To investigate the anisotropic fracture characteristics of coal, physical tests are carried out on semi-circular bend specimens with different pre-crack inclinations and bedding orientations. Regarding the coal as a transversely isotropic body, assigning its elastic properties to the finite element models, the crack geometry factors are calibrated, and stress distributions near the pre-crack tip are analyzed through numerical simulations. Then, the modes I and II critical stress intensity factors are determined based on fracture load. Experimental results show that bedding orientation and pre-crack inclination of coal specimens jointly affect their fracture mode and resistance, and mode I fracture dominates the fracture onset. For straight and inclined pre-cracks, the elliptic function and Fourier series can approximately describe the relationship between effective critical stress intensity factor and bedding angle, respectively. Besides, descriptions of typical propagation paths and their corresponding failure mechanisms are reported in detail. Further, the morphology of fracture surfaces is drawn based on scanning data; afterward, four equidistant cross-sectional profiles in different specimens are extracted and exhibited. Finally, an empirical equation is utilized to calculate the joint roughness coefficients of profiles. Comparing the differences among these coefficients is beneficial to quantitatively characterize anisotropic crack growth in coal.