for King Henry, another man included in the poster with multiple wives.

Since Larry is an American, I decided to pair a couple of American typefaces from the 1800s. First up is Engravers, a face based on engraved type from the late 1800s. It was designed by Robert Wiebking. A heavier weight was designed in 1902 by Morris Fuller Benton for the American Type Founders.

Rosewood is also based on wood types from the 19th century and is part of Adobe’s revival of these typefaces (each with the name of a tree: Birch, Black Oak, Mesquite, Cottonwood, etc.). Folks at Adobe were inspired by a design from William Page in 1874, whose typeface was based on Clarendon (both a typeface and also a generic name for slab serifs with brackets connecting the strokes to the serifs). The regular style of the face was designed as a chromatic, meaning it would be printed using multiple colors. The version used here is a little more tame, as the chromatic elements inside each letterform have been filled. The type’s blunt, block-like serifs contrast well with the precise and sharp letter-forms of Engravers. Adobe Wood Type Ornaments have been placed in front of each name to round out the design. A different one is used for each wife, and even Alene gets a new one the second time around.

Typefaces inspired from Wood Type from Adobe:
Birch, Blackoak, Cottonwood, Ironwood, Juniper, Mesquite, Pepperwood, Ponderosa, Poplar, Rosewood, Willow, Zebrawood

Typefaces somewhat similar to Engravers (or at least used in the latter half of the 19th century):
Madrone, Chevalier, Latin

Sources:
Linotype.com
Myfonts.com
Adobe.com

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