Jenson
Jenson
Year: c. 1470
Designer: Nicolas Jenson
It is generally accepted that the history of western typography begins in Mainz, Germany in the mid-1400s with Johann Gutenberg’s innovative system of printing using movable type. Gutenberg’s Blackletter typefaces sought to mimic the hand lettering of the illuminated manuscripts of his day.
But like any new art for, innovation was key to its development. After studying the new art of typography in Mainz, Frenchman Nicolas Jenson decamped to Venice to establish his own print shop, which in those days entailed being your own type foundry as well. Rather than move forward with the Blackletter forms, Jenson found inspiration for a new typestyle in the letters carved in Roman monuments. Thus Jenson is today credited (along with Pannartz and Sweinheim) with creating the earliest Roman typefaces.
Jenson’s type designs were quite influential as well. Typographers from Aldus Manutius to Claude Garamond to William Morris all owe a debt of gratitude to Jenson. The version of Jenson used in this book is Adobe Jenson, designed by Robert Slimbach for Adobe in 1989.