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ABOUT

H. Berthold AG

H. Berthold Systeme AG was founded in 1858 in Berlin by Hermann Berthold. Also known as H. Berthold Messinglinienfabrik und Schriftgiesserei, the type foundry was the largest in the world by 1918, with offices in Stuttgart, St. Petersburg, Leipzig, Riga, Budapest and Vienna. It grew by acquisitions of many other foundries, see., e.g., here. A partial list:

• 1897 Bauer&Co, Stuttgart, 100%, Germany
• 1898-1900 Branch St. Petersburg, 100%, Russia
• 1901 Georg Ross&Co. St. Petersburg + new Branch in Moscow, 100% Russia
• 1905 J. H. Rust&Co. Vienna, 100%, Austria
• 1907 A. Haase, Prague, 100%
• 1908 Ferdinand Theinhardt GmbH Berlin, 100%, Germany
• 1912 St. Petersbrug Branch of Flinsch (later Bauer), 100%, Russia
• 1917 Emil Gursch Berlin, 100%, Germany
• 1918 Gottfried Böttger, Leipzig, 100%, Germany
• 1918 A. Kahle, Weimar, 100%, Germany
• 1920 Julius Klinkhardt, Leipzig, 100%, Germany
• 1922 C. Kloberg, Leipzig, 100%, Germany
• 1926 Poppelbaum, Vienna, 50% - 50% to D. Stempel A.G., Austria
• 1926 First Hungarian Type Foundry, Budapest, 50% - 50% D. Stempel A.G, Hungary
• 1929 Genzsch&Heyse, Hamburg 33% - 33% Bauersische Gießerei (Bauer) - 33% D. Stempel A.G., Germany

Typesetting MPEG4 movie, ca. 1935.

To complement its typesetting equipment business activities, Berthold developed the Berthold Exklusiv Collection, a collection of typefaces created solely for Berthold by distinguished designers. Günter Gerhard Lange began his association with Berthold in 1952, and was artistic director from 1961-1990. In March 1991, Adobe Systems and H. Berthold AG announced that Adobe was to produce PostScript versions of numerous Berthold Exklusiv ("BE") typefaces - these typefaces were later to be known as Adobe Berthold BE fonts. Until 1999, Adobe marketed its versions of 365 Berthold Exklusivs under agreements with H. Berthold AG, and later Berthold Types Limited. H. Berthold AG also produced its own digital versions of their entire library using the Ikarus system - some of these fonts are later to be known as Berthold BQ. In 1993 the company reported insolvency. A follow-up company, H. Berthold Systeme GmbH was formed, but it finally was dissolved in 1995. Shortly before dissolution, the Berlin-based H. Berthold company signed license agreements with and transferred certain rights and trademarks to a Chicago-based US company that later took the name Berthold Types Limited, now called Berthold Direct Inc. This company now offers digital versions of the "Exklusiv" Berthold typefaces.

Some of its history is explained in this letter.

Old blackletter typefaces from the metal era: Ballade (ca. 1927, Paul Renner), Berthold-Fraktur (1909), Bismarck-Fraktur (1860), Breda-Gotisch (1928, house font), Englische Schreibschrift (1972, version One, version Two; for digital versions elsewhere, see English 157 by Bitstream, or Elegant Script by SoftMaker), Deutschland (ca. 1934), Hansa Kursiv (ca. 1895: art nouveau style, the light version of Regina Kursiv), Schraffierte Gotisch (before 1900; aka Stella), Mainzer Fraktur (1901, Carl Albert Fahrenwaldt for Bauer and Berthold), Morris-Gotisch (before 1905, for Bauer and Berthold), Post Fraktur (1935, Herbert Post), Prinzeß Kupferstichschrift (1905, digitized by Ralph M. Unger as Prinzess Gravur in 2010), Regina Cursiv (ca. 1895: revivals include Carlsbad (2018, Ralph M. Unger), Regina Cursiv (2007, HiH), Toffee Script (2010, Tomi Haaparanta)), Sebaldus-Gotisch (1926: revival by Ralph M. Unger in 2019 as Sebaldus; see also the earlier revivals by Ingo Preuss and Dieter Steffmann, both called Sebaldus), Straßburg (1926, a blackletter face; the digital version by Delbanco is called DS Strassburg; see also Strasburg by Gerhard Helzel), Trump-Deutsch (1936, Georg Trump). House typefaces include Isolde (1912, script face), Augustea Kursiv (1906) and Augustea Fett.

Hebrew fonts in their collection include Meruba, Stam, Mirjam and Frank Ruehl.

Some of the Berthold collection can nowe be bought through Monotype Imaging and Linotype.

EXTERNAL LINKS
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INTERNAL LINKS
Extinct 20th century foundries ⦿ Blackletter fonts ⦿ Type scene in Illinois ⦿ German type scene ⦿ Hebrew font links ⦿ Baskerville ⦿ Art Nouveau typefaces ⦿ Typefaces based on Nicolas Kis's work ⦿ Dieter Steffmann ⦿