black letter

a heavy-faced type in a style like that of early European hand lettering and the earliest printed books. blakltr.png

Also called text.

Origin of black letter

First recorded in 1630–40

black-let·ter, adjective

Not only in black-letter quartos was he interested, but also in the garden.

Great Ralegh |Hugh De Selincourt
The early chapbooks were the direct descendants of the black-letter tracts of Wynkyn de Worde.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 7 |Various
Tyrwhitt substitutes to overlive, from the black-letter editions.

Chaucer's Works, Volume 5 (of 7) -- Notes to the Canterbury Tales |Geoffrey Chaucer
Of this work I have now before me four different editions in black-letter quarto.

Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, Volume II (of 3) |Thomas Percy

As far back as June 11, 1891, Mr. Morris spoke of printing a Chaucer with a black-letter fount, which he hoped to design.

William Morris |Elizabeth Luther Cary

black letter

printing another name for Gothic (def. 10)