Basteleur begins with a tarot card. Its designer, Keussel, drew the typeface with the Tarot de Marseille in mind, and specifically Le Bateleur, the figure whose card stands for new beginnings, for fun and craft, and for something less flattering that every maker will recognise: the struggle to finish what you start. A typeface that carries that meaning is almost a confession, and Basteleur wears it with charm. The forms themselves reach back further than the deck.

They blend a medieval sensibility with a rounded, generous warmth reminiscent of Cooper Black, so the letters feel at once old and comfortable, like something hand-cut long ago but softened by use. It is display type with personality, a face that wants to be looked at rather than merely read through. In 2022 an anniversary update widened its range. Alongside the original soft bold, Keussel added Moonlight, a lighter and sharper cut that gives the family a cooler, more incised alternative to its plush beginnings.

The two cuts together let Basteleur move between warmth and precision without losing its identity. Fittingly for a face built around openness and craft, Basteleur is released through Velvetyne, the open foundry, under the Open Font License. Anyone can use it, study it, and build on it freely, which turns a typeface about beginnings into a genuine starting point for other people's work. The card promised craft and the difficulty of finishing; the font, at least, made it all the way to release, and then gave itself away.