Designed by Linn Boyd Benton and Morris Fuller Benton for ATF. The Bold was cut first, in 1906. [McGrew 1993] and was not shown until Mar 1908 [Explanatory Statement]. The other weights appeared later: Regular in 1910 [American Bulletin, Jul 1910], Italics in 1911 [American Bulletin, May-Jun 1911], and Heavy. Along with its sans-serif companion Clearface Gothic, it is a member of perhaps the earliest dedicated serif+sans type series.

Also sold by Stephenson Blake (their Heavy was known as Extra Bold) and Van Loey-Nouri (as Belga). Adopted by Linotype, Monotype, and Ludlow [Reichardt 2011].

Extended into a larger family as ITC Clearface (ITC, 1978, four weights plus italics) and Clearface Serial (Brendel, seven weights plus italics).

Digitized as Monotype Clearface (Bold only). See also Family (Klim, 2023).