理解字体：约翰·巴斯克维尔和国王的罗马

By the early 1500s Paris had supplanted Venice as the epicenter of typographic arts, and the more precisely cut letterforms of Francesco Griffo were gaining in popularity on traditional old-style letterforms: Those influenced by the quill and cut in the spirit of the first roman typefaces developed in the 1470s by Nicolas Jenson’s workshop.

到1500年代初，巴黎已取代威尼斯成为印刷艺术的中心，更精确地切割的弗朗切斯科·格里菲奥的字体已经在传统的老式字体上广受欢迎：那些受到鹅毛笔影响和刻画出第一批罗马字体的字体由Nicolas Jenson的工作室在1470年代开发。

Further style modifications took place in the 1600s under Claude Garamond and his contemporaries, well into the heyday of Englishman William Caslon (mid-1700s) when the old-style letterform reached its final development. But the first conscious revision of type took place at the end of the seventeenth century when Philippe Grandjean cut the Romain du Roi typeface — a conception of letterforms that perfectly reflected the new attitude of the Age of Enlightenment.

在克劳德·加拉蒙德(Claude Garamond)和他的同时代人的领导下，于1600年代进行了进一步的样式修改，直到英国人威廉·卡斯隆(William Caslon)(1700年代中期)鼎盛时期，旧式字体达到了最终的发展。 但是，第一次有意识的字体修改发生在17世纪末，Philippe Grandjean剪裁了Romain du Roi字体–一种字母形式的概念，完美地反映了启蒙时代的新态度。

While previous roman typefaces developed naturally over time, with each subsequent punch cutter modifying and improving upon letterforms designed by those before him, the Romain du Roi (the King’s Roman) was the first based on a rational, mathematical design. Mapping the letters out on grids converted traditionally round letterforms to a perpendicular axis; while serifs became sharper, less rounded, and exhibited less bracketing (the “filled in” area that connects serifs with strokes).

随着时间的流逝，以前的罗马字体自然地发展起来，随后的每个冲压机都对其之前的字体进行了修改和改进，但Romain du Roi (国王的罗马字体)是第一个基于理性，数学设计的字体。 将字母映射到网格上，该网格通常将圆形的字母转换为垂直轴； 衬线变得更锐利，更不圆滑并且具有较少的包围曝光(将衬线与笔触连接的“填充”区域)。

At the dawn of the Enlightenment, King Louis XIII of France—at the insistence of Chief Minister Cardinal Richelieu—commissioned the design of a new typeface for official use by the Imprimerie Nationale (the Royal Print Office). So a committee was assembled from the French Academy of Sciences, led by board game designer Jacques Jaugeon who worked for ten years developing the geometric letter designs (1692–1702). The capital letters were mapped out on 48x48 square grids and engraved on copper by Louis Simmoneau before being handed to Grandjean in 1698 to be cut.

启蒙运动开始时，法国国王路易十三在首席部长黎塞留(Cardinal Richelieu)的坚持下，委托设计了一种新的字体，以供国家Imprimerie Nationale (皇家印刷局)正式使用。 因此，一个由棋牌游戏设计师雅克·贾贡(Jacques Jaugeon)领导的法国科学院成立了一个委员会，他从事了10年的几何字母设计开发工作(1692–1702)。 大写字母在48x48的正方形网格上绘制，并由路易斯·西蒙诺(Louis Simmoneau)刻在铜上，然后于1698年被移交给Grandjean进行切割。

Grandjean, being well-versed in the cutting of old-style faces, chose to engineer out a degree of the “cold geometry” from the letters, but left enough of the original design intact as to identify it as radically different from previous old style designs. The committee also designed a complementary oblique, but Grandjean chose to create a matching italic from his own designs.

精通老式面Kong切割的Grandjean选择从字母中设计出一定程度的“冷几何形状”，但保留了足够的原始设计以使其与以前的老式样式完全不同设计。 该委员会还设计了一个互补的斜角，但是Grandjean选择根据自己的设计创建一个匹配的斜体。

The grid-based rationality of the King’s Roman led to a distinct vertical stress and balance that pre-dated the work of Fournier, Didot, and Bodoni. According to Stanley Morrison in Letterforms: Typographic & Scriptorial (1968), the “principal graphic” novelty of the typeface lived in the design of the serif. Morrison wrote: “Its horizontal and unbracketed structure symbolizes a complete break with the humanist calligraphic tradition.”

