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Albertus (typeface)

January 26, 2023

Albertus is a glyphic serif display typeface designed by Berthold Wolpe in the period 1932 to 1940 for the British branch of the printing company Monotype. Wolpe named the font after Albertus Magnus, the thirteenth-century German philosopher and theologian.

Monotype Albertus
CategorySerif
ClassificationGlyphic
Designer(s)Berthold Wolpe
Commissioned byStanley Morison
FoundryMonotype Corporation
Date created1932
VariationsPegasus

Wolpe studied as a metal engraver, and Albertus was modelled to resemble letters carved into bronze. The face began as titling capitals. Eventually a lowercase roman was added, and later a strongly cursive, narrow italic. Albertus has slight glyphic serifs. It is available in light and italic varieties.

The project began in 1932.[1] Titling caps were released first, and the Monotype Recorder of summer 1935 presented the capitals as an advance showing.[2] Other characters and a lower case were added by 1940. Albertus has remained popular since its release and since the end of mass use of metal type phototypesetting and digital versions have been released.

Characteristics

  • In the uppercase "M" the middle strokes descend only partway, not reaching the baseline, in the default version.
  • The uppercase "U" has a stem on the right side.
  • Figures are lining.

In the metal type period, Albertus was offered with alternate characters, including a non-descending 'J' that stops at the baseline, an 'M' that reaches the baseline, and a different ampersand, similar to that used on Dwiggins' Metro.[3][4]

Wolpe later designed Pegasus, a spiky serif design intended to complement Albertus with more body text-oriented proportions. It was less popular and had faded in popularity by the end of the metal type period, although Matthew Carter digitised it and added a bold and italic in 1980 as part of a commemorative exhibition project on Wolpe's work.[5][6]

Use

 
A metal-type specimen for Albertus, showing three alternative characters: a variant "M", "W" and ampersand.

Albertus is used for the street name signs in the City of London, City of London Corporation and London Borough of Lambeth (where Wolpe resided until his death in 1989). Wolpe frequently used it in book jackets he designed for the London publisher Faber and Faber. It has also been used in many other publications.

Outside of publications an adapted version of Albertus is particularly known for its use in surreal British Television series The Prisoner (1967–68), where it was used for all signage in the show's surreal prison village setting, as well as for the series' logo. The key adaptations were the removal of the dots from 'i's and 'j's and an uncial-style 'e'.[7] It is also used for the title card on the American television series How to Get Away with Murder and was the typeface for Electronic Arts from 1999-2006. It is also known for its use by director John Carpenter in the opening credits of several of his films, including Escape from New York, The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China, Prince of Darkness, and They Live.

British band Coldplay used the Albertus Medium variant on the album covers and subsequent single releases associated with their first three albums, Parachutes, A Rush of Blood to the Head, and X&Y.

Premier League team Liverpool F.C. uses the font in the club's brand, ranging from their crest, media, memorabilia and fashion products.

Major League Soccer team Charlotte Football Club uses the font in their brand, including their crest and logotype.

Australian drum and bass band Pendulum used the Albertus Medium variant on the artwork for "Propane Nightmares", "Granite", "Showdown", and "The Other Side".

Uncharted uses the Albertus medium variant in of all the releases.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City uses the font in the film, a tribute to John Carpenter.

Digitisations

Monotype released an updated digital version of Albertus, named Albertus Nova, in 2017. It was digitised by Toshi Omagari as part of a Berthold Wolpe Collection series that included Pegasus and three other Wolpe typefaces.[8][9] Monotype promoted the digitisation with an exhibition at the Type Museum in London.[8][9] Omagari added a number of alternates, including metal type alternates, an 'A' based on Wolpe's lettering and an uncial 'e' used in the production design of The Prisoner.[10][11]

Monotype's previous digital version is also available and Albertus digitisations have also been sold by Adobe, Bitstream, Fontsite, SoftMaker and others.[12][13][14] Bitstream's version is called Flareserif 821.

