Giovanbattista Palatino

We are all familiar with the ‘Palatino’ typeface designed by Hermann Zapf in 1948 – but what of the man? What do we know of the sixteenth century calligrapher and writing master, Giovanbattista Palatino?

In March 2009 I took over the guardianship of the Stempel Palatino types bought by Will Carter in 1968. The Carter’s had used these in many of their superb editions until Sebastian closed the Rampant Lions Press in late 2008. This book brings together three pieces of writing about G·B· Palatino that emerged from my research about the man after whom Herr Zapf named his type. The first is Stanley Morison’s ‘Palatino: The Theorist’ begun in 1926; the second, a substantial extract from James Wardrop’s ‘Palatino and his circle’, first published in 1952; finally, an English translation from Palatino’s 1540 manual Libro Nuovo on ‘The Tools of Handwriting’ made by A.S. Osley. Sebastian Carter has added an endnote about Hermann Zapf’s naming of his typefaces.

The book is hand-set in Stempel Palatino types, principally the 16 Didot point size cast on an 18 point body. Also shown are: 10, 12, 14, 20, 30 and 42 point sizes. The book is made of 60 text pages with four plates and a further 8 page section of plates from the 1547 edition of Libro Nuovo.

Texts are printed in black, terra cotta and green-grey on Somerset Book White 115 gm. The plates section on Zerkall smooth. 85 ordinary copies have been bound at Corvus Works with terra cotta cloth spines and Zerkall Ingres paper sides over boards.

10 special copies were bound by Roger Grech with tan leather spines and handmade marble paper sides from Compton Marbling, presented in a full cloth slipcase (specials all now sold).

Ordinary copies are £180.00 plus post and packing. A cloth slipcase made by Roger Grech can be ordered separately at £30.00.

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