specimen - MA Typeface Design

Melville is one of the results from
a year of study on the MA Typeface
Design course at the University
of Reading, UK. The typeface
consists of three styles: Melville
Regular – including Кириллица
(Cyrillic) – Italic and Cursive.
Melville is a contemporary book
face, designed especially for
poetry and literature. The type is
intended for high-quality and fine
book printing, and is at its best
when surrounded by generous
enough margins and sufficient
leading. Melville is a delicate and
refined typeface with a glimpse of
quirkiness. Its pure and modest
beauty, combined with two
italic variants make it a versatile
family. Although intended for
setting poetry, the typefamily
is able to handle complex book
tasks as well, including literature,
novels, multi-lingual editions
and plays. Equipped with a full set
of small capitals for the Regular
and Italic, four sets of figures
for each weight and a complete
set of mathematical symbols
(including inferior and superior
numerals), Melville is suitable for
all typographic work that calls
for subtlety, refinement and high
quality.

Melville is designed with a diagonal
axis, inspired by oldstyle models.
Although its overall proportions are
conventional, consequent and repeated
design features give the typeface a
contemporary flavour and a personal
expression. Melville is moderately
condensed to avoid line breaking in
the middle of a sentence or a poetic
stanza. Long ascenders and
descenders give the face a relatively
small x-height. Its stems flare toward
the top, before flowing into top serifs.
This is best noticed in the ascenders,
but stems with a serif at the x-height
show this in a subtle way as well.
The tapering of strokes is consistent
throughout the typeface and is one
its main characteristics. In letters
like n, m and h, this gives an interesting
stroke connection. The baseline
serifs were interpreted from fluid
movements of the pen, influenced
by calligraphically inspired typefaces
like Trinité by Bram De Does which
results in refined, cupped, asymmetrical
serifs that are bracketed on the
left side and flare towards the right.
Large counterforms increase legibility
in smaller sizes. The interiors of the
eu aа
go ЗЛ
nq ни
ka RЯ
counters show curves broken along
the diagonal stress, giving Melville’s
letterforms a fairly high contrast.
These corners inside the counters
were softened during the design process
to give the cyrillic characters a
slightly less ‘harsh’ look. Despite the
obvious differences between the two
scripts, like the higher stroke contrast
in и, љ, д and with distinct stroke
endings, the cyrillic letters were designed
to match their latin opposites,
in colour and in overall feel. The general
design features of the latin were
thus applied onto the cyrillic as much
as possible. However, similar forms
in latin and cyrillic have alternate
outrokes or details, to distinguish the
two scripts. The leaf-shaped terminals
in the cyrillic are correspondant with
the ones from the latin, but in certain
letters (like Ж, У, л, к) they are bigger,
because they carry more weight.

The Melville typeface contains a
double set of italics; Melville Italic and
Melville Cursive. The cursive is a true
italic, with a gentle slope of 7°. Its
main goal is to emphasize words,
expressions or paragraphs within a
text set in the regular, from which
it differentiates itself by its rhythm,
rather than its inclination. When
compared to the roman, this cursive
is a new design. The stem width
is smaller and the glyphs are more
condensed, which makes the colour
of the italic not much lighter. Melville
Cursive doesn’t show the flourishing
italic forms that one might expect for
a book typeface because emphasis is
achieved by a difference in texture.
The cursive appears crisp and sturdy
yet elegant, showing a fast movement.
Italic letterforms like f, g, k and y were
drawn to increase the characterization
of the cursive compared with
the regular. A set of swash capitals is
available in Melville Cursive for titles,
initials on other formal uses. These
are accesible through the OpenType
menu. Melville Italic is an upright
italic. It has the very slight slope angle
of 2°, just enough to set it apart from
mx
kj
yy
aa
the regular. It was conceived as an
alternative for Melville Regular, to
work side by side with the regular
in different textblocks and for contexts
where the emphasis of Melville
Cursive is too strong. The design of
Melville Italic features characteristics
from both the regular and the cursive.
It has an italic-like a, c, e, v, w
and y but a regular f and g. Serifs at
x-height level have italic instrokes and
outstrokes. The uppercase and small
capitals are slightly slanted capitals,
whereas the cursive capitals are more
italicised. Italic and cursive figures
are based on the regular ones, but
their outrokes correspond with the
lowercase letters. Although Melville
already suits many different contexts,
there are more weights to be added.
Melville Bold is currently in progess,
as is a cursive for the Cyrillic. Furthermore,
the family will to be extended
to include a ‘Book’ weight. Cyrillic
counterparts to Melville Book, Melville
Bold and Melville’s Upright Italic will
follow as well.
111
ff f
g g
к

