- Perpetua (typeface)
Infobox font
name = Perpetua
style =Serif
releasedate = 1929
creator =Eric Gill
foundry =Monotype Corporation
variations = Perpetua TitlingPerpetua is a
typeface that was designed by British sculptor, typeface designer, stonecutter and printmakerEric Gill (1882–1940).Though not designed in the historical period of transitional type (the hallmark of transitional type was
John Baskerville 's type designed in the last half of the 18th century), Perpetua can be classified with transitional typefaces because of characteristics such as high stroke contrast and bracketed serifs. Along with these characteristics, Perpetua bears the distinct personality of Eric Gill's letterforms.Perpetua Roman, Felicity and Perpetua Italic
According to Robert Harling in "The Letter Forms and Type Designs of Eric Gill", Gill began work on Perpetua in 1925 at the request of
Stanley Morison , typographical advisor to Monotype. ["The Letter Forms and Type Designs of Eric Gill", p. 36, Robert Harling, 1978, The Typophiles, New York.] Morison sought Gill's talent to design a new typeface for the foundry. By 1929, Perpetua Roman was issued as Monotype Series 239. ["The Letter Forms and Type Designs of Eric Gill", especially pp. 36, 48-51, Robert Harling, 1978, The Typophiles, New York.]Gill designed two companion faces for Perpetua. The first was a typeface called Felicity. ["The Letter Forms and Type Designs of Eric Gill", especially pp. 36, 48-51, Robert Harling, 1978, The Typophiles, New York.] That design was met with mixed reactions. A second italic, called Perpetua Italic, was drawn by Gill and subsequently issued by Monotype along with Perpetua Roman. ["The Letter Forms and Type Designs of Eric Gill", especially pp. 36, 48-51, Robert Harling, 1978, The Typophiles, New York.] Telltale distinctions of the unused Felicity (as seen in the illustration in Harling, page 51) include the absence of a serif at the baseline of the lowercase d and a straight tail on the lowercase y. ["The Letter Forms and Type Designs of Eric Gill", especially pp. 36, 48-51, Robert Harling, 1978, The Typophiles, New York.] Overall, Felicity is less sloped than Perpetua Italic.
Aptly named, Perpetua was set in a limited edition of a new translation by Walter H. Shewring of "The Passion of
Perpetua and Felicity ". The book was printed in 1929. The same type and illustrations (also done by Gill) for that book subsequently appeared in the "Fleuron" (number 7) which was edited by Stanley Morision and printed in 1930.Also set in Perpetua and published in 1929 was "Art Nonsense and Other Essays" written and illustrated by Eric Gill.
Other use of Perpetua
As of November 2007, Perpetua is currently used in the
wordmark of the Barack Obama presidential campaign. [http://www.barackobama.com/]It is also used in the
Artemis Fowl series of children's books.References
* "The Letter Forms and Type Designs of Eric Gill", especially pp. 36, 48-51, Robert Harling, 1978, The Typophiles, New York.
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