Date: 1966
Designer:
Matthew Carter
Category:
Formal Script / Copperplate Italic
Foundry:
Mergenthaler Linotype
Location:
Frankfurt, Germany
Current equivalent:
Linotype Snell Roundhand
See also:
Shelley Script by the same designer
Technologies:
Photosetting
Postscript
Opentype
Famous for:
The first joining script typeface to fully take advantage of phototypesetting
Applications: Historical Script
Ubiquity:
Average use
Category:
Formal Script
Stress: Angled
Serifs: None
Design history:
The sloping direction, flourishes and overhangs of the roundhand style had been nearly impossible to achieve in metal typesetting; unless the type was cast on irregularly shaped bodies (which was both difficult and expensive), the kerning required to space the type properly was hard to obtain. When the new photosetting technology was proved to allow spacing so tight that letters could overlap, Matthew Carter revived a copperplate, or roundhand style from the late 17th century to exploit these possibilities, adding two extra weights – a bold and a black, in 1972. He named it for the English writing master Charles Snell, who had campaigned vociferously for a standard set of rules for composing letterforms in this style.
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