Designed by Linn Boyd Benton and Morris Fuller Benton for ATF. The Bold was cut first, in 1906. The other weights (Regular and Heavy) and italics appeared through 1911 [McGrew 1993]. 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).