Berthold (company)

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Berthold is a name long associated with type design. H. Berthold AG was one of the largest and most successful type foundries in the world for most of the modern typographic era. Established in 1858 by Hermann Berthold and based in Berlin, the company played a key role in the introduction of major new typefaces and was a successful player in the development of typesetting machines.

The H. Berthold foundry's most celebrated family of typefaces is arguably Akzidenz-Grotesk (released 1896), an early sans-serif which prefigured by half a century the release of enormously popular neo-grotesque faces such as Helvetica. In 1950, type designer Günter Gerhard Lange embarked upon a long affiliation with the company, for which he designed various original typefaces, including Concorde and Imago, and oversaw the foundry's revivals of classic faces such as Garamond, Caslon, Baskerville, and Bodoni.

Beset by financial troubles, H. Berthold AG ceased operations in 1993. Berthold Types Ltd., a Chicago-based company, took over distribution of the Berthold digital type library and has released several new typefaces under the direction of Lange, who had retired in 1990, but now serves as artistic consultant to the new Berthold.