The Old Prototype for Baskerville Typeface: A Break with Tradition

In the early 18th century, France was undergoing significant changes in various fields, including art, literature, and philosophy. This was the Age of Enlightenment, marked by a resistance to tradition across all disciplines. It's no surprise that this era saw the birth of radically different typefaces, one of which is the Old Prototype for Baskerville Typeface.

The Romain du Roi, also known as King's Roman, is considered to be the first Transitional (or Neoclassical) style typeface. Commissioned by Louis XIV in 1692 for the Imprimerie Royale, it marked a significant departure from the former Old Style types and was much less influenced by handwritten letterforms.

The design process involved a committee set up by the French Academy of Science, which included Jacques Jaugeon, a maker of educational board games. The designs were constructed on a 48×48 grid (2,304 squares) and engraved on copper by Louis Simmoneau. Grandjean, a punchcutter, began cutting the type in 1698.

One of the notable features of the Romain du Roi is its horizontal and unbracketed structure, which symbolizes a complete break with the humanist calligraphic tradition. The serif, a principal graphic novelty at that time, was also introduced by Grandjean. Interestingly, Jaugeon designed a complimentary sloping roman (often referred to today as an oblique) as an alternative to a true italic.

The full set of 82 fonts wasn't completed until half a century later in 1745. The first book to use these types wasn't published until a decade later in 1702. Today, the Romain du Roi is considered a significant milestone in the development of typography and a precursor to modern transitional typefaces like Brill.

Old prototype for baskerville typeface