De Aetna-Type
The De Aetna-Type is a typeface created around 1495 by the stamp cutter, type caster and book printer Francesco Griffo . It was in Venice in the printing office of Aldo Manuzio the work Petri Bembi de Aetna Angelum Chabrielem liber (or short: De Aetna ) of young humanists and later cardinal Pietro Bembo used.
The De Aetna-Type is considered to be the founder of its own font class, the French Renaissance Antiqua (English: Garalde ). It became groundbreaking for the entire further development of typography. It is the basis of the French Garamond , which is still the most widely used typeface in letterpress printing because of its excellent reading properties . Compared to the Garamond, the De Aetna-Type has angular serifs .
features
Manuzio had previously only printed books in Greek script. De Aetna was his first product in Latin script. So he needed a Latin font, which Francesco Griffo, who had previously made Greek letters for him, made in outstanding quality. Since it was a humanistic, not a spiritual work, the choice fell on an Antiqua . The font as such was not new; At this point in time, the font Antiqua had been in use for around 30 years.
Like their predecessors, today the signature class Venetian Renaissance Antiqua (English: Humanist ) be expected, the De Aetna type used as lower case typography formalized versions of handwritten humanistic minuscule and the capitals are based on the Roman square capitals . In the De Aetna-Type, the imitation of the pen stroke in the contrast between thicker and finer strokes is more pronounced than in the font weights of Nicolas Jenson ( Jenson-Antiqua ). Nevertheless, it shows a greater degree of abstraction from calligraphy overall than its predecessors.
The type set contains the 23 letters of classical Latin with various abbreviations , ligatures and punctuation marks . When designing the majuscules, Griffo was very much based on the Roman inscriptions. The A comes in a wider and a narrower glyph. The sides of the M lean slightly outwards, the tail of the Q begins in the lower center of the glyph and protrudes far to the right under the following u. The R has a tail that extends to the right. The Y has a "palm shape". In the common the ascenders of the letters b, d, f, l and ſ ( k-line ) protrude beyond the capital letters . The k is missing. A long s (ſ) and a final s are used. The most important innovation of the De Aetna-Type is probably the horizontal slash in the small e, which has since become the standard in this form.
Modern recuts
A version of the De Aetna type cut by Stanley Morison on behalf of the Monotype company in 1929 was named Bembo after the author of the De Aetna . Therefore, the font has often been referred to as Bembo since then. For a more precise designation, however, one speaks of the De Aetna-Type when one means the original font. The Bembo came out in the 1960s in a version for photo typesetting and was plagiarized several times during this time, for example as "Biretta" or by Erhard Kaiser for VEB Typoart Dresden. Digital versions of Monotype followed later: Bembo, Bembo Book (which is better suited for body text), and Bembo Titling (which is better suited for headings and larger font sizes). The Bembo is widely used in letterpress printing to this day, particularly in the United Kingdom . Versions of the Bembo available for the computer often have a k-line shortened to the capital height.
In addition to the Bembo, there are other digital recuts that are based on the original De Aetna type. To serve include as part of the Medieval Unicode Font Initiative resulting Cardo (since 2002), the Agmena (Linotype, 2014) and ET Book (2015).
These modern recuts contain additions to the type set for today's use, such as the capital letters J, U and W, diacritical marks, numbers and many other glyphs. Some of them also contain alternative glyphs, such as a more compact form of the letter R without the typical sweeping tail. As a rule, the fonts also contain italic font styles . Because De Aetna does not contain italic fonts, different, stylistically appropriate early italic fonts were used as a basis.
One of the fonts that are freer interpretations of the De Aetna Type is the Iowan Old Style , which has a longer center length and is therefore more suitable for non-printed media. It's the default Apple Books font .
Similar font
Another but closely related font is that used by Aldo Manuzio in Hypnerotomachia Poliphili , published in 1499 . It was also edited by Francesco Griffo and there is also a modern cut by her, the Poliphilus .
Web links
- De Aetna-Type in the type repertory of the incunabula of the State Library in Berlin
Individual evidence
- ^ Nicolas Barker: Aldus Manutius and the Development of Greek Script & Type in the Fifteenth Century , 2nd. Edition, Fordham University Press, New York 1992, ISBN 978-0-8232-1247-7 , pp. 43-55 (accessed December 28, 2015).
- ^ Paul J. Angerhofer, Mary Ann Addy Maxwell, Robert L. Maxwell: In aedibus Aldi: the Legacy of Aldus Manutius and his Press . Brigham Young University , Provo, Utah 1995 (Retrieved June 26, 2016).
- ^ Nicolas Barker: Aldus Manutius: Mercantile Empire of the Intellect . UCLA , Los Angeles 1989 (Retrieved June 26, 2016).