The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Clarendon vs Rockwell
Two of the best-known slab serifs, nearly a century apart in origin. Clarendon is a Victorian English design from 1845, with bracketed serifs, modest stroke contrast and ball terminals, while Rockwell is Monotype's 1934 geometric slab, built monoline on a near-circular O. Both are commercial typefaces today, so licensing cost is a factor either way.
Clarendon is a commercial font, so it is shown here in Roboto Slab, its closest free alternative. All free alternatives to Clarendon → Rockwell is a commercial font, so it is shown here in Roboto Slab, its closest free alternative. All free alternatives to Rockwell →
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
- Clarendon (Robert Besley, Fann Street Foundry, 1845) has bracketed serifs that widen into the stem, visible thick-thin contrast, and ball terminals on the a and c, so it reads like a bold nineteenth-century text face.
- Rockwell (Monotype, 1934, supervised by Frank Hinman Pierpont) is monoline and geometric, with near-uniform stroke width, a roughly circular O and a serif on the apex of the capital A.
- Clarendon was conceived as a bold companion to roman body text and later became the wood-type poster face of wanted-poster fame, whereas Rockwell's uniform strokes make it mainly a display face.
- Both are commercial: Monotype sells Rockwell through MyFonts and Rockwell Nova ships with Windows and Office, while the Hermann Eidenbenz 1953 Haas reworking is sold as Clarendon LT, with free Clarendon-style alternatives such as Besley on Google Fonts.
Clarendon
Reach for Clarendon when you want a sturdy, warm, slightly Victorian voice that still holds up as emphasis alongside running text, from packaging to editorial heads.
Rockwell
Reach for Rockwell when you want a bold, mechanical, geometric statement at display sizes, where its circular O and even strokes read as mid-century industrial.