| Category | Serif |
|---|---|
| Classification | Old-style |
| Designer(s) | Claude Garamond Jean Jannon |
| Shown here | Adobe Garamond Pro |
Garamond /ˈɡærəmɒnd/ is the name given to a group of old-style serif typefaces named after the punch-cutter Claude Garamond (c. 1480–1561). Most of the Garamond faces are more closely related to the work of a later punch-cutter, Jean Jannon. A direct relationship between Garamond’s letterforms and contemporary type can be found in the Roman versions of the typefaces Adobe Garamond, Granjon, Sabon, and Stempel Garamond.
Garamond’s letterforms convey a sense of fluidity and consistency. Some unique characteristics in his letters are the small bowl of the a and the small eye of the e. Long extenders and top serifs have a downward slope.
Garamond is considered to be among the most legible and readable serif typefaces for use in print (offline) applications.[1] It has also been noted to be one of the most eco-friendly major fonts when it comes to ink usage.
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Claude Garamond came to prominence in the 1540s, first for a Greek typeface he was commissioned to create for the French king Francis I, to be used in a series of books by Robert Estienne. The French court later adopted Garamond’s Roman types for their printing and the typeface influenced type across France and Western Europe. Garamond probably had seen Venetian old-style types from the printing shops of Aldus Manutius. Garamond based much of his lowercase on the handwriting of Angelo Vergecio, librarian to Francis I. The italics of most contemporary versions are based on the italics of Garamond’s assistant Robert Granjon.
When Claude Garamond died in 1561, his punches and matrices were sold to Christopher Plantin, in Antwerp, which enabled the Garamond fonts to be used on many printers. This version became popular in Europe.
The only complete set of the original Garamond dies and matrices is at the Plantin-Moretus Museum, in Antwerp, Belgium.
In 1621, sixty years after Garamond’s death, the French printer Jean Jannon issued a specimen of typefaces that had some characteristics similar to the Garamond designs, though his letters were more asymmetrical and irregular in slope and axis. After the French government raided Jannon’s printing office, Cardinal Richelieu named Jannon’s type Caractère de l’Université,[2] and it became the house style of Royal Printing Office.
In 1825, the French National Printing Office adapted the type used by Royal Printing Office in the past, and claimed the type as the work of Claude Garamond.
In 1919, Thomas Maitland Cleland and Morris Fuller Benton produced the first 20th-century commercial Garamond, based on the Jannon’s design, called Garamond #3.
Revivals of the Garamond type came as early as 1900, when a typeface based on the work of Jean Jannon was introduced at the Paris World’s Fair as "Original Garamond", whereafter many type foundries began to cast similar types, beginning a wave of revivals that continued throughout the 20th Century.[3] These revivals followed the designs from Garamond and Jannon. The designs of italic fonts mainly came from a version produced by Robert Granjon. In a 1926 article in The Fleuron, Beatrice Warde revealed that many of the revivals said to be based on Claude Garamond’s designs were actually designed by Jean Jannon; but the Garamond name had stuck.
Digital versions include Adobe Garamond and Garamond Premier (both designed by Robert Slimbach), Monotype Garamond, Simoncini Garamond, and Stempel Garamond. The typefaces Granjon and Sabon (designed by Jan Tschichold) are also classified as Garamond revivals.
A version called ITC Garamond, designed by Tony Stan (1917–1988) was released in 1977. The design of ITC Garamond, more than any other digital versions, takes great liberty with Garamond’s original design by following a formulary associated with the International Typeface Corporation (ITC), including an increase in the x-height; a wide range of weights, from light to ultra bold; and a condensed width, also in weights from light to ultra bold.
| Based on Claude Garamond | Based on Jean Jannon | New design |
|---|---|---|
| Stempel Garamond, Adobe Garamond, Sabon, Garamond Premier, Garamond Antiqua | Monotype Garamond, Simoncini Garamond, Linotype Granjon, ATF Garamond (Garamond #3), LTC Garamont, Storm Jannon Antiqua, Garamond Classico | ITC Garamond, Apple Garamond |
In Russian, two letters are visibly different from their original scripts. These are Д “de” and Л “el”. These are displayed (if italicised with the Garamond font) similar to the Alexander font. The characters of these letters in Garamond font are rendered as follows: Д (Cyrillic letter “de”), and Л (Cyrillic letter “el”). The letters are similar to the Greek Δ “delta” and Λ “lambda”, as the Cyrillic alphabet derived from the Greek alphabet.[4]
In Umberto Eco's novel Il pendolo di Foucault, the protagonists work for a pair of related publishing companies, Garamond and Manuzio, both owned by a Mister Garamond.
Garamond is the name of a character in the Nintendo Wii game Super Paper Mario. He appears in the world of Flopside (the mirror-image of Flipside, where the game begins). He is a prolific and highly successful author, unlike his Flipside counterpart, Helvetica (a probable recognition of the relative suitability of the two fonts for use in book typesetting).