Typography Specimen

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BERTHOLD AKZIDE GR Akzidenz (sic) Grotesk was released by Berthold in Berlin in 1898, according to their own literature. It was obviously based on faces already offered by other foundries, some of which were later taken over by Berthold. One of the contemporaries of AG was Royal Grotesk from Theinhardt. In Bertholds specimen booklet no. 429, which was most likely released in 1954, Akzidenz Grotesk Mager (light) was still referred to as Royal Grotesk, in brackets. Berthold acquired a typeface in 1908, (when they bought Ferd.Theinhardt) which they released as Akzidenz Grotesk Halbfett (medium). They kept adding weights, some of them from other faces, acquired from other foundries. Every foundry had a version of that type of face, more often than not available in a few sizes only. The original series remained quite divers, individual weights showing not much resemblance but in name. It was mainly a marketing and naming success. That only changed when they cut Series 57, and then Series 58, named for the years of release. These had some sizes (but not all) recut under the direction of Günter Gerhard Lange, who was their (freelance) artistic director at the time. GG Lange always claimed that Berthold had taken some AG weights and sizes from Popplbaum in Vienna, and that is supposed to account for the release date of 1896 or 1898. Popplbaum was not bought by Berthold until 1926. Berthold did take different fonts from all the foundries they bought (and obviously also made deal without buying a foundry) and rename them until they got a family together which still showed the original influences, sometimes even from size to size.
Günter Gerhard Lange “Akzidenz-Grotesk was the major typeface of Swiss typography. Swiss graphics were the most objective form of advertising, perhaps because most of it came from the pharmaceutical and chemical industry. Akzidenz-Grotesk was dominant in industrial advertising, in posters and in all matters technical and avant-garde.” Karl Gerstner “It is the work of anonymous type-cutters: craftsmen, specialists, whose professional background and experience meant they were familiar with the finest subtleties and principles, and not just those of Grotesque. They gave Akzidenz-Grotesk the ultimate accolade a typeface can have: a functional,formal rightness, transcending the whims of fashion.” NZ UNKNOWN INDUSTRIAL 1898-1906 OTESK A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 & ! ? { } 11
Page 1: a brief overview a brief overview o
Page 5 and 6: 5 Garamond 6 Bodoni 8 Akzidenz Grot
Page 7 and 8: 2 GARAMOND A B C D E F G H I J K L
Page 9: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R

Typography Specimen

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