Italy | Venetian Old Style

Photo: Nicolas Jenson's Roman Type used in Venice ca. 1470

We credit Nicolas Jenson, French born typographer and the “Father of Roman Type”, for the transition and development of Roman typeface into Venetian Old Style. Used in the 1470 printing of the tract, De Evangelica Praeparatione, Eusebius, Nicolas Jenson is thought to have designed the model for font types that immediately followed. Subsequently, the brothers Johann and Wendelin de Speyer created printed material in half-Gothic-half-Roman type known as “Gotico-antiqua”. Combining these styles leaves us with simplified Gothic capitals and Gothic minuscule forms with mixed elements of Carolingian. Old style typefaces are reminiscent of the humanist calligraphy from which they came from. This form of type normally has a left-inclining curve axis and is often bracketed. Throughout the years, there have been many new versions of Venetian Old Style types, however the exact number is unknown.

Photo: Aulus Gelius, Noctium Atticarum, printed in Venice by Nicolas Jenson, 1472

The transition to Roman type began some time before 1472 in Venice, Italy when Nicolas Jenson designed the typographic style that mimicked the appearance of handwritten scribes. There are unique characteristics that lend themselves to the identification of Venetian Old Style. This includes a larger contrast between thick and thin strokes and are generally more refined looking in appearance.

At this time, Venice, a lively trading post in Italy, became the focal point of type design and printing the late 15^th century. Equally influential work came from printer and publisher Aldus Manutius. Manutius printed books that were renowned for their elite scholarship content and high technical and aesthetic quality. These books found themselves in high demand and other printers began copying the typefaces. Aldus’s most popular type was called Bembo, named after the typeface designer. Bembo quickly became popular and spread throughout Europe. Today, all of the Old Style type designs can be traced back to the Bembo design.