p
В красоте музыкальности
Как в недвижной зеркальности
Я нашел очертания снов,
До меня не рассказанных,
Тосковавших и связанных,
Как растенья под глыбою.
Я им дал наслаждение,
Красоту их рождения,
Я разрушил звенящие льды,
И, как гимны неслышные,
Дышут лотосы пышные
Над пространством.
И в немой музыкальности,
В этой новой зеркальности,
Создаёт их живой хоровод,
Новый мир, недосказанный,
Но с рассказанным связанный,
В глубине отражающих вод.
28
Chords
In the beauty of the melody,
as on still, mirror-like surface,
I discovered the outlines of dreams
untold by anyone before me,
pinning and confined like plants under
blocks of ice.
I gave them the power to delight,
I gave them beauty to their birth, I
shattered the ringing blocks of ice;
and, like soundless hymns, luxuriant
lotuses breathe above the expanse of the
mirror-like water.
And in the soundless melody, on this
new mirror-like surface, their live
round dance generates a new world,
not yet full revealed but linked to the
known world in the depth of reflecting
waters.
A ROSE OR TWO
PART I
as they fell
AMOROSO
Rosamond, my Rosamond
Of roses is the rose;
Her bloom belongs to summer,
Nor less in winter glows,
When, mossed in furs all cosey,
We speed it o'er the snows
By ice-bound streams enchanted,
While red Arcturus, he
A huntsman ever ruddy,
Sees a ruddier star by me.
O Rosamond, Rose Rosamond,
Is yonder Dian's reign?
Look, the icicles despond
Chill drooping from the fane!
But Rosamond, Rose Rosamond,
In us, a plighted pair,
First makes with flame a bond, —
One purity they share.
To feel your cheek like ice,
While snug the furs inclose —
This is spousal love's device
This is Arctic Paradise,
And wooing in the snows!
Rosamond, my Rosamond,
Rose Rosamond, Moss-Rose!
295

ishmael What do you mean by that, Captain Peleg?
peleg I mean, he must show his papers.
bildad Yes,he must show that he’s converted.
[turning to Queequeg] Son of darkness, art thou at present in
communion with any Christian church?
ishmael Why? He’s a member of the first Congregational Church.
bildad [crying] First Congregational Church, what! That worships in Deacon
Deuteronomy Coleman’s meeting-house? How long hath he been a
member? Not very long, I rather guess, young man.
peleg No,and he hasn’t been baptized right either, or it would have
washed some of that devil’s blue off his face.
bildad Do tell, is this Philistine a regular member of Deacon Deuteronomy’s
meeting? I never saw him going there, and I pass it every Lord’s day.
ishmael I don’t know anything about Deacon Deuteronomy or his meeting.
All I know is, that Queequeg here is a born member of the First
Congregational Church. He is a deacon himself, Queequeg is.
bildad Young man, thou art skylarking with me — explain thyself, thou
young Hittite. What church dost thee mean? Answer me.
ishmael I mean, sir, the same ancient Catholic Church to which you and I,
and Captain Peleg there, and Queequeg here, and all of us, and
every mother’s son and soul of us belong; the great and everlasting
First Congregation of this whole worshipping world; we all belong
to that; only some of us cherish some queer crotchets no ways
touching the grand belief; in that we all join hands.
274
peleg [yelling] Splice, thou mean’st splice hands. Young man, you’d
better ship for a missionary, instead of a fore-mast hand; I never
heard a better sermon. Deacon Deuteronomy — why Father
Mapple himself couldn’t beat it, and he’s reckoned something.
Come aboard, come aboard; never mind about the papers. I say,
tell Quohog there — what’s that you call him? Tell Quohog to
The Spring of the Arva Wai 165
chapter xx
A
lmost every country has its medicinal springs
famed for their healing virtues. The Cheltenham
of Typee is embosomed in the deepest
solitude, and but seldom receives a visitor. It is situated
remote from any dwelling, a little way up the
mountain, near the head of the valley; and you approach
it by a pathway shaded by the most beautiful
foliage, and adorned with a thousand fragrant plants.
The mineral waters of Arva Wai1 ooze forth from the
crevices of a rock, and gliding down its mossy side,
fall at last, in many clustering drops, into a natural
basin of stone fringed round with grass and dewylooking
little violet-coloured flowers, as fresh and
beautiful as the perpetual moisture they enjoy can
make them. The water is held in high estimation by
the islanders, some of whom consider it an agreeable
as well as a medicinal beverage; they bring it from
the mountain in their calabashes, and store it away
beneath heaps of leaves in some shady nook near the
house. Old Marheyo had a great love for the waters of
the spring. Every now and then he lugged off to the
mountain a great round demijohn of a calabash, and,
panting with his exertions, brought it back filled with
his darling fluid.
1 I presume this might be translated into ‘Strong Waters’. Arva is
the name bestowed upon a root the properties of which are both
inebriating and medicinal. ‘Wai’ is the Marquesan word for water.

