Illustrated books -- Bibliography; Illustration of books; Printing -- History
In Germany roman types were tried by Adolf Rusch (the R-printer) at
Strassburg about 1464, and by both Gunther Zainer at Augsburg and Johann
Zainer at Ulm, but met with no favour until in the last years of the
century they were reintroduced for the books written or edited by
Brant, Locher, Wimpheling, Peter Schott, and the other harbingers of the
new learning. In the Netherlands John of Westphalia started with a round
but rather thin roman type brought from Italy. In France the scholarly
ideals of the patrons of the first Paris press were reflected in the use
for the books printed at the Sorbonne of a beautiful roman type, only
injured by the excessive prominence of the serifs. In Spain also the
first books, those printed at Valentia by Lambert Palmart, were in
roman; but in both countries gothic types long commanded the favour of
the general reader, while in England their supremacy was unchallenged
for a third of a century, no book entirely in roman type appearing until
1508.
As regards the aesthetic value of the different roman types in use during
the fifteenth century, the superiority of the Italian is so marked that,
with the exception of the first French type, the rest, from this point
of view, may be neglected. Almost all the roman types used in Italy
until late in the 'seventies are either beautiful or at least
interesting, and it is remarkable that some of the most beautiful are
found in small places like Cagli, Mondovi, Viterbo, and Aquila, or in
the hands of obscure printers, such as the self-taught priest Clemente
of Padua, who worked at Venice in 1471. The pre-eminence of Jenson's
fount is indisputable, though he often did it injustice by his poor
presswork. But those used by John and Wendelin of Speier, and at a later
date by Antonio Miscomini, were also good, as also were several of the
founts used at Rome and Milan. At Naples and Bologna, on the other hand,
some quite early roman founts are curiously hard and heavy.
After about 1480 roman types in Italy enter on a second stage. They no
longer have the appearance of being founded directly on handwriting.
Doubtless the typecutters were so used to their work that they no longer
needed models, but designed new types according to their own ideas.
Naturally the letters are more uniform and regular than in the earlier
founts, but naturally also they have less charm, and the ordinary
close-set Venetian type of the end of the century is singularly dull.
Even the large roman type used by Aldus to print the _Hypnerotomachia
Poliphili_ is no real exception, as the letters are narrow for their
height. A far finer fount is the large text type used by the Silbers at
Rome, on both sides of 1500. This is well proportioned and beautifully
round, and it is surprising that it has not yet been imitated by any
modern typecutter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account