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TYPE DESIGNS OF THE PAST AND PRESENT PART III WE have seen that the sixteenth century gave us the types who we call 'old-face.' The7teenth century re produced these letters—though in most cases not without some loss of beauty. This is a charge that cannot be urged against the singularly beautiful types made by Christopher van Dyck, a freelance punch-cutter in Amsterdam who worked for several foundries. Though they are not as important to the historian as the the of Garamond, they are certainly more beautiful. It is often the fact that the faces fashioned after the model of a certain historically important letter are noticeably superior iu design to their prototype. In Garamond's case, that design improved upon first by Robert Granjon and next by Christopher van Dyck. The fame of Dutch types is intimately connected with van Dyck, largely because his types were used by the Elzevirs to the exclusion of all others. The editions of this famous firm of publishers in Leyden are slighter in inter est the work of the preceding century, but their types are undeniably superior in design and technique. Other en gravers, such as Bartholomew Voskens and his brother Dirck, contributed to the renown of Dutch typefounding. English craftsmanship workflow all this time in its infancy thanks to the repressive legislation of the Crown. In Moxon's time it was the custom to commend a book by remarking that it was printed in Dutch letter, and he himself thought van Dyck's 17 BY STANLEY MORISON

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PM Magazine en | | 1937 | | | | page 19

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