“Monotype’s hot metal Bell series from 1931 was based on original types made by the punchcutter Richard Austin for the foundry of John Bell in the 1780s. … The digital Bell closely follows the design of the hot metal 18pt version, and is therefore somewhat lighter in color than the text sizes of Monotype’s original metal face.” [MyFonts] Other sources date the design to 1930. [McGrew 1993]

Monotype’s digitization spans 3 weights in roman and italic, with small caps for the two lighter roman weights. There is another one by URW (roman and italic), which is also sold by FontSite as Lanston Bell. Main differences in ‘a l n t J 1 2 7’.