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Typography Tuesday

Today we present some type specimens from a recent acquisition, Berthold-Schriften No. 399A, published in Stuttgart by the Berthold Type Foundry in the early 1950s. Berthold, founded in Berlin in 1858 by Hermann Berthold as a brass rule manufacture and casting metal type after 1893, was one of the largest and most successful type foundries of the 20th century. Monotype acquired all of Berthold's inventory in 2022. The typefaces shown here are:

Fanfare schmal (condensed), designed by Louis Oppenheim (1879–1936) and released by Berthold in 1927.

Bücher-Grotesk halbfett, among Berthold's Akzidenz-Grotesk family of typefaces, released in 1898, a few years after Berthold began casting metal type.

Vertikal by an unknown designer.

Block Signal, designed by Walter Wege (1894-1972) and released by Berthold in 1932.

Berthold Block, designed by Hermann Hoffmann (1856-1926) and released by Berthold in 1908.

Post-Antiqua, designed by Herbert Post (1903-1978) and cut by Paul Koch the son of Rudolf Koch, cast by Berthold in 1932.

Bergwerks-Zeichen (mining sign), hammer and chisel symbols in various sizes.

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Typography Tuesday

This week we present some facsimile pages from Pierre Simon Fournier’s small 1764 publication Les Caractères de l’Imprimerie. This facsimile production, which only includes sample pages from the original volume, was published by the German type foundry H. Berthold AG in 1968 under the title Manuel Typographique as part of the series "Schatze aus der Berthold-Bibliothek" (Treasures from the Berthold Library).

Fournier was an influential 18th-century French designer, type founder, and theoretician who made significant contributions to typography. In 1737, he devised the first point system for the standardization of type sizes. In 1739, he established his own type foundry, which continued to operate into the 19th century, and designed several new typefaces, one of which, the eponymous Fournier, was re-designed and issued by Monotype Corporation in 1924. His fleurons and dingbats spawned a revival of 16th-century-style ornaments, especially after the 1742 publication of his Modèles des Caractères. And in 1754, with the German music publisher and typographer J. G. I. Breitkopf, Fournier developed and patented in 1762 types for the rounded musical notation system we use today.

Les Caractères de l’Imprimerie appears to have been issued as a printer’s specimen book, copies of which range in length from 124 to 168 pages. Much of this work was incorporated into the second volume of his notable 1764-66, 2-volume treatise Manuel typographique utile aux gens de lettres. Our copy of Les Caractères de l’Imprimerie is yet another donation from our friend and benefactor Jerry Buff.

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