Italic Type - History

History

Italic type was first used by Aldus Manutius and the Aldine Press in 1501, in an edition of Virgil dedicated to Italy. According to Lynne Truss, Manutius invented the italic typeface. Based on the Humanist cursive script first developed in the 1420s by Niccolò de' Niccoli, it served as a condensed type for simple, compact volumes. The punches for these types were cut by Francesco da Bologna (whose surname was Griffo). In 1501 Aldus wrote to his friend Scipio:

We have printed, and are now publishing, the Satires of Juvenal and Persius in a very small format, so that they may more conveniently be held in the hand and learned by heart (not to speak of being read) by everyone.

Unlike the italic type of today, the capital letters were upright roman capitals which were shorter than the ascending lower-case italic letters and used about 65 tied letters (ligatures) in the Aldine Dante and Virgil of 1501.

This Aldine italic became the model for most italic types. It was very popular in its own day and was widely (and inaccurately) imitated. The Venetian Senate gave Aldus exclusive right to its use, a patent confirmed by three successive Popes, but it was widely counterfeited. The Italians called the character Aldino, while others called it Italic.

The slanting italic capital was first introduced by printers in Lyon and is now used in nearly all italic fonts.