Berthold Type Foundry
Encyclopedia
H. Berthold AG was one of the largest and most successful type foundries
in the world for most of the modern typographic
era, making the transition from foundry type
to cold type successfully and only coming to dissolution in the digital type era.
, the company played a key role in the introduction of major new typeface
s and was a successful player in the development of typesetting
machines.
The H. Berthold foundry's most celebrated family of typefaces is arguably Akzidenz-Grotesk
(released 1896), an early sans-serif
which prefigured by half a century the release of enormously popular neo-grotesque faces such as Helvetica
. In 1950, type designer Günter Gerhard Lange embarked upon a long affiliation with the company, for which he designed various original typefaces, including Concorde and Imago, and oversaw the foundry's revivals of classic faces such as Garamond
, Caslon
, Baskerville
, and Bodoni
.
machinery until the introduction of the Diatype in 1958.
The Diatype was a relatively small desktop-sized headline-setting device (i.e. not intended for continuous justified text
), based on a glass disc font
master. Character selection was by means of a trigger mounted on the front of the machine (giving rise to the colloquial naming of the machine as the "duck-shooter" (in the UK at least).
When changing font, it was a notable feature of the machine that it required calibration of letter-spacing by the typing of a nonsense character sequence beginning "Hillimillihirtzheftpflaster...".
thanks to continuously variable optics, allowing fractions of point sizes
to be specified.
Operator feedback was by means of a green-screen CRT display showing code mnemonic
s only, it being left to the operator to visualise final output.
Keyboard operation was innovative, utilizing many keys with a single legend, such as, , , , etc. System operation was therefore effected by a combination of keys, such as , then to save a file.
Berthold Types Ltd., a Chicago
-based company, one of the companies which claimed to be the copyright owner of Berthold fonts, took over distribution of the Berthold digital type library and has released several new typefaces under the direction of Lange, who had retired in 1990, but served as an artistic consultant to the company until his death in 2008.
Since 2008 Linotype started selling Berthold fonts through its website.
by Berthold:
Type foundry
A type foundry is a company that designs or distributes typefaces. Originally, type foundries manufactured and sold metal and wood typefaces and matrices for line-casting machines like the Linotype and Monotype machines designed to be printed on letterpress printers...
in the world for most of the modern typographic
Typography
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...
era, making the transition from foundry type
Movable type
Movable type is the system of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document ....
to cold type successfully and only coming to dissolution in the digital type era.
History
Established in 1858 by Hermann Berthold and based in BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, the company played a key role in the introduction of major new typeface
Typeface
In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
s and was a successful player in the development of typesetting
Typesetting
Typesetting is the composition of text by means of types.Typesetting requires the prior process of designing a font and storing it in some manner...
machines.
The H. Berthold foundry's most celebrated family of typefaces is arguably Akzidenz-Grotesk
Akzidenz Grotesk
Akzidenz-Grotesk is a grotesque typeface originally released by the Berthold Type Foundry in 1896 under the name Accidenz-Grotesk...
(released 1896), an early sans-serif
Sans-serif
In typography, a sans-serif, sans serif or san serif typeface is one that does not have the small projecting features called "serifs" at the end of strokes. The term comes from the French word sans, meaning "without"....
which prefigured by half a century the release of enormously popular neo-grotesque faces such as Helvetica
Helvetica
Helvetica is a widely used sans-serif typeface developed in 1957 by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann.-Visual distinctive characteristics:Characteristics of this typeface are:lower case:square dot over the letter i....
. In 1950, type designer Günter Gerhard Lange embarked upon a long affiliation with the company, for which he designed various original typefaces, including Concorde and Imago, and oversaw the foundry's revivals of classic faces such as Garamond
Garamond
Garamond is the name given to a group of old-style serif typefaces named after the punch-cutter Claude Garamond . Most of the Garamond faces are more closely related to the work of a later punch-cutter, Jean Jannon...
