{{Short description|Display typeface}} {{Infobox font | name = Block | image = Block specimen.png | caption = | style = Sans-serif | creator = Hermann Hoffmann | creationdate = 1908 | foundry = H. Berthold | variations = }} '''Berthold Block''' is a sans-serif typeface released by the H. Berthold foundry in the early twentieth century and intended for display use.<ref name="Fonts in Use">{{cite web|title=Block - Fonts in Use|url=http://fontsinuse.com/typefaces/7572/block|website=Fonts In Use|accessdate=12 June 2016}}</ref> Block has a chunky design suitable for headings, with short descenders allowing tight linespacing and rounded corners.<ref name="Paratype" /><ref name="Typewolf">{{cite web|title=Block Berthold|url=https://www.typewolf.com/site-of-the-day/fonts/block-berthold|website=Typewolf|accessdate=12 June 2016}}</ref> It is sometimes simply called "Block". Font design expert Stephen Coles describes it as "a soft but substantial display face with compact dimensions and an organic appearance…[it] isn’t meant for body copy."<ref name="In Pieces FIU">{{cite web|last1=Coles|first1=Stephen|title=In Pieces website|url=http://fontsinuse.com/uses/9519/in-pieces-website|website=Fonts In Use|date=4 June 2015 |accessdate=12 June 2016}}</ref> The Klingspor Museum credits it to Hermann Hoffmann, who managed type design for Berthold.<ref name="H. Berthold Klingspor">{{cite web|title=H. Berthold AG|url=http://www.klingspor-museum.de/KlingsporKuenstler/Schriftgiessereien/Berthold/BertholdAG.pdf|publisher=Klingspor Museum|accessdate=12 June 2016}}</ref><ref name="Hermann Hoffmann Devroye">{{cite web|last1=Devroye|first1=Luc|author-link=Luc Devroye|title=Hermann Hoffmann|url=http://luc.devroye.org/fonts-43606.html|website=Type Design Information|accessdate=12 June 2016}}</ref>
The original metal type release of Block was intentionally "distressed" in style, matching the effect of worn type; some re-releases have a cleaner design. Ferdinand Ulrich suggests that this was to match the organic feel of advertising lettering of the time, including the work of Lucian Bernhard.<ref name="From Condensed Light to Extended Ultra">{{cite web|last1=Ulrich|first1=Ferdinand|title=From Condensed Light to Extended Ultra|url=https://www.fontshop.com/content/from-compressed-light-to-extended-ultra|publisher=FontShop|accessdate=19 August 2017}}</ref> Block was one of Berthold's most popular typefaces, and was released in a wide range of versions, including lighter weights and type in wood (for large sizes).<ref name="Block in Stahl-Typen">{{cite web|title=Block in Stahl-Typen|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/n1ke/6920901571/|website=Flickr|date=21 February 2012 |accessdate=17 December 2016}}</ref> Metal type versions had stylistic alternate characters such as a more compact 'S' to allow fine-tuning of appearance of type and fit the desired number of characters into a line.<ref name="Alternates on Berthold Block & Berliner Grotesk, 1921 Specimen">{{cite web|last1=Coles|first1=Stephen|last2=Hardwig|first2=Florian|title=Berthold Block & Berliner Grotesk, 1921 Specimen|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/stewf/10957634456|website=Flickr|date=21 August 2008 |accessdate=17 December 2016}}</ref>
==History== thumb|left|The cover of a 1921 specimen of Berthold Block. Note alternate 'S' on SW. Berthold Block was released in 1908; Berthold later added additional weights and styles, also releasing phototypesetting versions.<ref name="Hermann Hoffmann Klingspor Museum">{{cite web|title=Schriftdesigner Hermann Hoffmann|url=http://www.klingspor-museum.de/KlingsporKuenstler/Schriftdesigner/Hoffmann/HHoffmann.pdf|publisher=Klingspor Museum|accessdate=12 June 2016}}</ref><ref name="Berthold BQ">{{cite web|title=Berthold BQ|url=http://www.bertholdtypes.com/font/block-berthold/bq/|website=Berthold Types|accessdate=12 June 2016}}</ref> Berthold also used the name "Block" for a number of other typefaces not particularly closely related to it as a brand extension marketing strategy. These included the script font "Block-Signal" and the blackletter Block-Fraktur.<ref name="Fonts in Use" />
