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ABOUT

Gerrit Willem Ovink

Dutch typographer and type teacher (b. Amsterdam, 1912, d. 1984), professor at Plantin Genootschap in Antwerp (1951-1956) and the University of Amsterdam (1956-1982), winner of the Gutenberg prize in 1983. From 1945 until 1977, he was aesthetic advisor at Lettergieterij Amsterdam (voorheen Tetterode). It is thanks to Ovink that the Tetterode Collection was accepted in the Bijzondere Collecties van de University of Amsterdam. He wrote an unbelievably detailed book in which he compares various typefaces in statistical tests to determine various aspects of legibility and impact: Legibility, Atmosphere-Value and Forms of Printing Types (A.W. Sijthoff's Uitgervsmij N.V., Leiden, 1938). The bibliography in this text is pretty complete up to 1938, and was his graduation thesis at the University of Utrecht. Also recommended is a 40-page short historical review of the modern printing type, which comes with a fresh look on things.

Author of Honderd jaren lettergieterij in Amsterdam (1951), about Dutch type design and typography in the Netherlands in the 19th and 20th centuries.

He also had a hand in the design of the "Dutch DIN", the traffic signage font NEN 3225, which is described in his book, NEN 3225: Dutch standard alphabets (1964).

Quote by him: Bodoni would be an admirable letter for a death notice!

Obituary, which reminds us of the serious conflicts between Ovink on one side and his Plantin colleagues Jan van Krimpen and Sem Hartz on the other side.

Reference: The picture by Ovink below courtesy of Henk Gianotten. Magistraal (a free PDF from 2007 at the Plantin Genootschap based on a 1988 text by Albert J.M. Pelckmans).

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