Traditional Arabic

Traditional Arabic
or Series 589
Categorynaskh
FoundryMonotype
Date created1956

Traditional Arabic is an Arabic naskh-based typeface first developed by Monotype as Series 589 in the spring of 1956.[1][2] It featured a system of interlocking sorts to allow for the diacritics to properly display over the letters they modify.[1]

Whereas Linotype's typeface Simplified Arabic or Yakout had become the standard for newspapers, the Traditional Arabic typeface became the preferred for quality book printing.[1]

In the 1970s and 1980s, Compugraphic plagiarized Traditional Arabic as well as Simplified Arabic; they had both become ubiquitous.[1] When the Belgian Agfa-Gevaert Corporation came to control Compugraphics, it licensed the fonts it plagiarized to Microsoft for use in Microsoft Windows.[1]

  1. ^ a b c d e Nemeth, Titus (2017). Arabic type-making in the Machine Age. The influence of technology on the form of Arabic type, 1908-1993. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-30377-5. OCLC 993032900.
  2. ^ alib-ms (30 March 2022). "Traditional Arabic font family - Typography". docs.microsoft.com. Retrieved 2022-05-04.