# Radley font

> A serif with an italic, grown from letters cut into wood with carving chisels and later extended for the web.

Radley is a serif typeface by Vernon Adams, based on lettering first drawn for wood-carved titling and then digitised. Radley has a Regular and an Italic, two styles, with 375 glyphs covering Latin and Latin Extended. It is released under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 and is used for titles as well as short text.

## Facts

- Classification: [Serif](https://trendhub.net/fonts/category/serif)
- Designed by: Vernon Adams
- License: SIL Open Font License 1.1 (https://openfontlicense.org/open-font-license-official-text/)
- Styles: 2 (Regular 400; with italics)
- Variable font: No
- Glyphs: 375
- Character sets: latin, latin-ext
- Last updated: 2025-09-10
- Official source: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Radley
- Page: https://trendhub.net/fonts/radley
- Tagged for: Headlines, Editorial, Elegant

## About Radley

Radley is a serif typeface whose letterforms started as lettering carved into wood. According to the official notes, the shapes were sketched and cut directly with traditional chisels, then scanned, traced in FontForge, tidied and expanded into a full character set. That origin still shows in the specimen: sturdy stems, moderate contrast, softly bracketed serifs and round, generous bowls. Numerals are old-style figures, with a 1 that looks like a small capital I, so they blend into lowercase text. Radley offers a Regular and an Italic, two styles in one weight, and is not a variable font. The italic and wider Latin language coverage were added later by Vernon Adams, and Marc Foley finished that update in 2017. The 375 glyphs cover Latin and Latin Extended, and the license is the SIL Open Font License 1.1.

## License

SIL Open Font License 1.1. Copyright 2011 The Radley Project Authors (https://github.com/googlefonts/RadleyFont)

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

- **Book and chapter titles**: The letters were first designed for titling, and their broad bowls and firm serifs hold a title at display sizes.
- **Short text with emphasis**: A Regular with a true Italic covers an introduction, a caption or a short article where one weight is enough.
- **Plaques, menus and craft labels**: Shapes that come from chisel-cut lettering suit work that refers to hand-made or engraved objects.
- **Pull quotes**: Old-style figures and the Italic let a quotation with dates or numbers sit quietly inside a page.

## Things to know

- **No bold**: Radley has one weight. The two files are Regular and Italic; emphasis comes from the italic, size or colour.
- **Old-style numerals**: The figures vary in height like lowercase letters, which is less suited to tables than lining figures.
- **Listed as Serif at the source**: The official catalogue files Radley under Serif with a display classification; the official notes say it works for both titling and text.

## FAQs

### Is Radley free for commercial use?

Yes. Radley is published under the SIL Open Font License 1.1, which allows 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 Radley?

Radley was designed by Vernon Adams. The official notes add that Marc Foley completed the last update of the family in 2017.

### Does Radley have an italic?

Yes. Radley consists of a Regular and an Italic. According to the official notes, the Italic was added by Vernon Adams after the first release.

### How many weights does Radley have?

Radley has one weight, Regular 400, in upright and italic form. There is no bold.

### Which languages does Radley support?

Radley includes the letters needed for English and other Latin-script languages such as French, German, Spanish, Polish, Czech, Hungarian and Romanian.

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