Nicolas Jenson - History

History

In October 1458, while acting as Master of the French Royal Mint, Jenson was sent to Mainz, by King Charles VII, to study the art of metal movable type. Jenson then went to Mainz to study printing under Johannes Gutenberg. In 1470 he opened a printing shop in Venice, and, in the first work he produced, the printed roman lowercase letter took on the proportions, shapes, and arrangements that marked its transition from an imitation of handwriting to the style that has remained in use throughout subsequent centuries of printing. Jenson also designed Greek-style type and black-letter type. Although he composed his types in a meticulously even style, he did not always print them accurately.

By the time Jenson arrived in Mainz, there were a number of established printers under which he could have been apprenticed. Jenson left Mainz in 1461, but with no desire to return to France after King Charles' death in 1461, as he had little desire to return under the new rule of Louis XI. Jenson went to Venice in 1468, where he opened his own printing workshop, eventually producing around 150 titles.

Some hypothesize that Jenson studied under the tutelage of Gutenberg, although there is no verifiable evidence of this. By this time Gutenberg's first press had been seized by Johann Fust, and historians are unsure of his activities during this period. In the first work he produced, the printed roman lowercase letter took on the proportions, shapes, and arrangements, marked its transition from an imitation of handwriting to the style that has remained in use throughout subsequent centuries of printing.

Jenson also designed Greek-style type and black-letter type. By the end of his life Jenson was a wealthy man, producing liturgical, theological and legal texts in a variety of gothic fonts, the roman type left only for the odd commissioned work.