The Cloister family was designed by Morris Fuller Benton in 1913 based on the roman face used by Nicolas Jenson in 1470. Benton followed Jenson’s design closely making some alterations to account for smoother modern paper, and for automatic casting.

The Cloister Light Face design was initiated at the request of John Henry Nash for use in his unfinished bible. Nash was looking for a version of the typeface that when printed on dampened, hand-made paper would retain the weight and blackness of the page of Cloister Old Style had when printed on smooth stock.