Font Designer: Claude Garamond, 1499–1561
Opinion varies regarding the role of Claude Garamond (ca. 1480–1561) in the development of the range of contemporary typefaces that bear his name. What is accepted is the influence his work had on other typefaces from the late Renaissance to the present. Fonts named Garamond, or Garamont, are related to the alphabets of Claude Garamond as well as to the work of Jean Jannon (1580–1635 or 1658), much of which was attributed to Garamond. In [...]
Font Designer: Claude Garamond, 1499–1561
Opinion varies regarding the role of Claude Garamond (ca. 1480–1561) in the development of the range of contemporary typefaces that bear his name. What is accepted is the influence his work had on other typefaces from the late Renaissance to the present. Fonts named Garamond, or Garamont, are related to the alphabets of Claude Garamond as well as to the work of Jean Jannon (1580–1635 or 1658), much of which was attributed to Garamond. In [...]
Claude Garamond
Claude Garamond (ca. 1480–1561) cut types for the Parisian scholar-printer Robert Estienne in the first part of the sixteenth century, basing his romans on the types cut by Francesco Griffo for Venetian printer Aldus Manutius in 1495. Garamond refined his Romans in later versions, adding his own concepts as he developed his skills as a punchcutter. After his death in 1561, the Garamond punches made their way to the printing office of Christoph Plantin in Antwerp, where they [...]
Claude Garamond (ca. 1480-1561) cut types for the Parisian scholar-printer Robert Estienne in the first part of the sixteenth century, basing his romans on the types cut by Francesco Griffo for Venetian printer Aldus Manutius in 1495. Garamond refined his romans in later versions, adding his own concepts as he developed his skills as a punchcutter. After his death in 1561, the Garamond punches made their way to the printing office of Christoph Plantin in Antwerp, where they were used by Plantin for many decades, and still exist in the Plantin-Moretus museum. Other Garamond punches went to the Frankfurt foundry of Egenolff-Berner, who issued a specimen in 1592 that became an important source of information about the Garamond types for later scholars and designers. In 1621, sixty years after Garamond's death, the French printer Jean Jannon (1580-1635) issued a specimen of typefaces that had some characteristics similar to the Garamond designs, though his letters were more asymmetrical and irregular in slope and axis. Jannon's types disappeared from use for about two hundred years, but were re-discovered in the French national printing office in 1825, when they were wrongly attributed to Claude Garamond. Their true origin was not to be revealed until the 1927 research of Beatrice Warde. In the early 1900s, Jannon's types were used to print a history of printing in France, which brought new attention to French typography and the "Garamond" types. This sparked the beginning of modern revivals; some based on the mistaken model from Jannon's types, and others on the original Garamond types. Italics for Garamond fonts have sometimes been based on those cut by Robert Granjon (1513-1589), who worked for Plantin and whose types are also on the Egenolff-Berner specimen. The Linotype portfolio has several versions of the Garamond typefaces. Though they vary in design and model of origin, they are all considered to be distinctive representations of French Renaissance style; easily recognizable by their elegance and readability.
Simoncini Garamond® was designed by Francesco Simoncini from 1958 to 1961, and he based it on the Jannon model. This version works well for both text and display, and is a little lighter and more delicate that other Garamonds.
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