De Aetna a french renaissance antiqua after Francesco Griffo
De Aetna is a digital font based on the french renaissance antiqua by Francesco Griffo which dates back to 1496. This font is the perfect choice for typesetting large volumes of text, such as novels, poems, biographies or travelogues. Unobtrusive, thanks to its classic elegance and legible, thanks to its balanced proportions.
The character set of De Aetna consists of 655 characters and includes the unicode blocks latin basic, latin additional, latin extended and the german letter “sharp S”. A variety of OpenType features (dlig, hist, calt, hlig, liga, tnum, smcp, onum, frac, dnom, numr, sups, subs, c2sc and a stylistic set) help to meet the requirements for reproducing traditional typography. The font variant “De Aetna RegularPro” is additionally equipped with ink traps for smaller text sizes.
As part of my research on this typeface, I also studied the book “De Aetna ad Angelum Chabrielem Liber” by scholar Pietro Bembo, for which Francesco Griffo cut the typeface on behalf of Venetian printer and publisher Aldus Manutius. The idea of using Bembo's record of a journey to the volcano Etna as a type specimen for my digital reinterpretation was obvious to me.
A limited edition of 50 copies of “De Aetna ad Angelum Chabrielem Liber” is intended as a recognition for those people who have supported me with feedback and advice in the realization of my typeface. However, 40 copies are available as a small gift to all those who request a license of De Aetna over the next few weeks or months.
“De Aetna” is available for purchase at fontspring.
