Tony Stan designed ITC Cheltenham in 1975. It is a revival based on a turn-of-the-century design by architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue. Many typefaces from that period were unable to convey strong, bold ideas, and Cheltenham was created as an alternative; the original Cheltenham had long ascenders and short descenders as a result of legibility studies indicating that the eye identifies letters by scanning their tops. ITC Cheltenham has heavier stroke weights and more condensed proportions; combined with a large x-height, these features provide a legible, unusual text type. ITC Cheltenham Handtooled was designed by Ed Benguiat in 1994 and is a reworking of the ITC Cheltenham Bold into a display face that has the look of incised capitals.

The ratio of black to white in these characters gives it a subtle flair that make it suitable for headlines or initials in books and other sophisticated work.