Book Country first appeared on a poster for “New York is Book Country” an annual literary event. It was inspired by the lettering of Ben Shahn on a poster protesting the 1927 execution of Italian radicals Nicolo Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. Though apparently naive and crudely drawn, nevertheless, the letterforms effected an urgent and powerful message.

The font includes a derived lower case and an OpenType contextual feature which maintains the rhythm of the uneven baseline when characters repeat to mitigate the stiff, mechanical feeling that occurs when casual lettering is typeset.