URW++ released a lookalike version known as A028 for free for use with Ghostscript and TeX. Featuring medium and extra-bold weights but no italics, A028 is widely available on Linux systems and other open source environments.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Albertus Nova". Monotype. 10 October 2019. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  2. ^ "Front cover" (PDF). Monotype Recorder. 34 (2): 1–2. 1935. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  3. ^ Coles, Stephen; Fidlin, Noah (6 May 2015). "Parachutes by Coldplay". Fonts In Use. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  4. ^ Coles, Stephen (21 March 2016). "Albertus 481". Flickr. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  5. ^ Shaw, Paul (10 February 2011). "Overlooked Typefaces". Print magazine. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  6. ^ Margaret Re; Johanna Drucker; James Mosley; Matthew Carter (1 July 2003). Typographically Speaking: The Art of Matthew Carter. Princeton Architectural Press. pp. 6, 73. ISBN 978-1-56898-427-8.
  7. ^ Hall, Alastair (27 February 2015). "The Prisoner". Fonts in Use. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  8. ^ a b "The Wolpe Collection celebrates a quiet legend of design, Berthold Wolpe". Monotype Imaging. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  9. ^ a b Sinclair, Mark (27 September 2017). "Berthold Wolpe: An Uncommon Type". Creative Review. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  10. ^ Omagari, Toshi [@Tosche_E] (27 September 2017). "Albertus Nova has lots of OT alternates. These are some of the basic Latin ones" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  11. ^ Omagari, Toshi [@Tosche_E] (28 September 2017). "Apart from regular OT stuff (e.g. small cap and superscripts), these are unique ones in Albertus" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  12. ^ "Albertus MT". MyFonts. Monotype. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  13. ^ "Flareserif 821". MyFonts. Bitstream. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  14. ^ "Adelon Serial". MyFonts. Softmaker. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  • Blackwell, Lewis. 20th Century Type. Yale University Press: 2004. ISBN 0-300-10073-6.
  • Fiedl, Frederich, Nicholas Ott and Bernard Stein. Typography: An Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques Through History. Black Dog & Leventhal: 1998. ISBN 1-57912-023-7.
  • Jaspert, W. Pincus, W. Turner Berry and A.F. Johnson. The Encyclopædia of Type Faces. Blandford Press Lts.: 1953, 1983. ISBN 0-7137-1347-X.
  • Macmillan, Neil. An A–Z of Type Designers. Yale University Press: 2006. ISBN 0-300-11151-7.
  • Williams, Owen Berthold Wolpe and His Typeface Albertus Letter Arts Review, Vol 20 No 1, 2006

External links

  • Albertus Font Family - by Berthold Wolpe
  • A028: an open-source digitisation of regular and bold roman styles

