Christian Gottlob Rossberg

Christian Gottlob Roßberg (born October 7, 1740 in Döbeln , † February 15, 1822 in Dresden ) was a German registrar, master scribe and calligraphy teacher.

In his life's work, the systematic guide to face-to-face writing, he constructed a font mathematically and thereby raised it to a scientific level. Roßberg designed a font family from Fraktur , Kanzlei and Kurrent , which, according to the graphic designer Petra Rueth, has gained new relevance with the current technology of variable fonts .

Life

Christian Gottlob Roßberg's parents were Christiana Sophia, geb. Lehmann, and Johann Martin Roßberg (1705–1774); his father worked as the “Electoral Saxon Pfenning and Quatember Tax Collector”. C. G. Roßberg was the fifth of fifteen children, many of whom died in childhood. In addition to his school and private lessons, he has devoted himself to art since his youth, he wrote, drew and also had an affinity for mathematics. During the Seven Years' War (1756–1763) he stayed in Hamburg, presumably to avoid recruitment. There he acquired his first knowledge of copperplate engraving, at first "for his pleasure", soon he was making almost all of his living with it.

In 1764 he went to Dresden to be employed by an engineering corps; that did not happen, however. Thereupon Roßberg occupied himself exclusively with calligraphic studies, while he devoted himself to writing with the pen and became increasingly successful in it.

In 1769, at the age of 29, he was employed as a secret clerk in the Electoral Saxon High Ministry.

In 1775 he married his wife Johanna Sophia and they had five children together.

In 1789 he was promoted to secret registrar, with this position he became a civil servant and then belonged to the upper class of the population. In 1819, four weeks before his 50th service anniversary, he was retired at the age of 79.

Roßberg died on February 15, 1822 at the age of 81 of exhaustion. At that time he was widowed and was buried on February 18, 1822 in the Eliaskirchhof in Dresden.

Publications

In 1774 he published his first book, it was an instruction for young people on correct pronunciation and spelling in German.

• Instructions for young people on correct pronunciation and spelling in German. Dresden 1774 ( digitized version )

In 1793 he began to publish his Systematic Instructions for Spelling and Spelling and for checking German handwriting and printing. In this work Roßberg deals with the mathematical construction of a font family made up of Fraktur, Kanzlei and Kurrent, initially concentrating exclusively on the minuscule. Due to the extensive explanations and his preoccupation with this project "in addition to his professional business", the processing and publication takes place in stages.

• Systematic instruction on how to write in front and upper case and on checking German handwriting and printed matter according to mathematical principles. Part 1, Dresden / Leipzig 1793 ( digitized version ).

In 1802 and 1803 respectively, “Samples” of the genus D and E appear in booklet form, the individual pages are taken from the second part of the systematic instructions that is currently being created.

In 1806 the second part of his systematic instructions was completed, it contained capital letters and sample sheets.

In 1810 an additional third volume of theory appears, containing the correct pronunciation and spelling in German, in which he devotes himself separately to orthography.

• Systematic instructions for writing in front and back and for checking German handwriting and printed matter according to mathematical principles. Third and last part: containing the correct pronunciation and spelling in German . Dresden / Leipzig 1810.
• Addendum to the third part of the systematic-calligraphic and orthographic work. Dresden 1817.

Principle of the Roßberg font family

In his publication Systematic Instructions for Front and Fast Spelling , Roßberg explains the schematic structure of a typeface family consisting of Fraktur, Kanzlei and Kurrent, as well as various intermediate forms. The basic principle of his approach is as follows: a square acts as a foundation; The width and position of the feather arise from a construction line of this basic figure. Based on this, Roßberg defines the writing order in three main ratios (6: 6, 5: 6, 4: 6), from which in turn the line width and font height emerge. The font (C, D and E) is created by pulling the pen along a directional line that can be selected according to personal preference, but must be maintained throughout the process. For the curved parts of the writing, helical lines serve as the basis, which are constructed according to a given scheme and whose combined sections result in the arcs and curves of the letters.

Roßberg's parametric system of two variables - main ratio and genre - generates nine different font styles that can be found across the different fonts. This is a novel principle for which there were no models in the history of writing.

literature

• Johann Gottlob August Klänke (Ed.): Most recent scholarly Dresden. Leipzig 1796, pp. 139-140 ( digitized version ).
• Werner Doede: Bibliography of German writing master books from Neudörffer to 1800. Hamburg 1958.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ATypI: Petra Rueth - Introducing the first variable font - from 1793. Retrieved on February 7, 2019 . 
2. ↑ See Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung , April 1822, p. 671.
3. ↑ Genealogical estate of Dr. Gerhardt in the Leipzig State Archives. Copies from church registers.
4. ↑ Dominica Ehtomi buried / ii / Protokoll / Stadtarchiv Dresden / SIG 2.1.3.C.XXI.20-98.