国王罗马基于网格的合理性导致了明显的垂直应力和平衡，这早于Fournier，Didot和Bodoni的工作。 根据斯坦利·莫里森(Stanley Morrison)的《 字母形式：印刷和手抄本》 (1968)，字体的“主要图形”新颖性存在于衬线设计中。 莫里森写道：“它的水平和无括号的结构象征着与人文主义书法传统的彻底突破。”

The first book to be printed in the King’s Roman was released in 1702, but it took until 1745 for the full set of 82 fonts to be completed. By that time, the Romain du Roi hadn’t been subject to a great deal of use, but the distinct shift in style it represented would heavily influence type designers in the eighteenth century — like Englishman John Baskerville —who were working to refine the new transitional letterform style.

第一本要在《国王罗马书》上印刷的书于1702年发行，但直到1745年才完成了全套82种字体。 到那时，Romain du Roi还没有得到太多使用，但是它所代表的风格上的明显转变将极大地影响18世纪从事字体设计的设计师，例如英国人John Baskerville，他们正在努力完善新的过渡字母样式。

In addition to influence of the King’s Roman formula, many would argue that Baskerville’s typefaces were the result of his intent to improve upon the eponymous old style designs of contemporary William Caslon, and the similarities in both men’s letterforms are easy to point out. Baskerville increased the contrast between thick and thin strokes in his letters, making the serifs sharper, and shifted the axis of rounded letters to a vertical position. In addition, curved strokes became more circular in shape, and characters became more regular, which created a greater consistency in size and form.

除了国王的罗马公式的影响之外，许多人认为巴斯克维尔的字体是他打算改进当代威廉·卡斯隆同名旧式设计的结果，而且很容易指出两种人的字母形式的相似之处。 Baskerville增加了字母中粗笔和细笔之间的对比度，使衬线更清晰，并将圆形字母的轴移到垂直位置。 此外，弯曲的笔触在形状上变得更圆，字符变得更规则，这在大小和形式上产生了更大的一致性。

Baskerville’s experiments went beyond the Caslon faces to include ink manufacturing, paper making, and press refinements, which all culminated in the attempt to make his faces more legible and reflect Baskerville’s ideals of perfection. “Having been an early admirer of the beauty of letters,” said Baskerville in 1758, “I became insensibly desirous of contributing to the perfection of them. I formed to myself ideas of greater accuracy than had yet appeared, and had endeavored to produce a set of types according to what I conceived to be their true proportion.”

Baskerville的实验超出了Caslon的面，包括油墨制造，造纸和印刷精修，所有这些最终都试图使他的面更清晰并反映Baskerville的完美理想。 巴斯克维尔(Baskerville)在1758年说：“对字母之美一直很敬佩，我变得非常渴望为它们的完美做出贡献。 我对自己形成了比以前更准确的想法，并努力根据我认为它们的真实比例来产生一组类型。”

As Baskerville continued to experiment with printing technology he developed brighter woven paper and richer black inks. When presses weren’t able to capture the subtleties of the thick-to-thin contrast in his transitional letterforms, he simply redesigned the printing press, replacing the wood platen with a brass one that allowed the planes to meet on a more even field for greater, finer pressure, and resulting in a higher standard of press.

随着巴斯克维尔(Baskerville)继续尝试印刷技术，他开发了更亮的机织纸和更丰富的黑色墨水。 当印刷机无法捕捉其过渡字母形式中浓到稀对比的微妙之处时，他只是重新设计了印刷机，用黄铜制的压板代替了木制的压板，从而使飞机可以在更均匀的视野中相遇。更大，更细的压力，从而带来更高的压力标准。

Baskerville’s first work featuring his refined letterforms — a collection of Virgil — was produced in 1757, which was followed by nearly 50 other classics. In 1758 he was appointed printer to the Cambridge University Press where, in 1763, he printed his master folio Bible using his perfected refinements in ink, paper, and press.

