The Typeface
During his time Jenson was quite successful as an artist but was financially successful as well. His early training as a gold smith allowed him even greater sensitivities to the sculptural nature of type; the letters Jenson employed were capitals, often beautiful capitals that could summon the spirit of Rome.
Jenson's highly legible and evenly colored typeface, based upon Humanistic scripts, has been reinterpreted through the centuries by numerous type designers, most notably William Morris Jenson's fame as one of history's greatest typeface designers and punch cutters rests on the types first used in Eusebiu's De praeparatione evangelica, which presents the full flowering of roman type design.
Jenson constructed the first roman typeface on the basis of typographical principles, as opposed to the old manuscript models. It was first in use in his 1470 edition of Eusebius, De Evangelica Praeparatione. In 1471, a Greek typeface followed, which was used for quotations, and then in 1473 a Black Letter typeface, which he used in books on medicine and history.
Jenson was individualized from other printers because he was able to expand his financial base. By 1477 could run as many as twelve presses simultaneously. He is also responsible for launching two book trading companies, first in 1475 and then in 1480, under the name of Johannes de Colonia, Nicolaus Jenson et socii.
Following his death respective typefaces were employed by the Aldine Press, and have continued to be the basis for numerous fonts. Examples include Bruce Rogers' "Centaur" in 1914, Morris Fuller Benton's "Cloister Old Style" in 1926, and Robert Slimbach's "Adobe Jenson" in 1996.
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