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Enschedé: Civilité

Excerpts of the book Enschedé. Spécimen des Lettres françoises dites Caractères de Civilité des XVIme et XVIIme Siècles dans la Collection Typographique de Joh. Enschedé en Zonen (1926, Haarlem: Joh. Enschedé en Zonen). This collection contains six different Civilité fonts, five from the 16th century (numbered 8, 9, 11, 12 and 14) and one chiefly from the seventeenth century (No. 30). The first maker and user of Civilité was Robert Granjon of Lyon, France, in Dialogue de la vie et de la mort (1557, Lyon), where he calls it his lettre françoyse. Plantin purchased some of Granjon's letters, and Granjon engraved even more more new letteres d'escriture in Antwerp for Plantin. Many imitations were made in Antwerp and Ghent, both in present day Belgium. Notes on the six Civilité types in the Enschedé collection:

• No. 8 and No.9: Almost identical fonts engraved by Franco-Flemish engraver Ameet Tavernier (b. Belle, ca. 1526) who worked as a typefounder and printer in Antwerp.
• No. 11: The author guesses that it is either Granjon's la petite françoise (ca. 1566) or Pierre Hautin's (aka Hamon) work. Pierre Hautin also sold lettres façon d'écriture to Plantin. The cursive françoise in the Manuel Typographique of Fournier le Jeune possesses many points of resemblance with No. 11.
• No. 12: The author credits this either to Granjon (ca. 1566) or to Henric vanden Keere of Ghent (aka Henri de la Tour). It is found together with Initials No. 10. The author thinks that vanden Keere is probably right since Jan van Hout, the secretary of the town printer of Leyden, seems to have purchased the same letter (i.e., No.12) from vanden Keere.
• No. 14: By vanden Keere, ca. 1575. A copy of the original specimen is still in the Plantin Moretus Museum.
• No. 30: The model for No. 30 was used before 1600 by Plantin in Antwerp and Jan van Hout in Leyden. It is possibly due to vanden Keere. It became popular in The Netherlands in the 17th century.
• Initials No. 13: Engraver unknown. Frequently used by Plantin and made in the 16th century.

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