This steam era typeface, created by Gustav Schroeder in 1884, found popular use on soap box labels and tobacco tins during its initial release. Then, later, a successful and stout revival of Gustav’s face, named Othello, was carried out by Morris Fuller Benton in 1934, and the typeface’s appeal widened to include items such as broadside posters featuring Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein. After metal gave way to film type, Gustav’s creation experienced a brief fashion moment in the 1960’s, but then disappeared entirely, never re-surfacing as a full digital typeface.

With the release of Bathysphere, the typeface comes full circle, having been completely redrawn from scratch using Gustav’s original specimens. The new extended language support establishes the typeface firmly in the modern era, while Bathysphere’s refinement of subtle blunt corners restores a deep-sea grace to this iron giant.