Hermann Zapf’s Manuale Typographicum

Hermann Zapf (1918–2015) was still a young type designer when he was entrusted with the position of artistic director of the Stempel foundry in 1947. He then had to his credit a fraktur type, Gilgengart, published in 1939. His research calligraphic works are the subject of a work, Feder und Stichel (“Pen and chisel”), transcribed on plates by the punchcutter August Rosenberger, in 1949. Stempel published his Palatino, in 1950, a garalde face which enjoyed great success, as well as an alphabet of capitals, Michelangelo. Then Melior, a réale that the press liked. His Virtuosa (1952) is a calligraphic script, and Saphir, a titling face. When he published his Manuale Typographicum in 1954, it was above all a question of highlighting Stempel’s typefaces, and his own in particular. The work, made up of one hundred typographic plates, organized into scholarly compositions, highlights his creations in the majority of them. Inspired by Vox’s Divertissements typgraphiques, the Manuale, moreover, offers a deeper reflection than the famous prints published by Deberny et Peignot. Zapf, in fact, does not offer applications but typographic interpretations in sixteen different languages of quotes from writers, thinkers, renowned professionals in printing and typography. Among the latter, Germans and Anglo-Saxons largely dominate: Edward Johnston, Bruce Rogers, Rudolf Koch, Jan Tschichold, Stanley Morison, Béatrice Warde, Paul Renner, Max Caflisch, etc. Only one French type designer cited: Fournier-le-Jeune — alongside Lamartine, Victor Hugo and Paul Valéry. As for the compositions and the general aspect of the book that they command, it is clear that Zapf calls for a reconciliation between the supporters of tradition and the moderns, between families of typefaces, between worlds torn apart by the chauvinism of before the war. Symbolically, the last page is devoted to a biblical text composed in Hebrew characters. A typographic masterpiece, recognized as such from its publication, praised in Gebrauchsgraphik, Typographische Monatsblätter, Caractère, etc., the Manuale was only published in a thousand copies. An English reissue was implemented by MIT in 1970.

Document: Archives Signes