BOOK
REVIEWS
Typee: A Peep at Polynesian
Life (1846)
A novel that defies 19th
century conventions and
which foreshadows many
of the themes that would
appear in subsequent works
such as Moby Dick. It is a
clarion call against racism
and colonialism, as well as
an inchoate search for an
alternative to the inhuman
economic system that had
ruined his once patrician
family as well as many
other Americans of all
races.
Omoo: A Narrative of the
South Seas (1847)
It would be difficult to
imagine a man better fitted
to describe the impressions
such a life and scenes are
calculated to call forth,
than the author of Omoo.
Every variety of character,
and scene, and incident, he
studies and describes with
equal gusto.
Mardi: And a Voyage Thither
(1849)
We proceed to notice this
extraordinary production
with feelings anything but
gentle towards its gifted but
excentric author. The truth
is, that we have been deceived,
inveigled, entrapped
into reading a work where
we had been led to expect
only a book.
104
july
Literature
Make the choice for
your summer reading
with our edits of the
best nautical novels.
MELVILLE'S
THOUgHTS
iTUNES
TOP 3
1 Selected Stories
(Unabridged) by Walter
Covell and John Chatty
2 Moby Dick (Dramatized)
by Full Cast
3 Benito Cereno (Abridged)
by Santiago Munevar
“To produce a mighty book, you
must choose a mighty theme.
No great and enduring volume
can ever be written on the flea,
though many there be that have
tried it.”-> Herman Melville on literature.
Billy
Budd
by Herman
Melville
billy budd is young, and
innocent, quiet but kind.
He is well liked except for
those few that are jealous of
him, and his ability to boost
morale through his quiet
gentleness. Billy is human
however, and Melville
reminds the readers of this
by inserting a few character
flaws in Billy. He stutters
when overwhelmed, or
becomes completely tongue
tied.
->Billy Budd, H. Melville, £12,99
MOBY- DICK
Carrie:
How about I read you a little bit of
or
my favourite poetry?
Aleksandr:
THE Please. WHALE
Carrie [Reads from Vogue]:
“Cocktails at Tiffany's calls for
classic charm. Oscar de la Renta
sleeveless by silk full skirted dress with
black patent leather bow belt.” Now
Wat zijn walvissen Herman mooi
that is Melville
pure poetry.
een vin, een hijgende opening Author of
de boog van een groot Typee, lichaam Omoo, Redburn, Hards & White-jacket
het andere leven dat we nooit
raken kunnen
D. Hillenius
New York
Harper Brothers, Publishers
London: Richard Bentley
1851

