| Thomas Detrie | detrie@detrie.asu.edu | Rev 15 Feb 99 |

Font Fundamentals

Copyright 1995-1999 Thomas Detrie. All rights reserved.

Early Printing

Figure 10.
The first book printed from moveable type, the Bible, appeared in 1455. The typeface was a German Gothic letter. Semi-Roman type was used for the first time in the first book printed in Italy, printed by Schweynheym and Pannartz in 1465. Shown here, from a private Swiss collection, is a type example from the first book printed in France (1470), printed by Gering, Krantz, and Friburger. It shows a partly gothic, semi-roman character modeled on the type of Schweynheym and Pannartz used at Rome in 1469. Jenson's fully roman letter appeared in 1470, and showed the move away from the conventions of written models. Jenson sought to create ideal individual letters, which by means of subtleties of fit and alignment would combine harmoniously on a page.


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