Frederic Goudy designed Hadriano in 1918 as an all-capital titling face; it has since undergone numerous transformations. Goudy, who didn’t begin designing type until he was past 45 years old, was one of America’s most prolific type designers as well as an outspoken commentator on modern design philosophy. Goudy’s inspiration for Hadriano came from classical carved lettering that he saw in the Louvre, where he took rubbings of the letters E, P and R. He left the three letters unaltered and developed the rest of the alphabet around them.

In 1930, at the request of the Monotype Corporation, Goudy designed a lowercase alphabet for Hadriano, even though he thought it should remain an all-capital face. Between 1977 and 1981, Compugraphic added new weights and regularized it somewhat.

Hadriano is a good choice for book work, lending strength and vigor to headings and display lines.