the slab serif

'The origins of the slab serif'heavy, monoline (having a uniform stroke width), with thick square-ended serifs'are uncertain, but it was probably developed by sign-writers around the beginning of the nineteenth century. Rather than relying on existing typefaces, they experimented with creating heavier letter forms that better suited their requirements for short, bold copy. . . [I]t's not difficult to see how a slab serif would be easier to paint than a thin bracketed one. Thus the display face, the headline, was born.'

'Simon Loxley, Type: The Secret History of Letters, 2004.