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Bembos?
Posted by Jan in
17 Nov 2009 — 3:57pm
17 Nov 2009 — 3:57pm
I’ve got a book here, published in 1994. The textface is definitely Bembo. But there are a few minor differences compared to the Linotype/Monotype Bembo I know. The leg on the ‘R’ isn’t as extrem and the ascender/terminal on the ‘f’ doesn’t lean to right as far. The ‘W’ seems a bit narrower. Was/is there another version of Bembo?
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17 Nov 2009 — 4:46pm
Not seeing the sample - it's hard to guess, could it be a cousin of Bembo, such as Dante?
17 Nov 2009 — 5:28pm
Monotype does make some alternate versions of Bembo. For instance, if you check out Monotype Roman Alternate, you will see the difference on the leg of the 'R'. Monotype also makes a book version of Bembo; and Adobe has their own version of Bembo. If I had to guess, I would say it's one of these that accounts for the differences you are seeing.
18 Nov 2009 — 2:34am
Thanks so far.
No, it can’t be Dante (and certainly isn’t) because, like I said, the book was published in 1994 (and Dante is much younger). For the same reason it can’t be an alternate-glyph-opentype font. (I guess that’s what you meant by Roman Alternate, Aa.) It isn’t Adobe’s Bembo either.
18 Nov 2009 — 3:30am
Here are some scans:
18 Nov 2009 — 10:04am
Bumpin’ the Bembos.
18 Nov 2009 — 10:15am
I remember seeing a Berthold ad in the early '90s for their version of Bembo. One of the features that was touted was the shorter leg on the "R". There doesn't seem to be such a font on Berthold's site or anywhere else. I wonder if it was withdrawn.
18 Nov 2009 — 11:10am
> There doesn’t seem to be such a font on Berthold’s site or anywhere else
I have the Berthold Bembo version in PS type 1 format, but the font shown here is not Berthold's Bembo, because its "f" is as protruding as that of other Bembos (whereas the capital R is not as protruding).
For exact identification, Jan should supply a scan of italic. Even a few short italic words will do.
18 Nov 2009 — 11:49am
The publisher is Wagenbach, just in case it matters.
Italics:
19 Nov 2009 — 2:43am
Not knowing the title and the year of first publication of the book, I can only surmise on the basis of the blurred scans that the book could be a reprint of a book printed by letterpress and typeset on a DDR (i.e. former East-German) linecaster. This would account for the fact that there are no kerns (see italic f and Roman f, italic j etc.). I suppose that Roman J and italic J (which are not shown on the scans) will have no kerns too, because line-casting machines did not have kerned letters.
19 Nov 2009 — 3:02am
Uli,
Herbst in Peking
von Boris Vian
erschienen als einmalige Geburtstagsausgabe im Jubiläumsprogramm ... im Juni 1994
Für diese Ausgabe © 1983/1994,
Verlag Klaus Wagenbach,
Ahornstr. 4, 10787 Berlin
I doubt that it’s a reprint of a book from East Germany.
19 Nov 2009 — 8:35pm
Bembo British & American:
20 Nov 2009 — 2:25am
Thanks, David.
‘R’ is looking good but not the ‘f’.
20 Nov 2009 — 3:18am
> ‘R’ is looking good but not the ‘f’.
The R is called the Rightwinger R (Richter-R)
see http://www.sanskritweb.net/forgers/richter.pdf, page 5
20 Nov 2009 — 3:37am
Since Berthold AG's Bembo is no longer available (see Mr. Mark Simonson' remark above), I made a typesetting specimen (including all glyphs):
http://www.sanskritweb.net/temporary/Berthold-Bembo-1992.pdf
Note that this file is temporary and will be deleted in a couple of days.
20 Nov 2009 — 7:34am
The foundry type Bembo was also available with a narrow (non-kerning) lowercase f:
see http://www.sanskritweb.net/temporary/Bembo-f.jpg
20 Nov 2009 — 7:44am
Thanks, Uli. That seems to be it. What is or was that “Foundry”? It is the same David posted samples of, isn’t it? And your sample is letterpress, right?
20 Nov 2009 — 8:51am
> What is or was that “Foundry”?
Foundry type means Handsatz in German. In 1983, nobody would have typeset "Herbst in Peking" in foundry type. Linotype would have still been possible in 1983, but Linotype in West Germany never sold a linecaster version of Bembo. That is the problem here. That's why I surmised that a East German linecaster (perhaps of Russian origin) was used here. There was a DDR Typoart Bembo, but I have no specimen.
20 Nov 2009 — 10:26pm
For what it is worth, the specimen David shared is from Wiley's Type Specimen Book, originally published in 1974 by V&M Typographical, Inc.