Serif

In typography, a serif /ˈsɛrɪf/ is a small line attached to the end of a stroke in a letter or symbol. A typeface with serifs is called a serif typeface (or serifed typeface). A typeface without serifs is called sans serif or sans-serif, from the French sans, meaning "without." Some typography sources refer to sans-serif typefaces as "Grotesque" (in German "grotesk") or "Gothic", and serif typefaces as "Roman."

Origins and etymology

Serifs originated in the Latin alphabet with inscriptional lettering—words carved into stone in Roman antiquity. The explanation proposed by Father Edward Catich in his 1968 book The Origin of the Serif is now broadly but not universally accepted: the Roman letter outlines were first painted onto stone, and the stone carvers followed the brush marks which flared at stroke ends and corners, creating serifs. Another theory is that serifs were devised to neaten the ends of lines as they were chiseled into stone.

The origin of the word serif is obscure, but apparently is almost as recent as the type style. In The British Standard of the Capital Letters contained in the Roman Alphabet, forming a complete code of systematic rules for a mathematical construction and accurate formation of the same (1813) by William Hollins, it defined surripses, usually pronounced "surriphs," as "projections which appear at the tops and bottoms of some letters, the O and Q excepted, at the beginning or end, and sometimes at each, of all." The standard also proposed that surripsis may be a Greek word derived from συν (together) and ριψις (projection).

Serif (publisher)

Serif is an independent book publishing house based in London, UK, founded in 1992 by Stephen Hayward (1954–2015). The company's list covers the subjects of history, politics, travel, culture and fiction, with book jackets — described as "works of art in themselves" — designed by Pentagram Berlin. Alongside original titles, reissues feature prominently in Serif's output, including Evelyn Waugh's 1932 account of his travels in Guiana and Brazil, 92 Days (with an afterword by Pauline Melville),George Dangerfield's The Strange Death of Liberal England, Jorge Semprún's The Cattle Truck, works by J. M. Synge, as well as significant cookery books such as The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook and the Glenfiddich Award-winning titles by Édouard de Pomiane, Cooking in Ten Minutes and Cooking with Pomiane. Primarily a publisher of printed books, Serif began producing e-books in 2012.

References

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Serif (disambiguation)

A serif is a decorative detail on letters and other typographical symbols.

Serif may also refer to:

See also