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Fabrica -- Basel Roman [Johann Froben]

The roman pre-Garamond font used by Jacob Herbst (a.k.a. Oporinus) to publish Andreas Vesalius's On the Fabric of the Human Body [De humani corporis fabrica] in Basel in 1543. It has strong affinities with the type used by Swiss printer Johann Froben in Basel in 1526. Stanley Morrsion wrote in 1924 about this typeface: Johannes Froben (1460-1527) was Erasmus's host in Basel for several years and published a number of his books. Updike describes this Roman as "massive and monumental." However, Updike describes the 1543 Fabrica as "a volume not at all of the Froben order, but reminiscent rather of Plantin or some Italian printer. Its noble old style type and delicate italic, delightful initial letters and the careful anatomical engravings . . . make up a remarkable volume." Warren Chappell added in 1970: Johann Froben, the printer, had as his scholar-editor Erasmus, and as his illustrator-decorator the young Hans Holbein. Froben was one of the most renowned publisher of humanist literature, and in the pre-Tory days managed to exert significant influence on European printing, including that of Paris and Lyons... Among the important books printed in Basel was Froben's own New Testament in Greek, with a Latin translation by Erasmus. It appeared in 1516. From the printing office of Michael Isengrim, also of Basel, a large botanical work by Leonhard Fuchs was issued in 1543...An outstanding work on anatomy was brought out by Oporinus in 1568. The author was Andreas Vesalius and the Title De Humani Corporiu Fabrica."

Metal font revivals include one by Charles Whittingham of the Chiswick Press called Basle roman. It was cut by William Howard of Great Queen Street, London, soon after the middle of the 19th century. A.F. Johnson writes in 1934: his type was much too exotic to appeal to printers in general, but its antique flavour attracted William Morris. In 1889 he had his prose romance, A Tale of the House of the Wolfigs, set in Basle roman. In another romance, The Roots of the Mountains, 1890 (the book actually appeared in 1889), Morris used the type again, but had a different e cut, one with the bar nearly, but not quite, horizontal.

For digital revivals, one should look at P22 Basel by P22, developed bewteen 2008 and 2015, with various type designers, including Colin Kahn and Paul Hunt, contributing to the final set of fonts. The old in-house version of P22 Basel was called P22 Fabrika.

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