Antique Tuscan No.9 was one of the earlier wood-type designs by William Hamilton Page. It was first shown among the specimens produced in 1859, shortly after Page entered into a new partnership with Samuel Mowry, owner of the Mowry Axle Company. The new company was named Page and Company and was located at the Mowry facility in the Greenville section of Norwich, Connecticut. More…

Antique Tuscan No.9 is an extra-condensed version of the tuscan style that had been released in moveable type by Vincent Figgins of London in 1817 and had become so popular for advertising in the intervening years. Because of the extreme compression in the design, we might be tempted to describe it as "Triple-X," but that might be misleading. The analogy would, of course, be to clothing sizes, not movie ratings. Because of the compression, this typeface reads best when set extra-extra-extra large. For printing, we recommend 36 points or larger. For the screen, we suggest at least 72 points. An unusual and distinctive design, it is best used with discretion. If I were doing a term paper for school or submitting an article to a magazine for publication, I might use it for the title page, to grab someone’s attention. I would certainly not use it for the main body of text - not if I expected anyone to read what I wrote. If you wonder why we make this recommendation, take the Ten-Point challenge. Print this paragraph using Antique Tuscan No.9 and set the font size at 10 points. If you are young and blessed with good eyesight, you will probably be able to read it - with effort. So, here is the challenge: hand it to your Grandmother and ask HER to read it.