Block continued to be popular in the phototypesetting period; Jens Gehlhaar comments that "with roughened outlines and in bold weights, it was never a candidate for timelessness, but its big x-height and tight fit made it quite popular in 1970s Germany and England."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gehlhaar |first1=Jens |title=Neuwelt: An optimistic transatlantic sans serif type family — Jens Gehlhaar |url=https://jensgehlhaar.com/Neuwelt-An-optimistic-transatlantic-sans-serif-type-family |website=Jens Gehlhaar |access-date=15 December 2021 |language=en}}</ref> It was often used by Praktiker and by the Whitechapel Art Gallery for branding in the 1970s and 80s.<ref name="Whitechapel Art Gallery FIU">{{cite web|last1=O'Connell|first1=Steve|title=Whitechapel Art Gallery|url=http://fontsinuse.com/uses/11497/whitechapel-art-gallery-1|website=Fonts In Use|date=6 January 2016 |accessdate=12 June 2016}}</ref><ref name="Praktiker FIU">{{cite web|last1=Hardwig|first1=Florian|title=Praktiker|url=http://fontsinuse.com/uses/4224/praktiker|website=Fonts In Use|date=11 July 2013 |accessdate=12 June 2016}}</ref> In the late 1970s, Berthold re-released three lighter-weight fonts derived from the Block design as a mini-family named "Berliner Grotesk" for phototypesetting, with the font redraw carried out by Erik Spiekermann.<ref name="From Condensed Light to Extended Ultra" /><ref name="Berliner Grotesk BQ MyFonts">{{cite web|title=Berliner Grotesk BQ|url=https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/berthold/berliner-grotesk-bq/|website=MyFonts|accessdate=21 August 2017}}</ref>{{efn|Sources vary on release date giving 1978 and 1979.<ref name="From Condensed Light to Extended Ultra" /><ref name="Berliner Grotesk BQ MyFonts" />}} ===Digitisations=== thumb|right|Berthold Block in a 1928 Swiss political flyer A variety of digitisations of Block exist, including by Berthold and successor companies and by Bitstream (the condensed weight only).<ref name="BE Block MyFonts">{{cite web|title=Block Berthold BE|url=https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/berthold/block-be/|website=MyFonts|publisher=H. Berthold|accessdate=12 June 2016}}</ref><ref name="Amsi Pro MyFonts">{{cite web|last1=Ruecha|first1=Stawix|title=Amsi Pro (Block digitisation)|url=https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/stawix/amsi-pro/|website=MyFonts|publisher=Stawix|accessdate=12 June 2016}}</ref><ref name="Condensed Gothic 821 MyFonts">{{cite web|title=Condensed Gothic 821|url=https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/tilde/gothic-821/|website=MyFonts|publisher=Bitstream|accessdate=12 June 2016}}</ref> Paratype of Moscow released an expansion with Cyrillic characters in 1997.<ref name="Paratype">{{cite web|last1=Safayev|first1=Tagir|title=Paratype Bloc|url=http://www.paratype.com/pstore/fonts/Bloc.htm|website=Paratype|accessdate=12 June 2016}}</ref> Matthew Butterick's Hermes, first released by Font Bureau and later self-released, is a loose adaptation also inspired by other German grotesque typefaces of the period, adding lighter weights and unicase features.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Butterick |first1=Matthew |title=Hermes Maia ‹ MB Type |url=https://mbtype.com/fonts/hermes-maia/ |website=MB Type |access-date=15 December 2021}}</ref><ref name="Hermes FB">{{cite web|last1=Butterick|first1=Matthew|author-link=Matthew Butterick|title=Hermes FB|url=http://www.fontbureau.com/fonts/HermesFB|publisher=Font Bureau|accessdate=12 June 2016}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist|30em}} {{notelist|30em}}
==External links== * [https://www.flickr.com/photos/stewf/sets/72157637865980384/ 1921 Berthold Block specimen] (digitisation: Stephen Coles) * [https://fontsinuse.com/typefaces/7572/berthold-block Fonts In Use] Category:Sans-serif typefaces Category:Display typefaces Category:Berthold typefaces