The Book of Sabon Prayer & Typeface Anatomy According to the use of
Teri Lanier
The Jan Tschichold Creed I believe in a typeface, created for harmony and efficiency; And in a nostalgic return to 16th Century serif styling, inspired by Claude Garamond. I believe in one font, that met the needs of three technologies; Having the same width and weight, be it roman or italic, roman or bold, or ligature. I believe that Sabon honored the classic style of Garamond, while saving space and money for Linotype, Monotype, and Stempel foundries. I believe in adapting a typeface to contemporary media, while honoring the beauty of the past. I believe that Sabon Next, a 2002 revision by Jean Franรงois Porchez, will carry the elegance of Garamond and Sabon into the digital typesetting future. AMEN
History
A Vocation in Spiritual Texts After its 1967 release, Sabon was attractive to designers for providing style options without sacrificing space in settings with dense amounts of text. Designer Bradbury Thompson advised on the 1973 Washburn College Bible. It featured Sabon as a coherent system, with left justification, use of italics, and a larger character size. He created a more accessible text that reads as if one is speaking in natural cadence. Many of these innovations would be incorporated in the 1979 edition of Book of Common Prayer.† A review declared the advantages of setting The Book of Common Prayer in Sabon. “The type conveys [...] gracefulness, strength, and integrity. [...] You’ll see the type in six or eight different sizes, regular and bold and italic, but it’s all Sabon.”‡
Robert W. Prichard, Issues in Prayer Book Revision: Volume 1. New York, NY: Church Publishing Incorporated, 2018. Ebook. †
‡ Isabel Baumgartner, “Proposed Prayer Book a Massive Print Job” Episcopal News Service. Feb. 10, 1977 [77039] Online article.
History
Where There are Two, Let There be One In most roman and italic faces the letter f reaches into the space beyond it, not so with the narrow serif in Sabon. Top: 50pt Sabon Italic 0 Tracking Bottom: 50pt Garamond Italic 0 Tracking
Sabon ligatures are seldom needed; though, ligatures may add a note of refinement to text. The bespoke narrowness of letter f allows close kerning without collisions. Top: 50pt Sabon Roman Ligatures Bottom: 50pt Sabon Roman 0 Tracking
Ligatures
Concerning the Letter Structures On average, Tschichold’s Sabon letterforms have larger counters than those cut by Garamond. They also feature a generous x-height, short descenders, and bracketed serifs.
01
02
03
07
04
08
Ascender Height X-Height
05
06 Descender Line
09 10 13
11
12
01. Bracketed Serif 02. Open Counter 03. Shoulder 04. Ascender 05. Closed Counter
Cap Height
14
06. Descender 07. Arc 08. Cross Bar 09. Loop 10. Tail
11. Stem 12. Bowl 13. Ear 14. Apex
Baseline
Anatomy of Type
Letter Styles and Structures Roman style
Italic style
Bold Roman style
Oldstyle numbers have varying heights, ascenders, and descenders
01
02
03
05
04
06
10
Roman style
Anatomy of Type Italic style
08
09
07
11
01. Overshoot 02. Open Counter 03. Tail 04. Bilateral Serif
05. Dot/Tittle 06. Serif 07. Axis 08. Eye
12
09. Terminal 10. Spine 11. Cross Stroke 12. Hairline
Letter Sizes and Structures King
10pt
King
12pt
King
18pt
King
24pt
King
36pt
02 01
50pt
03
05 Upper Case Text 04
06
07
08 Lower Case Text 09
01. Leg 02. Link 03. Loop
04. Hook 05. Vertex 06. Spine
07. Arm 08. Axis 09. Open Counter
Anatomy of Type
Sabon
GR   CE When we behold beauty, it creates a heightened attention to harmony, balance, symmetry, and fairness. All these phenomena are offended by injustice in the world. —Paul Fromburg The Art of Transformation: Three Things Churches Do That Change Everything