Bastard is a blackletter

Blackletter

Blackletter, also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule, or Textura, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 to well into the 17th century. It continued to be used for the German language until the 20th century. Fraktur is a notable script of this type, and sometimes...

 typeface

Typeface

In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....

 designed by Jonathan Barnbrook

Jonathan Barnbrook

Jonathan Barnbrook , is a British graphic designer and typographer. He trained at Central St Martin's and at the Royal College of Art .- Work :...

 in 1990. The name derives from a typographic classification known as Bastarda

Bastarda

Bastarda was a Gothic script used in France and Germany during the 14th and 15th centuries. These scripts were designed to provide a simplified letter that was appropriate for the copying of books or documents of minor value or importance.The early printers produced regional versions in type...

. The Bastard face is an exploration of the blackletter face (the earliest types, similar to those made by Gutenberg, and based upon monastic script) with a simple kit of parts. The face is available in three weights: Spindly Bastard, Fat Bastard, and Even Fatter Bastard.

While the angular terminals suggest the nib of a pen, the typeface was drawn electronically and avoids curved strokes. The c. 1865 typeface Fletcher

Fletcher (typeface)

Fletcher is the name given to a revival of a nineteenth century blackletter typeface designed in the Paris foundry of Theophile Beaudoire . The typeface appears in the title pages of many 1870s books. Dan X. Solo's revival is based on a Beaudoire & Cie...

is similar in its purely geometric construction.