Garamond Magnum Opus

C L A U D E G A R A M O N D

1 the stress of old style

the stress of old style

During the first century of the printer's craft, each printing office was more or less independent, there being practically no outside source for supplies other than paper. In order to secure a supple of type, it was necessary for the master printer to hire a punchcutter and

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a typecaster. After punches had been cut, it was necessary to drive matrices of copper or bras, and these had to be carefully justifies in order to achieve the proper fitting of the character struck and assure its alignment with the other letters of the font. A mold had to be constructed, and following the casting operation each letter had to be dressed, which included removing the jet caused by the type metal entering the mold, the rubbing of each character to remove burrs, and finally the planing of the foot to eliminate the jet break. Punchcutting, along with matrix adjustment, was a skill that required a good deal of training and experience. There never seemed to be an adequate number of such craftsmen to keep printers happy until the establishment of typefounding as a completely separate craft. By the mid sixteenth century typefounding was making a tentative start, primarily in the form of shops that had accumulated stocks of punches and matrices and which employed typecasters ho produced types for other printers.

Into this scene entered Claude Garamond.

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Garamond started his career out as an apprentice for the Parisian punch-cutter and printer, Antoine Augereau in 1510 . It was during this early part of the 16th century that Garamond and his peers found that the typography industry required unique multi-talented people. This way they could produce fine books.

Many of the printers during that time period were able to master all or most of the artistic and technical skills of book production from type design to bookbinding. Claude Garamond was first to specialize in type design, punch cutting, and type founding in Paris as a service to many famous publishers.

After a decade of success with his types all over Europe, King Francois I of France demanded that Garamond produce a Greek typeface, which later became known as "Grecs du Roi". The three fonts were modeled after the handwriting of Angelos Vergetios, and cut the largest size first, on a 16 point body. All three original sets of Royal Greek punches are preserved at the Imprimerie Nationale in Paris, France.

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In 1545 Garamond became his own publisher, featuring his own types including a new italic. His first book published was Pia et religiosa Meditatio of David Chambellan.

As publisher, Claude Garamond relied on his creativity harnessed by reasoned discipline to produce superbly well crafted products.

He modeled his book publishing style after the classic works of the Venetian printers who catered to the absolute elites of high society. He admired and emulated the works of Aldus Manutius. Garamond insisted on clarity in design, generous page margins, quality composition, paper and printing , which was always accentuated with superb binding.

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the stress of old style

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Garamond established his reputable status when he commissioned to create a Greek typeface for a series of Robert Estienne books for the French king Francois I of the time. Garamond's Roman types, including the Garamond font, were later utilized by French court printing, and the influence gradually spread across Western Europe. It was Robert Estienne who commissioned Claude Garamond to cut the first matching roman and italic typefaces.

Until this time, these two styles were cut independently of each other and not conceived as part of a family designed to work together. He cut distinguished roman and italic types in several sizes. His italics are among the first to feature sloped roman capitals in the 1540s. Garamond's designs centered on the handwriting of French court librarian Angelo Vergecio. Garamond's development of a sibling italic style for every roman style he designed generated the concept that italic would from then on become a standard variation on roman type.

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the stress of old style

the stress of old style

The fonts Garamond cut during the 1540s achieved a mastery of visual form and a tighter fit that allowed closer word spacing and a harmony of design between capitals, lowercase letters, and italics.

The harmonious relationships between the letter-forms is immediately obvious when seen in body text. With their broad forms and light proportions, Garamond's designs represented a startling change from the rather heavy contemporary French gothics.

These letterforms convey a sense of fluidity and consistency.

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The original Garamond letterforms are classified as old style.

A horizontal stressed bar on the o, bracket serifs. axis curves that are inclined to the left, small x-height, and notable contrast between thick and thin strokes

Because of the soundness of Garamond's designs his typefaces have historical staying power, and they are likely to remain the day-to-day tools of professional typographers, as long as wertern civilization survives. Reading a well set Garamond text page is almost effortless, a fact that has been well known to book designers for over 450 years. Here are some examples of where garamond is used today.

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Harry Potter books •

Dr. Seuss •

Neutrogena

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Abercrombie

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Tiffany & Co.

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Apple

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are all typical features of his style. Some unique characteristics in his letters include the small bowl of the a and small eye of the e, the downward slope of most top serifs, and the long extenders. These attributes are fairly consistent among all variations.

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sold to the printer Christopher Plantin, whose independent press was located in Antwerp. Curiously, the types soon appeared on

the stress of old style

the stress of old style

When Garamond died in 1561, his punches and matrices were

a broadside printed by the type foundry Egenolff-Berner.

This broadside, which is often used as a reference for contemporary renditions, has several Garamond faces paired with italics designed

by Robert Granjon. The punchcutter Jacob Sabon apparently acquired the matrices and punches while working with Plantin, and it was through Sabon that the types arrived at the Egenolff-Berner foundry. The only complete set of the original Garamond dies and matrices is safeguarded in the Plantin-Moretus Museum of Belgium. The specimens

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printed by this foundry established a high standard in typography, and subsequently Garamond fonts came to influence a huge number of type. Garamond types have influenced generations of punch cutters in europe. “Triggering an endless succession of descendants of the original types throughout many centuries and technologies to come.” In the 20th century alone, we find a profusion of garamond revivals that more or less maintian their resemblance to the original. Claude Garamond's contribution to typography was vast, a true renaissance man.

TYPOGRAPHY IS THE MOST INFLUENTIAL OF ALL THE ARTS: IT SENDS KNOWLEDGE ABROAD AS HEAVEN SEND THE

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RAIN • ONE FRUCTIFIES THE SOIL, THE OTHER MAN’S INTELLIGENCE.

Creating perfection in the type that he crafted his life will live on through his contribution to typography.

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