15th C Aldine Greek Ligature Question

ebensorkin11 May 2008 · 21:39

I don’t expect anyone to know this, but if you have an idea abbout or know someone who might... when you look at the many many ’contextual/ligatured’ sorts ( in decreasing complexity over time ) used for Greek by Aldus, is it your impression that the ligatures and alt sorts are there only to emulate the style of writing they were aimed at ( perhaps similar to metal type that emulated copperplate connected script) or do you think they also improved fit? Not reading it or knowing the forms anywhere near well enough - it is impossible for me to guess.

Toughie no?

Also, for extra points: An example!

Gerry Leonidas12 May 2008 · 03:00

(in haste)

Eben, the question is phrased misleadingly. The typefaces were intended to imitate handwriting, and typesetters were expected to make use of ligatures (and contractions and abbreviations built on a single sort) to achieve the appropriate texture. The same applies to the grec-du-roi. There is ample record of other (i.e. not Aldus, or Paulus M, or Estienne) using typefaces cut in the same style with fewer ligatures, and the texture in most cases breaks down (See, for example, small-format Wetstein books, 1700 onwards). In other words, most single-letter sorts were not intended to pair with other single-letter ones, if the writing model suggested a ligature and one was provided.

There’s some good attempts at “normalising” the typeforms to work without many ligatures n the Low Countries that John Lane has written about, and a key development in the Foulis G