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I have this business card that I just found from my grandfather who practiced as a pediatrician in Cuba in the 1950s and early 1960s.

I'd love to know the font as he's passed and it would be fun to recreate or include in my own work.enter image description here

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    Looks like some flavor of Copperplate to me
    – Scott
    Oct 9, 2022 at 19:38
  • Also worth pointing out that Copperplate Gothic was designed by Frederic Goudy, in 1901.
    – Billy Kerr
    Oct 10, 2022 at 9:08

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Great question! This was quite a common style of business card typeface and lettering. Goudy did a design in this style called "Copperplate Gothic" which is probably the best known, but that was based on earlier ones. Fonts in this style include "Steelplate Gothic" and Sackers Gothic and Blair.

A lot of typefaces in this style had small serifs on the end of the letter. From your picture it's a little hard to be sure if the fonts used do, but I think they do.

Copperplate Gothic itself is available digitally, you probably have it on your computer now but the early digitization got used a ton and feels a bit 90s because of it-you might be best off using a more obscure font in the style to seem a bit less cheap. President was a French take on the style but that feels a bit wonky. Right now I don't have a specific great modern font in the style to recommend but that should get you started on knowing where this comes from.

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    Hey @Copilot thanks for the response. I think you're spot on. It definitely has some small serifs on the end of the letter and I wonder if it was just a Copperplate Gothic press that had worn down over time and/or the paper skewed the ink spread. I'll keep exploring the rabbit holes :) Thanks so much!
    – mccinthenyc
    Oct 9, 2022 at 21:42
  • The more I look the more it seems mixed. The A, D, R have no serif marks, but the N with a tilde has a fairly pronounced sefif.
    – mccinthenyc
    Oct 9, 2022 at 22:04
  • Found this card from the same era and it looks like a similar situation. ebay.com/itm/231440820757
    – mccinthenyc
    Oct 9, 2022 at 22:06
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    @mccinthenyc - that's probably because it has been printed on highly textured/laid paper - which isn't ideal for reproducing fine detail like serifs, also looks like it might have been printed using letterpress.
    – Billy Kerr
    Oct 9, 2022 at 23:31

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