Frank Ruhl Libre Serif Font Family

Frank Ruhl Libre is the libre version of the original Frank Rühl, which is the most recognizable Hebrew typeface in printed materials. Frank Rühl was manufactured in 1908 with design by Rafael Frank in cooperation with Auto Rühl of the C. F. Rühl foundry based in Leipzig. The final version of the album was released in 1910. Most of the Israeli books, newspapers and magazines have adopted Frank Rühl as their body text typeface.

Being designed for modern printing requirements, the typeface was created for use in secular Hebrew writings and it was specifically developed for both short and long texts, with or without vowel points. Rühl has Sephardi measurements (mem-height is 4 ½ times the width of a stroke), and is derived from the Venetian types used for the Hebrew Bible by Daniel Bomberg.

Frank said of his design that he wanted to make Antiqua ‘less busy’ and ‘more pleasant’ like Fraktur, which is why he ‘diminished the tension’ between the thin and thick lines of the lettering.