Franklin Gothic Book Italique

Designed in 1902 by Morris Fuller Benton for the American Type Founders company, Franklin Gothic still reigns as one of the most-widely used sans serif typefaces. Originally issued in only one weight, the ATF version of Franklin Gothic was eventually expanded to include five additional weights, but no light or intermediate weights were ever developed. In 1979, under license from ATF, ITC developed four new weights in roman and italic: book, medium, demi and heavy. Designed by Victor Caruso, ITC’s new weights matched the original face’s characteristics, but featured a slightly enlarged lowercase x-height. ITC Franklin Gothic also features a slightly condensed lowercase a-z alphabet. In 1991, ITC commissioned the Font Bureau in Boston to create condensed, compressed and extra compressed versions of ITC Franklin Gothic, which increased the flexibility and usefulness of the design.