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Type classification of roman faces by Berry, Johnson and Jaspert
In their famous Encyclopaedia of Type Faces (1953), Berry, Johnson and Jaspert classify the roman or text typefaces as follows [the text below is taken verbatim from their book]: The terms by which our roman types are classified form a chronological series: but in this third edition, as mentioned in the Preface, we have arranged them alphabetically. We begin with a group called the Venetian, in which are included those types which, either consciously or unconsciously, are modelled on fifteenth century romans, prin- cipally on those of printers at Venice. The second group includes the old-face romans of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the third the transitional romans of the eighteenth century and the fourth the modern face of the nineteenth century. Printers of today are the inheritors of all these schools, and although our book typography is based in the main on the designs of the second and third groups, yet we use the types of all ages and further have added our own original designs which cut across the earlier groups and which we can only classify as twentieth-century types. There are three principal features of the roman face which were gradually modified in the three centuries from Jenson to Bodoni. In the earliest romans, copied as we have pointed out, from contemporary humanistic manuscripts, the serifs were inclined and bracketed, that is to say, the underpart of the serif was connected to the stem in a curve or by a triangular piece. On the upper case the serifs were often thick slabs extending to both sides of the uprights. In the typical modern face serifs are thin, flat and unbracketed. In between the two extremes various gradations are found. In all early romans the incidence of colour or stress is diagonal, while in the modern face it is vertical. If an O is drawn with a broad-nibbed pen held at an angle to the paper, the two thickest parts of the letter will be diagonally opposite. This was the manner in which the calligraphers of the fifteenth century drew an O; but by the year 1700 the writing masters, whose work was being reproduced on copper-engraved plates, had adopted the method of holding the pen at right angles to the paper, thus producing a vertical stress. The engravers of type who developed the modern face were adapting to typography a style already prevalent among the engravers. The third point in which the design was modified was in the amount of variation between the thick and thin strokes, and in the degree of abruptness of the variation. In the fifteenth century the stress was slight and gradual, in the nineteenth it was extreme and abrupt. In this edition the romans have been arranged in alphabetical order and the marginal notes indicate a classification based on the groups set out below. - The Venetian types are characterised by their strong, bracketed, or sometimes slab serifs. The letters are in general wide and heavy in colour. The weight of colour in recently cut faces belonging to this group is perhaps more due to the example of William Morris' Golden Type than to the original Venetians. Morris, as has been said, reinforced Jenson's roman by lessening the gradation between thick and thin strokes, and so produced a black instead of a grey letter. Other characteristic letters are the wide lower-case e with a diagonal bar to the eye and the large-bowled g.
- Old faces account for the majority of the book types of English printing. The design, known as old face, has generally been attributed in origin to Garamond, the Paris founder of the first half of the sixteenth century. The term old style has been avoided as it is the name of a type face by Miller & Richard. Two important discoveries of recent years have greatly added to our knowledge of the evolution of this design. In the first place Mrs. Warde described in detail (in the 'Fleuron' No. 5) the actual origin of the Garamond romans, and has further shown that many of the so-called Garamonds are in fact seventeenth century types, ultimately derived from Jean Jannon of Sedan. In the second place Mr. Stanley Morison has proved that Garamond was modelling his design on the romans of the Venetian printer Aldus Manutius, and he therefore attributes the origin of the old-face design to Aldus's punch-cutter Francesco Griffo, the artist who also cut the Aldine italic and several other early italics. The romans of Aldus differ in several points from the earlier Venetian romans forming Group 1. The slab serifs on the capitals are abandoned; the capitals are reduced in size, being lower than the tops of the ascending lower-case letters. They are in general narrower, as are many letters of the lower-case. The lower-case e now first receives that horizontal bar to the eye which has become traditional. The serifs tend to be lighter and the graduation between thick and thin more pronounced than in the Venetian group.
- Transitional types of the eighteenth century began to appear when during the eighteenth century designers gradually transformed our romans from the traditional letter which had lasted from 1500 to 1700 to the modern face of the engravers. The story begins at the very opening of the century, and is completed, in this country, about the year 1800. At least two of the designs dating from this transitional period, Fournier and Baskerville, are now in favour as book types. There is no need to repeat at length the story of the romains du roi which will be found in all the histories of typography. This new roman was cut for the Imprimerie Royale in Paris by their engraver Phillippe Grandjean, who had the benefit of the report of a special commission appointed to consider the question of the design of roman type. The first sizes were ready in 1702; they were used throughout the eighteenth century and have been used for a few books since 1900. Grandjean's roman is not a full modern face, but has taken a long step in that direction. The gradation between thick and thin strokes is considerable when compared with Garamond, but slight when compared with Bodoni. The stress is not entirely vertical. The serifs are flat and unsupported, and on the tops of ascenders extend to the right as well as the left. They are not, however, very thin, possibly because printing methods of that period were not ready for hair-lines. The refinements of the full modern face, the sharp contrast of thick and thin, had to wait for improvements in the printing press and for the introduction of wove paper. The old presses and the rough hand-made papers of the earlier printers could not give the sharp results aimed at by the designers of the modern face. It was forbidden to copy the romains du roi, with the result that many subsequent French romans were less modern than the type of 1702. It was only in 1784 that the Didots took the next step and produced the first full modern face. Between those two dates falls the career of Pierre Simon Fournier, one of the most skilful, original and industrious of all typefounders. He was the first to cut whole families of types, large- and small-faced romans, condensed and bold faces. He revived the use of printers' flowers and produced new and original designs. He was the inventor of the point system of measuring types and made improvements in the sphere of music types.
- The English modern face, cast by most foundries, has the usual characteristic of the family, flat, unbracketed serifs, vertical stress and abrupt variation of colour. It has also some variations of its own, mostly unpleasing. The capitals are regularised in width, so that the M is very narrow and the P wide. G has a large spur and the R has a large turn-up. The T has long serifs. The upper story of the a is almost closed and the eye of the e occupies half the letter. The t is tall and generally bracketed. The italic is regular. The pot-hook beginning strokes of m, n, etc., have not the strength of the continental serifs. The tail of the g is often unclosed. This design is supplied in every possible variety, light in face or heavy, wide, condensed, with shortened descenders, etc.
- Twentieth century romans include many contemporary book types which are not modelled on earlier romans. Perhaps future generations will find a characteristic style in this period. There are some qualities which most of them share. In their gradual stress they are more akin to the old faces than the nineteenth century style. Small and sharply cut serifs and modest capitals are in favour. Many of these types rely in their designs on the Roman inscriptions of the Trajan column and subsequent modifications of these designs. There are other types with almost sans serif characteristics or a generous use of swash letters. Many of the types are space-saving.
- Calligraphic types include roman types based upon humanistic penscripts.
- Display romans include those types which follow in the main the normal roman alphabet, but are not generally intended for bookwork.
- Fat faces and heavy display types appeared in English typography about 1810. Bower, Bacon & Bower of Sheffield showed them in that year, though it is probable that some London founder was the first to design them. When the thickness of the main strokes as compared with their height reaches the proportion of 1 to 23 it may be said that we have reached the Fat Face. When the design was introduced the modern face was established in favour and inevitably Fat Face had similar characteristics, vertical and abrupt stress and flat serifs. The thin strokes were not quite hair lines, except in the italics. The bulbous ends of arcs and tails, as in the a, c, r and y, are pronounced, and there are even more of them in the italic.
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