Module 3: On Claude Garamont

The influence of writing as a model diminished in Garamond’s work, for typography was evolving a language of form rooted in the processes of making steel punches, casting metal type, and printing instead of imitating forms created by hand gestures with an inked quill on paper. –Meggs, Philip B.; Purvis, Alston W. (2011-11-02). Meggs' History of Graphic Design (Kindle Locations 2737-2739). John Wiley and Sons. Kindle Edition.

Garamond: The Family of Fonts

sample of Garamont's original typeface

source: Wikipedia

• Garamond is considered one of the most legible fonts.
• Modern Garamond fonts are derived from designs by Claude Garamont and Jean Jannon, a punch cutter in the 1600s 
• Jannon's fonts were first misattributed to Garamont by the French National Printing Office in 1825 
• In 1926, it was revealed that fonts under the Garamond name were actually derived from Jannon's work 
• The American editions of the Harry Potter books are set in Adobe Garamond. 
• Characteristics of the typeface include: 
• small bowl of the “a” 
• small eye of the “e” 
• Long extenders (1) 
• Granjon, Sabon, and Adobe Garamond are famous modern fonts which derive in part from Claude Garamond's original Roman typeface 
• "The only complete set of the original Garamond dies and matrices is at the. Plantin-Moretus Museum, in Antwerp, Belgium.” (1)
• The modern italic fonts derive from Robert Granjon's work
• Robert Granjon was a contemporary of Garamont
• Designed Civilité typeface; designed Parangonne Greque typeface “a counterpart to Garamond's Grec du Roi” (2) 

Several modern Garamond fonts

source: wikipedia.org

Adobe Garamond: A Legacy 

• Based on Claude Garamont's work 
• Created by Robert Slimbach; released in 1989 
• “The Adobe Garamond font family has been widely used, including the instantly recognizable Google logo.” (3) 
• Used in famous books series such as Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling, and Dr. Suess' books for children. 

 

Claude Garamont: The Man 

• “Garamont” is how he spelled his name 
• transition to “Garamond” spelling of his name came after his death in 1561 
• has also been spelled “Garramond” 
• Early training with Antoine Augereau (1510) 
• Augereau is first French printer to engrave Roman letters 
• Augereau is later executed for heresy (4) 
• Later assistant to Geoffroy Tory 
• Tory introduced the apostrophe, accent, and cedilla to French 
• became official printer to King Francis I in 1530 
• Garamont became official printer to King Francis I of France after Tory
• Garamont is credited for eliminating the supremacy of the Gothic fonts throughout Europe (but not Germany) 
• First to establish type foundry to sell type to printers 
• “a first step away from the all-in-one 'scholar-publisher-typefounder-printer-bookseller' that had begun in Mainz some eighty years earlier” (Meggs Kindle locations 2733-2734). 
• Grec du Roi typeface created in 1541 for a series of books by Robert Estienne for Francis I 
• Estienne was royal typographer to King Francis I of France 
• Henri Estienne, Robert's father, was an early printer in France. 
• Simon de Coline, Robert's step-father and partner to Henri, was first to use Roman typeface instead of Gothic standard in France 

Ties between various printers and typeface designers are manifold. In the early days of typography, everyone was influencing each other, learning from each other, and improving upon each others designs. This influence has reached us today in the form of the Garamond family of typefaces, the most popular and widely-used being Adobe Garamond (and its derivatives). I'm currently typing this journal in Adobe Garamond Pro. Claude Garamont, in designing such clear and balanced fonts, essentially shaped the future of typography. That is, you can be assured, no small feat.

We are, of course, fortunate that the Garamond punches and matrices were preserved after his death. Without the availability of these original typefaces, later generations would likely have not had the benefit of the Garamond fonts which were developed.

It has to be noted, too, that the work of Jean Jannon, a punchcutter who worked about 60 years after Garamont's death, is equally important to the history of typography. While Jannon has largely gone under-credited for his work, the typeface he created for the French National Printing Office certainly impacted modern typography immensely.

References:
Meggs, Philip B., Alston W. Purvis. Meggs' History of Graphic Design. John Wiley and Sons. 2011. Kindle Edition.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldus_Manutius
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Garamond
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffroy_Tory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Estienne
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_de_Colines
http://typefoundry.blogspot.com/2011/04/garamond-or-garamont.html
http://www.fonts.com/font/adobe/adobe-garamond
http://www.linotype.com/414/claudegaramond.html
http://www.myfonts.com/person/Antoine_Augereau/
http://www.pointlessart.com/education/loyalist/typeTalk/garamond/biography.html


Citations:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garamond
2. http://www.linotype.com/2028/robertgranjon.html
3. http://www.fonts.com/font/adobe/adobe-garamond
4. Macmillan, Neil. An A-Z of Type Designers. New Haven : Yale University Press. 2006. (via Google Books)