巴斯克维尔(Baskerville)的第一部作品创作于1757年，是他精制的字母形式(维吉尔的系列)，随后又出版了近50种其他经典作品。 在1758年，他被任命为剑桥大学出版社的印刷商，在1763年，他以其在墨水，纸张和印刷机上的精益求精的方式印刷了他的主要作品集圣经。

Unfortunately, Baskerville’s English contemporaries complained that his faces were too heavy a strain on the eyes, and regardless of the innovations he brought to printing in the 18th century, Baskerville experienced appreciation mostly abroad. He was much admired by Fournier and Bondoni — the latter of which attempted a trip to England to apprentice under him, but became ill — as well as one major player across the sea: Benjamin Franklin.

不幸的是，巴斯克维尔(Baskerville)的英国当代人抱怨说，他的脸庞太沉重，使人双目紧绷，无论他在18世纪为印刷术带来了什么创新，巴斯克维尔大部分时间都在国外受到赞赏。 傅尼叶和邦多尼(后者试图在英国做徒弟，但后来生病)令他倍受钦佩，同时他也是跨海主要球员本杰明·富兰克林(Benjamin Franklin)。

In 1758 Franklin met Baskerville and subsequently returned to the United States with a handful of Baskerville type, quickly adapting it as a standard for federal government publishing. Decades later, type designers Firmin Didot and Giambattista Bodoni would look to Baskerville’s work with reverence when leading typography from the transitional into the modern.

1758年，富兰克林遇到了巴斯克维尔(Baskerville)，随后带着少量的巴斯克维尔(Baskerville)类型回到美国，Swift将其作为联邦政府出版的标准。 几十年后，字体设计师Firmin Didot和Giambattista Bodoni在引领排版从过渡到现代的过程中，怀着崇敬的态度期待Baskerville的作品。

Shortly after, Baskerville’s work fell into obscurity and didn’t experience a revival until 1917 when Bruce Rogers released the modern Baskerville for the Harvard University Press. In 1996 Zuzanna Licko designed the Baskerville-inspired Mrs. Eaves—named after Baskerville’s mistress—that shared Baskerville’s small x-height and swashes. Mrs. Eaves would prove just as popular, and elegant, a book face as Baskerville’s original.

此后不久，巴斯克维尔的作品就变得晦涩难懂，直到1917年布鲁斯·罗杰斯(Bruce Rogers)为哈佛大学出版社发行现代巴斯克维尔时才经历复兴。 在1996年，Zuzanna Licko设计了灵感源自Baskerville的情妇的太太夫人(以Baskerville的情妇的名字命名)，它们共同分享了Baskerville的小x高度和斜角。 Eaves夫人将被证明与Baskerville的原著一样受欢迎且优雅。

Most importantly, the ideas established by the King’s Roman, and later refined by Baskerville, radically changed the way we thought about metal type. The early humanist Romans cut by Venetian printers sought to imitate the influence of the hand-written letterforms found in manuscripts of their time. Transitional typefaces turned attention to a more rational approach: One that favored the “drawn” letterform over the “written” one.

最重要的是，由国王罗马人确立，后来由巴斯克维尔(Baskerville)完善的思想，从根本上改变了我们对金属类型的思考方式。 早期威尼斯人印刷的人本主义罗马人试图模仿当时手稿中的手写字母形式的影响。 过渡字体使人们将注意力转移到一种更合理的方法上：一种比“书面”字体更喜欢“绘制”字体的字体。

Baskerville and his contemporaries more fully embraced printing technology and sought to create letterforms that reflected contemporary tools, rather than classical ones: A change that was fully in line during the post-Renaissance era. They invented new forms based on formulaic designs that were repeatable, leading to more consistent and scalable letterforms that paved the way for the eventual—and final—experiments of modern type designs based on pure geometry.

巴斯克维尔和他的同时代人更全面地接受了印刷技术，并试图创造一种反映当代工具而非现代工具的字母形式：这​​一变化在后文艺复兴时期是完全一致的。 他们基于可重复的公式化设计发明了新的表格，从而产生了更加一致和可扩展的字母形式，为基于纯几何的现代字体设计的最终(最终)实验铺平了道路。