Littérature américaine | xix e siècle
68
explanatory notes 649
501:2 Thames Tunnels of Whales: In London, the 1,300-foot-tunnel beneath
the Thame was opened in 1834. In Chapter 108, Ahab employs the same
figure as a comparison to the desired girh of the chest of his imagined
“complete man.”
505:18–20 his ivory limb … all but pierced his groin: This later accident explains
why Ahab kept to his cabin before and after the departure of the
Pequod, and it supplies a deeper motive for revenge; for he is not only
“dismasted” but appearantly unmanned as well.
510:15 multum in parvo: Much in little.
511:8 you old Smut: “Smut!” or “brother smut,” a slang expression meaning
“ditto” or “same to you”. The comic sense is that the carpenter, who
like Ahab is given to soliloquizing, is upbraiding himself. The pairing of
Ahab and the carpenter is deliberate and revealing. Both have a “subtle
something” within them, and Ahab seems to recognize this, since he
asks the carpenter whether he does not feel “some entire, living, thinking
thing” standing where he now stands. The difference, of course, is
that the carpenter’s doubled self, as opposed to Ahab’s, is benign and
attributeable to mere dotage.
515:7–8 taking altitudes on it: Double reference: using a quadrant and
arrogantly indulging in elevated moods.
516:20 up Burtons and break out: Hoist the casks out of stowage.
530:11 Mother Carey’s chicken: According to Eric Partridge, a slang nautical
expression for snow; here the sparks rain down on Ahab like snowflakes.
But also, more conventionally, a slang expression for petrels, to which
Ahab alludes when he speaks of the sparks as birds of omen.
532:35 “Ego non baptizo te in nomine patris, sed in nomine diaboli!”: “I baptize
thee not in the name of the Father, but in the name of the Devil.” Melville
remarked in a letter to Hawthorne (June 29, 1851) that this is the secret
“motto” of his book.
535:8–26 “Oh, grassy glades!… we must there to learn it.”: The editors of the
Northwestern-Newberry text, quite properly, have added the quotation
marks for this paragraph. Neither the American or the English editions
of Moby-Dick printed these quotation marks, but the context makes
clear that the paragraph is spoken by Ahab, not Ishmael, as some critics

Melville includes an extended character
set for both Latin and Cyrillic alphabets.
The diacritics were designed to blend
well with the design of Melville, giving
the accents of lowercase, small capitals
and capitals a different angle.
Supported languages are Afrikaans,
Danish, Dutch, Faroese, Finnish, german,
Icelandic, Irish, Italian, Norwegian,
Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish,
Basque, Breton, Catalan, Croatian,
Czech, Esperanto, Estonian, French,
Frisian, Hungarian, Latin, Latvian,
Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Provençal,
Rhaeto-Romanic, Romanian,
Romany, Sami, Slovak, Slovenian,
Turkish, Welsh as well as Belarusian,
Bulgarian, Serbian, Russian and
Ukrainian.

OpenType features
Ligatures ff fi ffi fl ffl fj ffj fb ffb fh ffh fk ffk Th
liga ff fi ffi fl ffl fj ffj fb ffb fh ffh fk ffk Th
Small Caps Ishmael & Queequeg @ the PEQUOD!
smcp ishmael & queequeg @ the pequod!
Case-sensitive {[(«HER-MAN•MEL–VILLE»)]}
punctuation + {[(«HER-MAN•MEL–VILLE»)]}
Capital spacing MOBY DICK; OR THE WHALE
case + cpsp MOBY DICK; OR THE WHALE
Oldstyle + Lining |1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|0| |1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|0|
pnum + onum
Proportional + tabular |1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|0| |1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|0|
pnum + lnum
Fractions 2 3 hour 1 10 l 57 365 year
frac 2/3 hour 1/10 l 57/365 year
Subscript + Superscript 62=36 Herman Melville1 FePO4 H2O
subs + sups 62=36 Herman Melville1 FePO4 H2O
Contextual alternate Qy Qp Qf [j
calt y p f [
Swash characters AABDEFGHIJKKMNPQRTVWY
swsh
Localised forms Ijssalon Ijsbeer roşii
locl IJssalon IJsbeer roșii
Stylistic sets --> -> ->

