# Cardo font

> An old-style serif built for scholars, with 3,831 glyphs and Greek, Hebrew, Gothic, Old Italic and Runic subsets.

Cardo is an old-style serif typeface by David Perry, built for classicists, Biblical scholars, medievalists and linguists. Cardo comes as Regular, Italic and Bold files holding 3,831 glyphs, with Greek, Hebrew, Gothic, Old Italic and Runic subsets. Cardo is released under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 and suits academic books, critical editions and long-form text.

## Facts

- Classification: [Serif](https://trendhub.net/fonts/category/serif)
- Designed by: David Perry
- License: SIL Open Font License 1.1 (https://openfontlicense.org/open-font-license-official-text/)
- Styles: 3 (Regular 400, Bold 700; with italics)
- Variable font: No
- Glyphs: 3831
- Character sets: gothic, greek, greek-ext, hebrew, latin, latin-ext, old-italic, runic
- Last updated: 2025-09-08
- Official source: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Cardo
- Page: https://trendhub.net/fonts/cardo
- Tagged for: Body text, Editorial

## About Cardo

Cardo is an old-style serif typeface drawn by David Perry for scholarly typesetting. The specimen shows moderate contrast between thick and thin strokes, bracketed serifs, slanted stress in the round letters and a modest x-height under long ascenders, the proportions of a book face. Its character set is what sets it apart: 3,831 glyphs, with subsets for Greek and extended Greek, Hebrew, Gothic, Old Italic and Runic next to Latin and extended Latin. The official description adds ligatures, old-style figures, real small capitals and assorted punctuation and spacing characters. The package holds three static files, Regular, Italic and Bold; there is no bold italic. Cardo was added to Google Fonts in 2011, and the copyright notice, dated 2002 to 2011, names David J. Perry. The fonts are published under the SIL Open Font License 1.1.

## License

SIL Open Font License 1.1. Copyright (c) 2002-2011, David J. Perry (hospes02@scholarsfonts.net)

Allowed:
- Use the fonts in personal and commercial work, in print, on the web and in apps.
- Modify the fonts and build new versions from them.
- Redistribute the fonts, on their own or bundled with software, as long as the license text and copyright notice go with them.

Conditions:
- The fonts cannot be sold by themselves.
- A modified version must stay under the same license and cannot use a Reserved Font Name without the copyright holder's permission.
- The authors' names cannot be used to promote a modified version without permission.

Summary only, not legal advice. Full text: https://openfontlicense.org/open-font-license-official-text/

## Where it works

- **Classical and Biblical texts**: Greek, extended Greek and Hebrew subsets sit beside Latin in the same design, so a quoted passage does not force a change of typeface.
- **Medieval studies and linguistics**: Gothic, Old Italic and Runic subsets cover historical scripts that general text families rarely carry.
- **Academic books and journals**: Old-style figures and small capitals, listed in the official description, serve footnotes, abbreviations and running heads.
- **Essays and long articles**: Moderate contrast and book proportions suit continuous reading; Italic marks titles and emphasis, Bold marks headings.

## Things to know

- **No bold italic**: The package has three files: Regular, Italic and Bold. Bold has no italic companion, so software may slant the Bold artificially.
- **Cyrillic and Vietnamese are absent**: Despite the large glyph count, there is no Cyrillic or Vietnamese subset; the extra characters go to Greek, Hebrew and historical scripts.
- **Static files only**: Cardo is not a variable font. Each of the three is a separate TTF file.

## FAQs

### Is Cardo free for commercial use?

Yes. Cardo is published under the SIL Open Font License 1.1, which permits personal and commercial use, modification and redistribution. The font cannot be sold on its own, and modified versions stay under the same license.

### Who designed Cardo?

Cardo was designed by David Perry. The copyright notice in the font, dated 2002 to 2011, names David J. Perry.

### How many weights does Cardo have?

Cardo has two weights, Regular 400 and Bold 700. An italic is provided for Regular only.

### Is Cardo a variable font?

No. Cardo is not a variable font; it ships as static Regular, Italic and Bold files.

### Which languages does Cardo support?

Cardo includes the letters needed for English and other Latin-script languages such as French, German, Turkish and Polish, as well as Greek. Its subsets also hold Hebrew, Gothic, Old Italic and Runic characters.

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Source: https://trendhub.net/fonts/cardo (trendhub)