iOS Fonts › Serif › Baskerville

Baskerville on iOS

A transitional serif with crisp contrast and generous proportions, well suited to long-form reading and editorial layouts.

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
BaskervilleRegular
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Baskerville-BoldBold
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Baskerville-BoldItalicBold Italic
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Baskerville-ItalicItalic
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Baskerville-SemiBoldSemi Bold
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Baskerville-SemiBoldItalicSemi Bold Italic

Baskerville at a glance

CategorySerif
Designerafter John Baskerville (1750s)
Styles on iOS6 (Regular, Bold, Bold Italic, Italic, Semi Bold, Semi Bold Italic)
First on iPhoneiOS 3.0
First on iPadiOS 4.3
Family nameBaskerville
Default PostScript nameBaskerville

PostScript names for every Baskerville style

iOS looks fonts up by their PostScript name, not the friendly family name. Use the names below exactly as written — they are case-sensitive.

StylePostScript nameiPhoneiPad
RegularBaskerville3.04.3
BoldBaskerville-Bold3.04.3
Bold ItalicBaskerville-BoldItalic3.04.3
ItalicBaskerville-Italic3.04.3
Semi BoldBaskerville-SemiBold5.05.0
Semi Bold ItalicBaskerville-SemiBoldItalic5.05.0

How to use Baskerville in code

SwiftUI

Swift
Text("Hello, world")
    .font(.custom("Baskerville", size: 17, relativeTo: .body))

UIKit

Swift
let base = UIFont(name: "Baskerville", size: 17)!
label.font = UIFontMetrics(forTextStyle: .body).scaledFont(for: base)
label.adjustsFontForContentSizeCategory = true

Objective-C

Obj-C
label.font = [UIFont fontWithName:@"Baskerville" size:17];

CSS for Safari on iPhone and iPad

CSS
.headline {
  font-family: "Baskerville", Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;
  font-weight: 700;
}

Wrapping the font in UIFontMetrics, or passing relativeTo: in SwiftUI, lets Baskerville grow and shrink with the user’s Dynamic Type setting. Read the custom fonts guide for the full checklist, or the San Francisco guide if you want Apple’s system font instead.

Frequently asked questions

What is the PostScript name of Baskerville on iOS?

Use “Baskerville” with UIFont(name:size:) or SwiftUI’s Font.custom(_:size:). The bold style is “Baskerville-Bold”. The family has 6 styles: Regular, Bold, Bold Italic, Italic, Semi Bold, Semi Bold Italic.

Which iOS version added Baskerville?

According to the iOS Fonts availability data, Baskerville first shipped on iPhone in iOS 3.0 and on iPad in iOS 4.3.

Can I use Baskerville on a website?

Safari on iPhone and iPad can render installed system fonts, so a CSS stack such as font-family: "Baskerville", Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; will use Baskerville on Apple devices and fall back elsewhere. Embedding the font files on a server requires a separate web licence from the foundry.