Ordinaire Série No. 15 belongs to a set of text typefaces from Deberny & Cie, which share a handful of formal attributes. The absence of a specific name stresses out it’s ordinary appearance and lacking of personality. It was common for 19th century foundries to use a numeral system for their typefac
es. Its designers remain anonymous and hidden behind the foundry. The Série No. 15 was released in the 1880s and was intended for a daily use, for advertising and publishing work. By the end of the 18th century, it was so popular in France that
it lived up to its name.
The Caractère Ordinaire were widely used in France, until it disappeared from the catalogues of contemporary type foundries at the end of printing with metal type. The disappearance of such a popular and widespread typeface
only because of the lack of technical improvements makes it worth a revival and perfect drawing exercise. Therefore I have chosen a rather faithful approach by staying close to the
original, preserving its peculiarities. Overall I have added some weight to make it more convenient for body text sizes and contemporary use.
