Anton Janson

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Anton Janson (born January 17, 1620 in Wanden , Friesland , Netherlands , † November 18, 1687 in Leipzig ) was a Dutch die cutter and type caster .

The font Janson Antiqua owes its name to Anton Janson, who worked in Leipzig in the second half of the 17th century. However, it was cut by Nicolas Kis (1650–1702). This (incorrect) attribution caused a lot of confusion: While Kis was forgotten in history, Janson lives on to this day through a font that bears his name, although he did not create it.

The Janson Antiqua was cut together with an italic around 1670 and shown for the first time in 1674 in a script sample. The matrices came after the death Jansons in the possession of writing caster Johann Karl Edling . His heirs moved the type foundry from Leipzig to Amsterdam in the 17th century. The Leipzig type caster Wolfgang Dietrich Ehrhard acquired the matrices from them after 1710. The type was published by the Ehrhardschen foundry under the name "Holländische Antiqua" and was widely used. Via the W. Drugulin type foundry , Janson Antiqua finally came into the possession of D. Stempel AG in 1920 and, through the takeover of this type foundry, became the property of Linotype .

The Janson Antiqua is still very popular. It is used in numerous publications, such as: B. in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung .

literature

personal data
SURNAME Janson, Anton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Die cutter and type caster
DATE OF BIRTH January 17, 1620
PLACE OF BIRTH Wanden , Friesland , Netherlands
DATE OF DEATH November 18, 1687
Place of death Leipzig