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(x) elegant display initials from a '77 book - Belwe Antiqua {Mircea Croitor}
Posted by cromy in
17 Jun 2005 — 2:32am
17 Jun 2005 — 2:32am
I met this font in a Romanian book published in 1977.
It's used in the covers and in the beginning of each chapter as initial letters.
I'm just curious what is its name ...
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| vpc1_s.jpg | 48.95 KB |
| vpc2_s.jpg | 42.63 KB |
| vpc3_s.jpg | 120.15 KB |
| vpc4_s.jpg | 21.81 KB |
| vp_Ra_s.jpg | 11.08 KB |
| vp_Si_s.jpg | 11.35 KB |
| vp_3_s.jpg | 5.87 KB |
| vp_4_s.jpg | 5.68 KB |
| vp_7_s.jpg | 5.45 KB |
| vp_5_s.jpg | 5.09 KB |
| vp_Ce_s.jpg | 9.82 KB |
| vp_9_s.jpg | 5.74 KB |
| vp_Av_s.jpg | 9.68 KB |
| vp_Na_s.jpg | 10.15 KB |
| vp_Po_s.jpg | 9.71 KB |
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17 Jun 2005 — 7:53am
Pretty sure this is Belwe Roman, a metal face from the 1920s. It resembles the Letraset version (here) which was done around 1980, but I don't think there is a digital version of the original. If you have a copy of Encyclopaedia of Type Faces, it's on page 19. Judging by the tight spacing, it may have been set from a film font version.
17 Jun 2005 — 8:39am
It is extremely close to George Belwe's design, but the lower case "a" throws me off a little bit.
http://www.identifont.com/samples/adobe/Belwe.gif
In the late eighties, while at Agfa-Compugraphic, we released six weights of Belwe based on his specimens from 1926. It was the first time Belwe was available for phototype keyboard composition. If I recall, we still licensed the right to call it Belwe from Letraset/Esselte, but I might be wrong, yet it was licensed to ITC afterwards.
If this is a sample from 1977, then predates Agfa-CG's release.
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Yes, I'm old, but not as old as Belwe!
17 Jun 2005 — 12:06pm
I was a little off with the year, my book is second edition from 1979.
The digital versions of Belwe are close enough, but there are some small differences. Maybe it was customised. Or it is a design from the same Georg Belwe.
20 May 2006 — 12:38am
I've found this too. It's Belwe Antiqua, see page 10 - 11 from PDF about capital double S