Centaur (typeface)

Infobox font
name = Centaur
style = Serif
classifications = Old Style


creationdate = 1914
releasedate = 1929
creator = Bruce Rogers
foundry = Monotype Corporation
aka = Metropolitan

Centaur is an old style serif typeface originally drawn as titling capitals by Bruce Rogers in 1914 for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The typeface is based upon several Renaissance models. Rogers' primary influence for the Roman was Nicholas Jenson's 1475 "Laertis," considered the model for the modern Roman alphabet. Centaur also shows the influence of types cut by Francesco Griffo in 1495 for a small book titled "De Aetna" written by Pietro Bembo. The 1929 typeface Bembo, is based primarily upon that specimen. Rogers later added the Roman lowercase, and the italic, based upon Ludovico Arrighi’s 1520 chancery face, was drawn by Frederic Warde, and is the typeface released for general use in 1929 by the Monotype Corporation Ltd.

References

*Blackwell, Lewis. "20th Century Type." Yale University Press: 2004. ISBN 0-300-10073-6.
*Fiedl, Frederich, Nicholas Ott and Bernard Stein. "Typography: An Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques Through History." Black Dog & Leventhal: 1998. ISBN 1-57912-023-7.
*Lawson, Alexander S., "Anatomy of a Typeface". Godine: 1990. ISBN 978-0879233334.
*Meggs, Philip B. and Rob Carter. "Typographic Specimens: The Great Typefaces." Wiley: 1993. ISBN 0-471-28429-7.
*Meggs, Philip B. and McKelvey, Roy. "Revival of the Fittest: Digital Versions of Classic Typefaces." RC Publications: 2000. ISBN 1-883915-08-2.
*Updike, Daniel Berkeley. "Printing Types Their History, Forms and Use." Dover Publications, Inc: 1937, 1980. ISBN 0-486-23929-2.

External links

* [http://www.linotype.com/232/centaur-family.html The Linotype Centaur web page]