Designed in 1792, the Bulmer types are named not after their designer, William Martin, but after the printer who used them so well in his Shakspeare [sic] Press editions. In fact, it was Morris Fuller Benton who gave them the name back in 1928 when he was creating revivals for American Type Founders. Originally, Martin’s type was the English answer to the sharp, fine letterforms of Italy’s Bodoni and France’s Didot type foundries. But the Bulmer types did more than imitate the starkness of the modern-style Didot-Bodoni types. By condensing the letterforms, giving the strokes higher contrast, and bracketing the serifs slightly, Martin made his typefaces both beautiful and practical. You’ll often see Bulmer in use as a display face because of its high contrast and distinctive letter shapes. As a text face, it adds elegance to any page, and in combination with its expert set, you can use Bulmer for text settings of virtually any subject, from novels to mathematical treatises.