# Renaissance Book Typography

> The printed book as shaped by humanist Italy and France: roman and italic types modelled on humanist handwriting, a single justified text block set in harmonious proportions within generous margins, and woodcut initials, borders and printer's devices as the only ornament. Its page became the default model of the Western book for the next five centuries.

- Period: c. 1460–1600
- Where: Southern Europe, Western Europe, Central Europe
- Origin: Subiaco, Rome and Venice; later Paris, Lyon, Basel and Antwerp
- Branch: Traditions & vernacular
- Also known as: Humanist typography, Aldine style, Renaissance printing
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/renaissance-book/

## How it works

- Set a single justified block of humanist roman in harmonious page proportions, with inner and top margins narrower than fore-edge and foot.
- Open texts with a large woodcut or engraved initial and set titles in centred capitals, tapering the lines into an inverted triangle.
- Use italic as a separate voice for prefaces, verse or whole pocket editions, not for scattered emphasis.
- Print black on cream rag paper and add red only as a rubric second colour.
- Frame title pages in architectural or arabesque woodcut borders and sign the book with a printer's device.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Classical text block](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/classical-text-block/) (defining)
- [Central symmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/central-symmetry/) (defining)
- [Framed panels](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/framed-panels/) (characteristic)
- [Column grid](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/column-grid/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Measured density](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/measured-density/) (characteristic)
- [Generous white space](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/generous-white-space/) (characteristic)
- [Layered information](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/layered-information/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Humanist & Garalde serif](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/humanist-and-garalde-serif/) (defining)
- [All caps](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-caps/) (characteristic)
- [Wide letterspacing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/wide-letterspacing/) (occasional)
- [Blackletter](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/blackletter/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (defining)
- [Monochrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/monochrome/) (characteristic)
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (characteristic)

### Form & shape
- [Naturalistic depiction](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/naturalistic-depiction/) (occasional)
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (occasional)
- [Geometric primitives](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-primitives/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Paper & letterpress bite](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/paper-and-letterpress-bite/) (defining)
- [Carved line](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/carved-line/) (characteristic)

### Ornament
- [Restrained accents](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/restrained-accents/) (characteristic)
- [Borders & frames](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/borders-and-frames/) (characteristic)
- [Floral & vegetal](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/floral-and-vegetal/) (characteristic)
- [Emblems & badges](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/emblems-and-badges/) (characteristic)
- [Geometric tessellation](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-tessellation/) (occasional)

### Imagery
- [Line illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/line-illustration/) (characteristic)
- [Typography only](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/typography-only/) (characteristic)

### Medium & production
- [Letterpress](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/letterpress/) (defining)
- [Woodblock & linocut](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/woodblock-and-linocut/) (characteristic)

### Tone & intent
- [Authoritative & institutional](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/authoritative-and-institutional/) (characteristic)
- [Calm & contemplative](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/calm-and-contemplative/) (characteristic)
- [Rational & objective](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rational-and-objective/) (occasional)

Avoids: Dynamic asymmetry, Flush left, ragged right, Eclectic mixing, Ornamented display, Grotesque & neo-grotesque, Full polychrome, Horror vacui

Palette: #f3ead8, #1b1915, #b23a2b, #8a6e4b, #b8973f

Typefaces: Jenson's roman (revived as Centaur and Adobe Jenson), Griffo's roman (revived as Bembo), Griffo's Aldine italic, Garamont's romans (Garamond revivals), Granjon's italics and Civilité

Known for: Nicolas Jenson, Eusebius, De praeparatione evangelica (Venice, 1470); Aldus Manutius & Francesco Griffo, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (1499) and italic octavos (1501); Erhard Ratdolt, Regiomontanus' Kalendarium with decorated title page (Venice, 1476); Geofroy Tory, Champ fleury (1529); Claude Garamont and Robert Estienne (Paris); Johann Froben with Hans Holbein the Younger's title borders (Basel); Christophe Plantin, Polyglot Bible (Antwerp, 1568–73)

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Influenced by: [Islamic Geometric & Calligraphic Tradition](https://stylogeny.com/styles/islamic-geometric.md) (c. 690–present)
- Led to: [Emblem Book (Motto, Picture & Epigram)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/emblem-book.md) (1531–1724)
- Led to: [Neoclassical Book Typography](https://stylogeny.com/styles/neoclassical-typography.md) (1757–1830)
- Led to: [Arts & Crafts Movement](https://stylogeny.com/styles/arts-and-crafts.md) (1860–1920)
- Alike in its design choices: [German Book Art Movement (Buchkunstbewegung)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/buchkunstbewegung.md) (1895–1933), 82% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Song–Ming Woodblock Book Typography (Songti / Mincho)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/song-ming-book-typography.md) (c. 960–present), 62% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Bulaq (Amiriyya) Naskh Book Printing](https://stylogeny.com/styles/bulaq-naskh-printing.md) (1822–1956), 60% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Gothic Blackletter & Fraktur Tradition](https://stylogeny.com/styles/blackletter-fraktur.md) (c. 1180–present), 57% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Literatura de Cordel Woodcut](https://stylogeny.com/styles/cordel-woodcut.md) (1940–present), 54% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Hipster Artisanal Revival](https://stylogeny.com/styles/hipster-artisanal.md) (2007–2018), 52% alike

## Real works

- [Hypnerotomachia Poliphili](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/365313): Francesco Colonna (author); Aldus Manutius (printer); woodcuts attributed to Benedetto Bordone, December 1499, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- [Sphaera mundi, with Peuerbach's Theoricae novae planetarum](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/356589): Erhard Ratdolt (printer); texts by Johannes de Sacrobosco, Georg von Peuerbach and Regiomontanus, 1485, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- [Eusebius, De evangelica praeparatione, fol. 1r](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eusebius_evangelica_praeparatione_-_Jenson_1470_1r.jpg): Nicolas Jenson (printer), 1470, Bridwell Library, Southern Methodist University (via Wikimedia Commons)
- [Champ fleury, book III, fol. 32v (the letters Æ and AE)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tory_Champ_fleury_f%C2%B032v.jpg): Geofroy Tory (author, designer and publisher), with Gilles de Gourmont, 1529, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica (via Wikimedia Commons)
- [Title page of Erasmus, Christiani matrimonii institutio, in Holbein's Cleopatra border](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1864-1114-753): Hans Holbein the Younger (border design), Hans Lützelburger (block cutter), Johann Froben (printer), 1526 (border first used 1523), British Museum, 1864,1114.753

## Sources

- Daniel Berkeley Updike, Printing Types: Their History, Forms, and Use (1922)
- Harry Carter, A View of Early Typography up to about 1600 (1969)
- Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Renaissance Book Typography”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/renaissance-book/