TYPE DESIGN INFORMATION PAGE last updated on Mon Jan 20 08:07:45 EST 2025

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Vojtech Preissig

Czech expressionist type designer from Svetec u Biliny, Bohemia, b. 1873. His work was influenced by Japanese art and symbolism. During World War II, Preissig supported the Czech resistance and was arrested in 1940. He died in 1944 in the Dachau concentration camp. Preissig is representative of the Czech cubist period, 1910-1925. His only book typeface, Preissig Antikva, was cast in 1925 at the Czech State Printing Office foundry in Prague, where he had returned to settle in 1930. This lively angular typeface had a hand-drawn poster-look feel. It was a milestone in Czech type design and served as inspiration for later developments, including typefaces by Menhart, Ruzicka, and Tyfa.

Preissig Antikva was the basis of several digitizations:

• At P22, we find P22 Preissig (Preissig Roman, Preissig Scrape, Preissig Lino, and Preissig Extras), done in 1997 [P22 Preissig Scrape was digitized in 1997 from samples of an alphabet designed and hand cut by Vojtech Preissig in 1914 for a book project that was never completed]. In 2019, Richard Kegler added P22 Preissig Calligraphic and writes: Preissig developed this type design in 1928 and has remained unpublished until recently. His original designs feature an accompanying italic as well as small caps. Preissig had originally named the typeface design after his former employer in New York, Butterick Publishing Co. The Butterick typeface retains the angularity of his previous typeface, Preissig Antiqua (aka P22 Preissig Roman), but displays a more fluid calligraphic influence.
• At Storm Type Foundry, we have Preissig Antikva Pro (1998-2012, +Ornaments), and Preissig 1918 by Frantisek Storm and Ottokar Karlas.
• Alexander White created the revivals Preissig Antikva and Preissig Italika in 2000.
• While not directly linked to a particular typeface, David Kerkhoff's Irena (2016) is a wonderful tribute to Preissig. Irena is named after Preissig's daughter, Irena Bernaskova.

Klingspor link.

View Vojtech Preissig's typefaces. View typefaces influenced by or based on those of Pressig.

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Type designers ⦿ Type designers ⦿ Type design in Czechia ⦿ Cubist typefaces ⦿ Typefaces related to German expressionism ⦿