Characterset Melville Regular
lowercase
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
àáâãäāăåąæǽćĉčċçďđðèéêěëēĕėęĝğġģĥħ
ìíîĩïīĭįıĵķĺľļłńňñņŋ òóôõöōŏőøǿœŕŗřśŝšşșß
ťţŧþùúûũüūŭůűųẁẃŵẅỳýŷÿźžżij
capitals
ABCDEFgHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWxYz
àáâãäāăåąæǽćĉčċçďđðèéêěëēĕ ęĝğġģĥħ
ìíîĩïīĭįIĵķĺľļłńňñņ ŋòóôõöōŏőøǿœŕŗřśŝšşșSS
ťţŧþùúûũüūŭůűųẁẃŵẅỳýŷÿźžżIJ
small capitals
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
àáâãäāăåąæǽćĉčċçďđðèéêěëēĕėęĝğġģĥħ
ìíîĩïīĭįıĵķĺľļłńňñņŋòóôõöōŏőøǿœŕŗřśŝšşșss
ťţŧþùúûũüūŭůűųẁẃŵẅỳýŷÿźžż
cyrillic lowercase
абвгдежзийклмнопрстуфхцчшщьъыэюя
ѓґђєѕѐёіїјѝќљњћўџ
cyrillic capitals
АБВГДЕЖЗИЙКЛМНОПРСТУФХЦЧШЩЪЫЬЭЮЯ
ЃҐЂЄЅЀЁІЇЈЍЌЉЊЋЎЏ
Latin diacritics
`´ˆˇ̕˜¨¯˘˚˝˙̒¸˛ ¸˛
Cyrillic diacritics
¨`́
Figures
1234567890 ¤€$¢£ƒ¥ | 1234567890
Punctuation
.,:;…--!?!?¡¿¡¿ ‘’“”‚„‘‘”‹›«»\/|¦_– —••··
()[]{}&&*†‡§^~@@
Ligatures
ff fi ffi fl ffl fj ffj fk ffk fh ffh fb ffb
Symbols
+−±×÷=≠≈≤≥¬∆Ωµπ°∞∂∫∑∏◊√¼½¾%‰
0123456789/0123456789 0123456789 0123456789 ℮ℓ©®#№
Special characters
->-->

Characterset Melville Italic
Lowercase
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
àáâãäāăåąæǽćĉčċçďđðèéêěëēĕėęĝğġģĥħìíîĩïīĭįıĵķĺľļłńňñņŋ
òóôõöōŏőøǿœŕŗřśŝšşșßťţŧþùúûũüūŭůűųẁẃŵẅỳýŷÿźžżij
Capitals
ABCDEFgHIjkLMNOPQRSTUvWxyz
àáâãäāăåąæǽćĉčċçďđðèéêěëēĕėęĝğġģĥħ
ìíîĩïīĭįIĵķĺľļłńňñņ ŋòóôõöōŏőøǿœŕŗřśŝšşșSS
ťţŧþùúûũüūŭůűųẁẃŵẅỳýŷÿźžżij
Small capitals
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
àáâãäāăåąæǽćĉčċçďđðèéêěëēĕėęĝğġģĥħìíîĩïīĭįıĵķĺľļłńňñņŋò
óôõöōŏőøǿœŕŗřśŝšşșssťţŧþùúûũüūŭůűųẁẃŵẅỳýŷÿźžż
Figures and monetary symbols
1234567890 ¤€$¢£ƒ¥ | 1234567890
Punctuation
.,:;…--!?!? ¡¿ ‘’“”‚„‘‘”‹›«»\/|¦_–—•·()[]{}&&†‡§^~@
Ligatures
ff fi ffi fl ffl fk ffk fh ffh fb ffb
Symbols
+−±×÷=≠≈≤≥¬∆Ωµπ°∞∂∫∑∏◊√¼½¾%‰
012345678 ⁄0123456789 ©®#№
Special characters
->-->-->

Credits
p 8 p,
poem by Konstantin Bal’mont
p 9 A Rose Or Two,
poem by Herman Melville
p 10 Text based on excerpt of Moby Dick,
novel by Herman Melville
p 11 Excerpt from Typee,
novel by Herman Melville
p 12 Texts from www.wikipedia.org &
www.hermanmelville.org
p 13 O wat zijn walvissen mooi,
poem by D. Hillenius
p 14 Texts from www.wikipedia.org
p 15 Excerpt from Moby Dick,
novel by Herman Melville
p 18-20 Texts from wikipedia

Colophon
The Melville typeface and this booklet were
designed by Joke gossé and submitted in partial
fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of
Arts in Typeface Design at the Department of
Typography and graphic Communication,
University of Reading, 2008. I would like to thank
my fellow students for being good friends, particularly the
ones with whom I shared all these hours of work. Thanks
to the visiting lecturers and staff from Reading, especially
gerry Leonidas for making me push the boundaries,
gerard Unger for sharing his optimism and knowledge,
Jo De Baerdemaker for the kindly offered help. I also
thank everyone else who helped me achieve; my parents
and sister who supported me in every possible way, my
love Roeland with his never-ending encouragement,
my enthusiastic friends from Belgium and everyone who
helped me, by reviewing my work. For more information,
please contact me at joke.gosse@gmail.com