Antiquarian Scribe is modeled after the neat, oblique hand-lettering displayed on an original page of “Atlas Historique, ou Nouvelle Introduction a L’Histoire”—a world atlas published by Henri Abraham Chatelain between 1705 and 1732 in Amsterdam—that I picked up at an antiquarian shop in London in 2004. (It’s a kindred font to Antiquarian, which was inspired by the hand-lettered headlines and place names that appear on the same page.)
The source material covers the Near East, India, and the Indian Ocean; its text is in French, which afforded plenty of samples of diacritics and other special characters. The overall effect is neat and legible, with a distinctly historical flair.
The OpenType release has many additional features, including true small capitals, numerous ligatures, alternate/titling caps, old-style and lining figures, antique map symbols, and Greek and Central/Eastern European alphabets.
