Grecs du roi

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Estienne's 1550 edition of the New Testament was typeset with Garamond's grecs du roi.[1]
A manuscript written by Vergecio, whose handwriting was the basis for the type

Les grecs du roi are a celebrated and influential Greek typeface cut by the punchcutter Claude Garamond in Paris from 1540. Arthur Tilley calls the books printed from them "among the most finished specimens of typography that exist".[2]

The grecs du roi were ordered by Robert Estienne on behalf of King Francis I of France in a contract dated 2 November 1540.[3] The design was based on the handwriting of the Cretan copyist Angelo Vergecio, and includes many alternate letters and ligatures.[4][5][6][7] Garamond's original punches and matrices remain the property of the French government, held by the Imprimerie nationale.

Garamond's original punches for the Grecs du roi type, which remain the property of the French government.

The grecs du roi were influenced by types cut by Francesco Griffo and used by printer Aldus Manutius in Venice. They are cut in the sizes Manutius used, but are far more complex.

The grecs du roi were extremely influential and became a model other printers and publishers quickly sought to emulate, with versions by other French punchcutters even before Garamond had finished the last size.[8] The most popular imitations were those made by Pierre Haultin and Robert Granjon, which were also widely used abroad.[9] More obscure versions in France were made by du Villiers, Jean Arnoul le Jeune dit Picard and possibly Michel Du Boys, and abroad one known in Hamburg from 1587, and in the sixteenth century several by Jean Jannon and one made in London by Arthur Nicholls.[10]

The grecs du roi style, although extremely influential, placed significant demands on printers, since it requires a choice among the many possible types for every word, in contrast to Latin-alphabet general-purpose typefaces which do not attempt to simulate handwriting as closely. Most following typefaces for Greek have been much simpler, with a decline in number of ligatures. Indeed, Gerry Leonidas, a leading expert on Greek typesetting, has commented that Vergecio's handwriting "has all the marks of a script that is unsuitable for conversion to [printing]."[11]

Digitization[]

Detail view of a few punches

A commercial OpenType font from Anagrafi Fonts, KS GrequeX, includes over 1100 glyphs and ligatures, more than Garamond cut.[12]

There is a free digital font, Grecs du roi WG, without any ligatures.[13]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Valerie R. Hotchkiss, Charles C. Ryrie (1998). "Formatting the Word of God: An Exhibition at Bridwell Library". Archived from the original on 2009-07-27. Retrieved 2010-10-13.
  2. ^ Tilley, Arthur (1900). "Humanism under Francis I". The English Historical Review. 15 (59): 456–478. doi:10.1093/ehr/xv.lix.456.
  3. ^ Parent, Annie; Veyrin-Forrer, Jeanne (1974). "Claude Garamont: New Documents". The Library. s5-XXIX (1): 80–92. doi:10.1093/library/s5-XXIX.1.80.
  4. ^ "Garamont's early career: the grecs du roi". French Ministry of Culture. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  5. ^ "The Greek Typefaces". French Ministry of Culture. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  6. ^ Mosley, James. "Porson's Greek type design". Type Foundry. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  7. ^ Elizabeth Armstrong (28 April 2011). Robert Estienne, Royal Printer: An Historical Study of the Elder Stephanus. Cambridge University Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-521-17066-6.
  8. ^ Lane 1996, p. 110.
  9. ^ Lane 1996, p. 111.
  10. ^ Lane, John A. (1991). "Arthur Nicholls and his Greek Type for the King's Printing House". The Library. s6-13 (4): 297–322. doi:10.1093/library/s6-13.4.297.
  11. ^ Berry, John D., ed. (2002). Language Culture Type: International Type Design in the Age of Unicode. ATypI. pp. 80–3. ISBN 978-1-932026-01-6.
  12. ^ https://www.anagrafi.com/Fonts/KSGrequeX
  13. ^ https://www.dafontfree.net/freefonts-grecs-du-roi-wg-f70601.htm

Cited literature[]

  • Carter, Harry (2002). Mosley, James (ed.). A View of Early Typography Up to About 1600 (Reprinted ed.). London: Hyphen. ISBN 978-0-907259-21-3.
  • Carter, Harry, ed. (1969). The type specimen of Delacolonge. Les caractères et les vignettes de la fonderie du sieur Delacolonge, Lyons, 1773. Introduction and notes by Harry Carter. (Facsimile ... made from a copy belonging to the publishers.).
  • Dreyfus, John, ed. (1963). Type Specimen Facsimiles. London: Bowes & Bowes, Putnam.
  • Lane, John A. (1996). "From the Grecs du Roi to the Homer Greek: Two Centuries of Greek Printing Types in the Wake of Garamond". In Macrakis, Michael S. (ed.). Greek Letters: From Tablets to Pixels (PDF). Oak Knoll Press. ISBN 9781884718274.
  • Lane, John A. (2004). Early Type Specimens in the Plantin-Moretus Museum: annotated descriptions of the specimens to ca. 1850 (mostly from the Low Countries and France) with preliminary notes on the typefoundries and printing offices (1. ed.). New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll Press. ISBN 9781584561392.
  • Slimbach, Robert (2005). "The Making of Garamond Premier". Garamond Premier Pro: a contemporary adaptation; modelled on the roman types of Claude Garamond and the italic types of Robert Granjon. San Jose: Adobe Systems. pp. 15–21.
  • Vervliet, Hendrik D. L. (2008). The Palaeotypography of the French Renaissance: Selected Papers on Sixteenth-century Typefaces. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-16982-1.
  • Vervliet, Hendrik D. L. (2010). French Renaissance Printing Types: a Conspectus. New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll Press. ISBN 978-1-58456-271-9.

External links[]

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