Italian Old Style™由Frederic W. Goudy为美国Lanston Monotype公司而设计。Monotype想请Goudy复制Cloister Oldstyle，这是竞争对手旗下的一款成功的字体（它是由Morris Fuller Benton设计的，请参见Cloister Open Face）。Goudy以道德为由拒绝了Monotype并说服Monotype制作一款新的字体。他基于15世纪的Venetian字体，这款字体所使用的历史模型与Benton的Cloister字体以及后来Bruce Rogers的Centaur字体所使用的是相同的。Goudy的创作了Italian Old Style，由Monotype于1924年发行，并被许多人认为是Goudy用于书籍排印最好的字体之一。

Italian Old Style™ was designed by Frederic W. Goudy for the Lanston Monotype Company in the USA. Goudy was asked by Monotype to copy Cloister Oldstyle, a successful font that belonged to a competing foundry (it was designed by Morris Fuller Benton, see Cloister Open Face). Goudy refused on grounds of ethics, and instead talked Monotype into producing a new face. This he based freely on fifteenth century Venetian types, which were the same historical models used by Benton for Cloister and later by Bruce Rogers for Centaur. Goudy's result was Italian Old Style, released by Monotype in 1924, and considered by many to be one of Goudy's best fonts for book typography."