, Caslon
Caslon
Caslon refers to a number of serif typefaces designed by William Caslon I , and various revivals thereof.Caslon shares the irregularity characteristic of Dutch Baroque types. It is characterized by short ascenders and descenders, bracketed serifs, moderately-high contrast, robust texture, and...
, Baskerville
Baskerville
Baskerville is a transitional serif typeface designed in 1757 by John Baskerville in Birmingham, England. Baskerville is classified as a transitional typeface, positioned between the old style typefaces of William Caslon, and the modern styles of Giambattista Bodoni and Firmin Didot.The...
, and Bodoni
Bodoni
-Cold Type versions:As it had been a standard type for many years, Bodoni was widely available in cold type. Alphatype, Autologic, Berthold, Compugraphic, Dymo, Harris, Mergenthaler, MGD Graphic Systems, and Varityper, Hell AG, Monotype, all sold the face under the name ‘’Bodoni, while Graphic...
.
Cold Type
As a typefounder, Berthold had no background in producing cold typePhototypesetting
Phototypesetting was a method of setting type, rendered obsolete with the popularity of the personal computer and desktop publishing software, that uses a photographic process to generate columns of type on a scroll of photographic paper...
machinery until the introduction of the Diatype in 1958.
The Diatype was a relatively small desktop-sized headline-setting device (i.e. not intended for continuous justified text
Justification (typesetting)
In typesetting, justification is the typographic alignment setting of text or images within a column or "measure" to align along both the left and right margin...
), based on a glass disc font
Font
In typography, a font is traditionally defined as a quantity of sorts composing a complete character set of a single size and style of a particular typeface...
master. Character selection was by means of a trigger mounted on the front of the machine (giving rise to the colloquial naming of the machine as the "duck-shooter" (in the UK at least).
When changing font, it was a notable feature of the machine that it required calibration of letter-spacing by the typing of a nonsense character sequence beginning "Hillimillihirtzheftpflaster...".
Diatronic
Berthold Diatronic systems were based on a glass grid master of each font weight, composed on a code-driven system. A marching-character display provided editing capabilities only to the line currently being composed.Berthold ADS (Akzidenz Dialog System)
The next incarnation of the Diatronic system was widely adopted in the high-quality ad setting trade in Europe. Its major advantage was fine control of typographyTypography
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...
thanks to continuously variable optics, allowing fractions of point sizes
Point (typography)
In typography, a point is the smallest unit of measure, being a subdivision of the larger pica. It is commonly abbreviated as pt. The point has long been the usual unit for measuring font size and leading and other minute items on a printed page....
to be specified.
Operator feedback was by means of a green-screen CRT display showing code mnemonic
Mnemonic
A mnemonic , or mnemonic device, is any learning technique that aids memory. To improve long term memory, mnemonic systems are used to make memorization easier. Commonly encountered mnemonics are often verbal, such as a very short poem or a special word used to help a person remember something,...
s only, it being left to the operator to visualise final output.
Keyboard operation was innovative, utilizing many keys with a single legend, such as
Successor Corporations
Beset by financial troubles, H. Berthold AG ceased operations in 1993.Berthold Types Ltd., a Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
-based company, one of the companies which claimed to be the copyright owner of Berthold fonts, took over distribution of the Berthold digital type library and has released several new typefaces under the direction of Lange, who had retired in 1990, but served as an artistic consultant to the company until his death in 2008.
Since 2008 Linotype started selling Berthold fonts through its website.
Typefaces
These foundry types were produced by Berthold:Cold Typefaces
These types were produced for photo-compositionPhototypesetting
Phototypesetting was a method of setting type, rendered obsolete with the popularity of the personal computer and desktop publishing software, that uses a photographic process to generate columns of type on a scroll of photographic paper...
by Berthold:
External links
- Berthold Types Limited– Official website
- Luc Devroye website
- Discussion about the copyright of Berthold fonts in the forum of Typophile website
- Ulrich Stiehl document discussing about the copyright of Berthold fonts (in German)
- Ulrich Stiehl document in English discussing about the copyright of Berthold fonts