Big Caslon, designed for headlines and titles, is Carter’s revival of the three largest and most eccentric typefaces attributed to eighteenth-century English engraver William Caslon. Carter made the design in 1994 then expanded the character family in 2003 with italic capitals commissioned by Wallpaper magazine. The most distinctive of the newer letters are the italic swash characters—those with exaggerated flourishes, such as the capital Q and N. Particularly expressive, swash letters are sometimes used as drop capitals, usually the first letter of the first sentence on a page of text, harkening back to the style of illuminated manuscripts.
Gallery label from Standard Deviations, 2011.