Octavian was designed by Will Carter and David Kindersley for the Monotype Corporation in 1961. Mr. Carter writes: “While the ultimate authority is the ancient inscriptional pattern, the physical characteristics of the present rendering are manifest in the economic proportions of the shapes and the modified relations of the strokes. Thus, the letters are narrower than the classical forms and their weight heavier.”

Octavian is a fine book face and works well for other text settings that are less demanding, such as magazines and brochures.