ARTIFICIAL HELLS

On the Typeface
Artificial Hells is set in Monotype Fournier, a typeface based on the designs
of the eighteenth-century printer and typefounder Pierre Simon Fournier.
He in turn was influenced by the constructed type designs of the Romain
du Roi, commissioned by Louis XIV in 1692, which eschewed the calligraphic
influence of prior typefaces in favour of scientific precision and
adherence to a grid.
With its vertical axis, pronounced contrast and unbracketed serifs, the
Fournier face is an archetype of the ‘transitional’ style in the evolution of
Latin printing types – situated between the ‘old style’ fonts such as Bembo
and Garamond and the ‘modern’ faces of Bodoni and Didot. Other distinguishing
features include the proportionally low height of the capitals and
the lowercase ‘f ’, with its tapered and declining crossbar.
The italics, which were designed independently, have an exaggerated
slope with sharp terminals that retain the squared serifs in the descenders.
The Fournier design was commissioned as part of the Monotype Corporation’s
type revival programme under the supervision of Stanley Morison in
the 1920s. Two designs were cut based on the ‘St Augustin Ordinaire’ design
shown in Fournier’s Manuel Typographique. In Morison’s absence, the wrong
design was approved, resulting in the typeface now known as Fournier.