b Bembo
Bembo The Typeface
Bembo first cut in 1495 designed by
Francesco Grifo for Venetian printer
Aldus Manutius
first used in the setting of a book written by
entitled
De Aetna
Cardinal Pietro Bembo The typeface we know today was created by
Stanley Morison in
for
1929
Monotype Corporation
is considered a
Humanist
because of the
calligraphic feel. It has a feeling of
elegance yet undistracted
ilovetypography.com/2015/11/10/the-first-illustrated-books
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Books, Writing, and the Printing Press accessed from italianrenaissanceresources.com September, 2016 11/11 pt Regular
The emphasis on learning that was at the heart of the Renaissance meant that a high valuation was placed on the book. Ancient texts, prized as fonts of knowledge, were dispersed through decorated, luxurious manuscripts prepared for patrons who appreciated the importance of the contents and the beauty of the presentation. Ownership of the classics of ancient history, poetry, and philosophy that provided models of heroic action, moral behavior, and literary style was considered an earmark of the cultivated individual. A particularly fine example of a lavish manuscript is a copy of the world chronicle that Eusebius wrote in Greek in the early fourth century; at the end of that century, Saint Jerome translated Eusebius’s text into Latin and added a prologue. .
11/12 pt Regular
The opening page of Sanvito’s manuscript includes the title of the text, in letters based on ancient Roman capitals, written in gold and colors. Placed prominently on the page is a depiction of Jerome in a landscape. He is shown in scholarly guise, intent on the open book in his lap. The beginning lines of the text are presented as if written on a fictive sheet of parchment, which is shown suspended from the triumphal arch that frames the page. Supporting the arch are two gold columns, around which wrap bands of military scenes evoking Trajan’s Column in Rome. Groups of capering infants known as putti (from the Latin word for small boys) decorate the top and bottom of the page. Bembo’s proud possession of the manuscript is made clear by his coats of arms, placed in the pedestals of the flanking columns.
11/13 pt Regular
It was, however, the press of the Roman printer Aldus Manutius, who arrived in Venice at the end of the fifteenth century, that became associated directly and extensively with the new learning. One of the major endeavors of the Aldine press was the printing of small, easy-to-handle volumes of Greek and Latin classics. Aldus has been called the inventor of the “pocket book.” Printed in a carefully cut typeface that closely approximated the handwriting of the humanists—the typeface we now call “italic”—and intended for connoisseurs as well as for intellectuals with limited time at their disposal, the volumes were an instant success.
11/11 pt Italic
Centuries later, the Renaissance scribe Bartolomeo Sanvito of Padua prepared a superb edition of Saint Jerome’s text for the important Venetian collector Bernardo Bembo (1433–1519); the volume is now in the British Library in London.
11/12 pt Bold
Assisting dissemination of the new learning was the rise and proliferation of printing presses.Venice, which attracted German printers in the middle years of the fifteenth century, was a locus for the new printing industry.
11/13 pt Extra Bold
In the preface to a volume of Horace, one of the early productions in the new format, Aldus addressed himself to the Venetian statesman Marino Sanudo, recommending his volumes of the classics for their readability during moments free from other obligations:
11/13 pt Extra Bold Italic
“The small size of their dimensions invites you to the reading of them in the moments of repose from your public duties or from the writing of your history of Venice.”
10 pt|Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication
12 pt|Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication
14 pt|Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication
16 pt|Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication
18 pt|Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication
20 pt|Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication
24 pt|Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication
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It had long since come Bembo Std Regular
to my attention that Bembo Std Italic
people of accomplishment Bembo Std Semibold
rarely sat back and let Bembo Std Semibold Italic
things happen to them. Bembo Std Bold
They went out and Bembo Std Bold Italic
happened to things. Bembo Std Extra Bold
- Leonardo da Vinci Bembo Std Extra Bold Italic
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