Monotype History
Monotype Bembo is generally regarded as one of the most handsome revivals of Aldus Manutius’s 15th-century roman type. However there is no italic cut with it. The rumor goes that Stanley Morison commissioned Alfred Fairbank (Born: Grimsby, United Kingdom, 1895, Died: Hove, Sussex, 1982), a renowned calligrapher, to design an italic for Bembo. This was released in metal type in 1929, but Fairbank claimed that he made the design independently and sold the drawings to Monotype.
Fairbank’s design—although very beautiful—was, however, not used at first with the Bembo roman. A more conventional italic was cut by Monotype and used to complete to the Bembo font-family.
Fairbank’s first design, which was based on the work of 16th-century writing master Ludovico degli Arrighi, was, however, made available in 4 sizes, named Bembo Condensed Italic.
Read more about this topic: Bembo
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