Evangelium Sanctum Domini Nostri Jesu Christi inArabic, 1590, with Arabic types of Robert Grandjon,Typographia Medicea,Rome.
Robert Granjon (Paris, c. 1513 -Rome, 1590) was a Frenchpunchcutter, a designer and creator ofmetal type, and printer.[1][2][3] He worked inParis,Lyon,Antwerp, andRome.[1] He is best known for having introduced the typeface styleCivilité, for his manyitalic types and his fleuron designs, although he worked across all genres of typeface and alphabet across his long career.[1][4][5][6][7]
In 1557, he introduced his "lettre francoise" type, now generally called"Civilité". It was based on contemporary French handwriting. The first book he published using it wasDialogue de la vie et de la mort byRinghieri in 1557.[10] In a preface, he wrote that he hoped it would be a national letter style for the French language comparable to those of the "Hebrews, Greeks [and] Romans".[11] He had received fromHenry II an exclusive privilege to use the type for ten years,[12] although it was apparently not enforced, asPhilippe Danfrie andRichard Breton quickly brought out an imitation.[13][14]
Granjon's influential italic types had sloped roman capitals and a greater slope angle than some earlier italics in theAldine style.[15][16]
In Paris and Lyons he printed several books of music.[17] Granjon's types were widely distributed across Europe. His Greek types, in the style ofClaude Garamond'sGrecs du roi types, were also very widely used.[18]
By 1579, he had moved to Rome.[19] There he worked on types for Oriental characters needed by the Catholic missionaries:Armenian (1579),[20]Syriac (1580),Cyrillic (1582), andArabic (1580-86). He collaborated withGiambattista Raimondi, the scientific director of theStamperia Medicea Orientale,[21] andDomenico Basa, the technical director of theStamperia Vaticana, and contributed to the earliest printed editions in certain Oriental languages.[22][21] He died in 1590 and was buried in theTrinità dei Monti church.[23]
His name continued to be known in the printing trade for the century after his death: in 1667 the Amsterdam merchant Paul le Conte claimed (dubiously, according toJohn A. Lane) that all his matrices were made by Granjon.[24]
Comparisons between a number of typefaces influenced by the designs of Robert Granjon and/orClaude Garamond. A common feature among them (and most if not all typefaces mentioned on this page) is an uppercase "P" with a gap next to the vertical.
Many modern typerfaces are influenced by the designs of Robert Granjon. One of the first deliberate revivals of Granjon's type wasPlantin byFrank Hinman Pierpont.[28][29] Despite being named after Renaissance printerChristophe Plantin, it is based on a Gros Cicero type which is designed by Robert Granjon.[30][31][32][33][34]
Lyon Text by Kai Bernau and Graveur by Juanjo López are also influenced by Granjon’s works.[39][40] Graveur is not based on one single specimen, but instead a combination of multiple types by Granjon, including Parangonne Romaine and Ascendonica Romaine for its roman characters.[41]
The roman characters of MVB Verdigris by Mark van Bronkhorst are based on Granjon’s designs, while its italics are inspired by the works ofPierre Haultin.[42]
^Janssen, Frans A. (8 November 2019). "Robert Granjon, Letter-cutter; 1513-1590: an oeuvre-catalogue, written by Hendrik D. L. Vervliet".Quaerendo.49 (3):275–276.doi:10.1163/15700690-12341446.
^Shaw, David (June 2018). "Granjon's Flowers: An Enquiry into Granjon's, Giolito's, and de Tournes' Ornaments, 1542–1586. By Hendrik D. L. Vervliet".The Library.19 (2):238–239.doi:10.1093/library/19.2.238.
^Boardley, John (6 June 2020)."Death of a Typeface".i love typography. Retrieved4 July 2020.
^Dreyfus, John (1995).Into Print: Selected Writings on Printing History, Typography and Book Production (1st hardcover ed.). Boston: David R. Godine. pp. 116–124.ISBN9781567920451.
Carter, Harry; Vervliet, H. D. L. (1966).Civilité types. Oxford Bibliographical Society/Oxford University Press.
Carter, Harry; Morison, Stanley (1967).Sixteenth-century French Typefounders: The Le Bé memorandum. Private printing for A. Jammes.
Carter, Harry, ed. (1969).The type specimen of Delacolonge. Les caractères et les vignettes de la fonderie du sieur Delacolonge, Lyons, 1773. Introduction and notes by Harry Carter. (Facsimile ... made from a copy belonging to the publishers.).
Lane, John A. (1996). "From the Grecs du Roi to the Homer Greek: Two Centuries of Greek Printing Types in the Wake of Garamond". In Macrakis, Michael S. (ed.).Greek Letters: From Tablets to Pixels. Oak Knoll Press.ISBN9781884718274.
Lane, John A. (2004).Early Type Specimens in the Plantin-Moretus Museum: annotated descriptions of the specimens to ca. 1850 (mostly from the Low Countries and France) with preliminary notes on the typefoundries and printing offices (1. ed.). New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll Press.ISBN9781584561392.
Lane, John A. (2005). "Claude Garamont and his Roman Types".Garamond Premier Pro: a contemporary adaptation; modelled on the roman types of Claude Garamond and the italic types of Robert Granjon. San Jose: Adobe Systems. pp. 5–13.
Lane, John A. (2012).The Diaspora of Armenian Printing, 1512-2012. Amsterdam: Special Collections of the University of Amsterdam. pp. 70–86,211–213.ISBN9789081926409.
Lane, John A. (27 June 2013). "The Printing Office of Gerrit Harmansz van Riemsdijck, Israël Abrahamsz de Paull, Abraham Olofsz, Andries Pietersz, Jan Claesz Groenewoudt & Elizabeth Abrahams Wiaer c.1660–1709".Quaerendo.43 (4):311–439.doi:10.1163/15700690-12341283.
Slimbach, Robert (2005). "The Making of Garamond Premier".Garamond Premier Pro: a contemporary adaptation; modelled on the roman types of Claude Garamond and the italic types of Robert Granjon. San Jose: Adobe Systems. pp. 15–21.
Maurits Sabbe, Marius Audin.Die Civilité-Schriften des Robert Granjon in Lyon: und die flämischen Drucker des 16. Jahrhunderts. Vol. 3 ofBibliotheca typographica, Bibliotheca Typographica, 1929.
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