Ok, now the reason for this latest post. From the reading I was inspired to flip through my copy of The Smithsonian Book of Books by Michael Olmert. As I opened the inside cover there was an inscription "Ex Libris" (meaning From Books) similar to the "Ad Libris" (To Books) we see in Mr. Penumbra. Cool, but not overly. Then, turning the page I see...
the Festina Lente mark (http://pleasanthillbookclub.blogspot.com/2013/03/what-is-festina-lente.html) of 15th century printer Aldus Manutius! Super cool!
While reading the entry about Aldus I came across an entry about the man who created the type face (font) used by Aldus and it is pretty similar to what is described in the book. Turns out that "Griffo Gerritszoon" the font creater from the book, is actually Francesco Griffo who was born in the same year as Aldus (1450) and died three years after him (1518).
The type setting "Gerritszoon", as far as I can determine, created by the real Griffo is actually "Times New Roman". This would fit based on the description of "Gerritszoon" (though I can't find a "Gerritszoon Display" version of Times New Roman) as found as Kindle type and the font found on every computer. The Smithsonian Book of Books also has a photo sample of Aldus' work which, to my untrained eye, looks very much like Times New Roman.
If it seems weird that a 15th century printer would be using something as simple as Times New Roman, I must note that Aldus is heralded for not only printing great classical writings, but "these books [became] widely available in small, affordable editions, [and] easy to read."(Olmert p. 130)
PS- I'm only 51% through the book. I'm sure I'll be posting more soon. Or I might only be writing this much because 3rd quarter grades are due and I am procrastinating. In which case I won't follow up until 2nd semester grades come due.
