Frank says that it is DTL Van de Keere. Hrant says the Fred font design is Renard. And Marina Garone Gravier suggested these books:

- Harry Carter, “Plantin’s Types and Their Maker’s, Gedenkboek der Plantin Dagen, Antwerp, 1955.
- Typographcia Plantiniana. II Early Inventories of Punches, Matrices, and Moulds, in the Plantin-Moretus Archives, De Gulden Passer, 37e. Jaargeng 1959.
- Harry Carter, “The Types of Christopher Plantin” The Library, vol. II, 1956

In Counterpunch, Fred Smeijers states that it was Van den Keere’s 2-line Double Pica Roman (or Gros Canon) that inspired Renard, not the Paragon Roman. But yes, Renard was inspired by Van den Keere, not Arnhem. (Arnhem traces its roots to Romain du Roi and neo-classical styles, not Dutch oldstyle.)

— K.

I have a copy of Vervliet & Carter’s Type Specimen Facsimiles 16–18, which includes the Plantin Folio Specimen c. 1585. (Got this at an ATypI auction almost a decade ago.)

There is a showing of a Reale Romaine, and the annotation explains: “One of the best Romans cut by Hendrik van den Keere. He cut it for Plantin in 1575. [citation] ... No use outside the Plantinian office is known to us.”

Reale seems to be between Ascendonica and Parangonne in size, approx. 21 pts.

Shall I presume that you’re looking for a hi-res image? I could porbably make time later this week. Contact me offline.

— Kent.

Kent, is that the 2nd volume? Because I’ve had access to volume 1, but have yet to track down the second. What’s it like? The first one has 15 specimens; the second only has 3?

hhp

Thanks Kent! That would be great!

BTW Fred Smeijers wrote ( you may have seen this already but for the benefit of the thread... )

– Rerum Sacra Liber, Laurentius Gamba, 1577
– Pentaplus Regnorum Mundi, M. Eytzinger, 1579
– Biblia Sacra, 1585

Eben - Is the eyebytes address still the one? 1200 dpi grayscale tiff okay for you?

Hrant — I don’t know if this is the 2nd volume. Sounds like it. It’s a large folio format, about 10.5 x 16 inches, 68 pages, hard bound, red cloth over boards with gold stamping, gray paper wrapper, edition limited to 760 copies of which this is 292. It includes notes on and facsimile reproductions of the Index Sive Specimen Characterum Christophori Plantini 1567, Plantin’s Folio Specimen c. 1585, and The Le Bé-Moretus Collection of Fragments c. 1599.

Kent, that would be super!

This is the one I have (formated for Typophile)

That’s the piece in the specimen. I don’t have anything different.