Centaur Now
Omega Type Foundry · Toshi Omagari · 2025
A considered revival of Bruce Rogers's Centaur, correcting the thinness of the existing digital version by reintroducing the ink spread anticipated by the original metal type production process.
About
Working from Monotype's original production drawings, designer Toshi Omagari applied a compensatory thickening equivalent to the letterpress ink spread that Rogers had built into the metal type, restoring the weight and texture Rogers intended. Three optical sizes are provided, adapted from four separate historical drawing sets, with the italic at caption size widened and loosened to improve legibility at small scales. Alternate letterforms drawn from earlier incarnations of the design, including Montaigne and Arrighi, are included, particularly enriching the italic.
Classification
A revival of Bruce Rogers's Centaur, itself rooted in the Venetian roman tradition of Nicolas Jenson. The design features near-absent straight strokes in the upright, characteristic of the humanist roman genre originating in 15th-century Venice.