January 26, 2023
albertus, typeface, albertus, glyphic, serif, display, typeface, designed, berthold, wolpe, period, 1932, 1940, british, branch, printing, company, monotype, wolpe, named, font, after, albertus, magnus, thirteenth, century, german, philosopher, theologian, mon. Albertus is a glyphic serif display typeface designed by Berthold Wolpe in the period 1932 to 1940 for the British branch of the printing company Monotype Wolpe named the font after Albertus Magnus the thirteenth century German philosopher and theologian Monotype AlbertusCategorySerifClassificationGlyphicDesigner s Berthold WolpeCommissioned byStanley MorisonFoundryMonotype CorporationDate created1932VariationsPegasusWolpe studied as a metal engraver and Albertus was modelled to resemble letters carved into bronze The face began as titling capitals Eventually a lowercase roman was added and later a strongly cursive narrow italic Albertus has slight glyphic serifs It is available in light and italic varieties The project began in 1932 1 Titling caps were released first and the Monotype Recorder of summer 1935 presented the capitals as an advance showing 2 Other characters and a lower case were added by 1940 Albertus has remained popular since its release and since the end of mass use of metal type phototypesetting and digital versions have been released Contents 1 Characteristics 2 Use 3 Digitisations 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksCharacteristics EditIn the uppercase M the middle strokes descend only partway not reaching the baseline in the default version The uppercase U has a stem on the right side Figures are lining In the metal type period Albertus was offered with alternate characters including a non descending J that stops at the baseline an M that reaches the baseline and a different ampersand similar to that used on Dwiggins Metro 3 4 Wolpe later designed Pegasus a spiky serif design intended to complement Albertus with more body text oriented proportions It was less popular and had faded in popularity by the end of the metal type period although Matthew Carter digitised it and added a bold and italic in 1980 as part of a commemorative exhibition project on Wolpe s work 5 6 Use Edit A metal type specimen for Albertus showing three alternative characters a variant M W and ampersand Albertus is used for the street name signs in the City of London City of London Corporation and London Borough of Lambeth where Wolpe resided until his death in 1989 Wolpe frequently used it in book jackets he designed for the London publisher Faber and Faber It has also been used in many other publications Outside of publications an adapted version of Albertus is particularly known for its use in surreal British Television series The Prisoner 1967 68 where it was used for all signage in the show s surreal prison village setting as well as for the series logo The key adaptations were the removal of the dots from i s and j s and an uncial style e 7 It is also used for the title card on the American television series How to Get Away with Murder and was the typeface for Electronic Arts from 1999 2006 It is also known for its use by director John Carpenter in the opening credits of several of his films including Escape from New York The Thing Big Trouble in Little China Prince of Darkness and They Live British band Coldplay used the Albertus Medium variant on the album covers and subsequent single releases associated with their first three albums Parachutes A Rush of Blood to the Head and X amp Y Premier League team Liverpool F C uses the font in the club s brand ranging from their crest media memorabilia and fashion products Major League Soccer team Charlotte Football Club uses the font in their brand including their crest and logotype Australian drum and bass band Pendulum used the Albertus Medium variant on the artwork for Propane Nightmares Granite Showdown and The Other Side Uncharted uses the Albertus medium variant in of all the releases Resident Evil Welcome to Raccoon City uses the font in the film a tribute to John Carpenter Digitisations EditMonotype released an updated digital version of Albertus named Albertus Nova in 2017 It was digitised by Toshi Omagari as part of a Berthold Wolpe Collection series that included Pegasus and three other Wolpe typefaces 8 9 Monotype promoted the digitisation with an exhibition at the Type Museum in London 8 9 Omagari added a number of alternates including metal type alternates an A based on Wolpe s lettering and an uncial e used in the production design of The Prisoner 10 11 Monotype s previous digital version is also available and Albertus digitisations have also been sold by Adobe Bitstream Fontsite SoftMaker and others 12 13 14 Bitstream s version is called Flareserif 821 URW released a lookalike version known as A028 for free for use with Ghostscript and TeX Featuring medium and extra bold weights but no italics A028 is widely available on Linux systems and other open source environments See also EditCarter Sans 2011 by Matthew Carter and influenced by AlbertusReferences Edit Albertus Nova Monotype 10 October 2019 Retrieved 16 November 2019 Front cover PDF Monotype Recorder 34 2 1 2 1935 Retrieved 16 September 2015 Coles Stephen Fidlin Noah 6 May 2015 Parachutes by Coldplay Fonts In Use Retrieved 15 April 2016 Coles Stephen 21 March 2016 Albertus 481 Flickr Retrieved 15 April 2016 Shaw Paul 10 February 2011 Overlooked Typefaces Print magazine Retrieved 2 July 2015 Margaret Re Johanna Drucker James Mosley Matthew Carter 1 July 2003 Typographically Speaking The Art of Matthew Carter Princeton Architectural Press pp 6 73 ISBN 978 1 56898 427 8 Hall Alastair 27 February 2015 The Prisoner Fonts in Use Retrieved 9 October 2017 a b The Wolpe Collection celebrates a quiet legend of design Berthold Wolpe Monotype Imaging Retrieved 9 October 2017 a b Sinclair Mark 27 September 2017 Berthold Wolpe An Uncommon Type Creative Review Retrieved 9 October 2017 Omagari Toshi Tosche E 27 September 2017 Albertus Nova has lots of OT alternates These are some of the basic Latin ones Tweet via Twitter Omagari Toshi Tosche E 28 September 2017 Apart from regular OT stuff e g small cap and superscripts these are unique ones in Albertus Tweet via Twitter Albertus MT MyFonts Monotype Retrieved 22 August 2016 Flareserif 821 MyFonts Bitstream Retrieved 22 August 2016 Adelon Serial MyFonts Softmaker Retrieved 22 August 2016 Blackwell Lewis 20th Century Type Yale University Press 2004 ISBN 0 300 10073 6 Fiedl Frederich Nicholas Ott and Bernard Stein Typography An Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques Through History Black Dog amp Leventhal 1998 ISBN 1 57912 023 7 Jaspert W Pincus W Turner Berry and A F Johnson The Encyclopaedia of Type Faces Blandford Press Lts 1953 1983 ISBN 0 7137 1347 X Macmillan Neil An A Z of Type Designers Yale University Press 2006 ISBN 0 300 11151 7 Williams Owen Berthold Wolpe and His Typeface Albertus Letter Arts Review Vol 20 No 1 2006External links EditAlbertus Pro Albertus at Monotype Albertus Font Family by Berthold Wolpe A028 an open source digitisation of regular and bold roman styles Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Albertus typeface amp oldid 1124215211, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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