In the early 1960s, the German Master Printers Association requested that a new typeface be designed and produced in identical form on both Linotype and Monotype machines so that text and technical composition would match.
Walter Cunz at Stempel responded by commissioning Jan Tschichold to design a new version of Claude Garamonds serene and classical Roman.
Its bold, and particularly its italic styles are limited by the requirements of Linotype casting machines, forcing the character widths of a given letter to match between styles, giving the italic its characteristic narrow f.
The familys name is taken from Jacques Sabon, who introduced Garamonds Romans to Frankfurt.
Sabon has long been a favorite of typographers for setting book text, due to its smooth texture , and in large part because Tschicholds book typography remains world famous.