Page:Historic printing types, a lecture read before the Grolier club of New York, January 25, 1885, with additions and new illustrations; by De Vinne, Theodore Low, 1828-1914; Grolier Club.djvu/33

EAKLY ITALIC TYPES. 29 Aldus never seriously changed these letters, but his son 7 _ . The Italic of did, not, however, to their improvement. It is difficult Paul Manutius. for a modern reader, who sees things with his own eyes, and not through the spectacles of others, to perceive the remarkable beauty which has been attributed to the son's improved Italic. Intending to make the letter firmer and bolder, the younger Aldus made it blacker but more ob- TheGiunta scure. Aldus's patent was not respected. The rival print- began to print at Venice in ing house of the Giunta made an imitation : so did printers im at Lyons, who not only copied his patented types, but printed from them spurious editions of Aldus's best books. Explicit fchnfcr.Amto dni.'M.C C C C C .XI Die Hero.q.Mttt/B SfpfcinkrifcExpen/ij The imprint of a counterfeiter, the "honest man, Bartholomew Trot." Aldus intended that this Italic should be used as a text letter, and it was so used by himself and his successors for many years. But Italic never succeeded in getting popularity in Germany. It did not supplant Black Letter ; it did not prevent a freer use of the Eoman. In France it was more successful. Geofroy Tory, who had recently Not successful returned from Rome full of admiration for Italian art, published at Paris, in 1510, an edition of Quintilian, in which he praised the new letter as the most beautiful of types. Other printers used it as a text letter, but it did not stay in fashion long. The Eoman face of Jenson was