Roman type

{{Short description|Style of typeface}} [[File:BemboMT.svg|right|thumb|upright|Bembo is a '''roman typeface''' (shown with italic) dating to 1928 based on punches cut by Francesco Griffo in 1494.<ref name="Stanley Morison's Aldine Hypothesis Revisited">{{cite journal|last1=Amert|first1=Kay|title=Stanley Morison's Aldine Hypothesis Revisited|journal=Design Issues|date=April 2008|volume=24|issue=2|pages=53–71|doi=10.1162/desi.2008.24.2.53|s2cid=57566512}}</ref><ref name="palaeotypography">{{cite book|last1=Vervliet|first1=Hendrik D.L.|author-link=H. D. L. Vervliet|title=The palaeotypography of the French Renaissance. Selected papers on sixteenth-century typefaces. 2 vols.|date=2008|publisher=Koninklijke Brill NV|location=Leiden|pages=90–91, etc.|quote=[On Robert Estienne's typefaces of the 1530s]: Its outstanding design became standard for Roman type in the two centuries to follow...From the 1540s onwards French Romans and Italics had begun to infiltrate, probably by way of Lyons, the typography of the neighbouring countries. In Italy, major printers replaced the older, noble but worn Italian characters and their imitations from Basle.|isbn=978-90-04-16982-1}}</ref><ref name="Aldine: the intellectuals begin their assault on font design">{{cite web|last1=Bergsland|first1=David|title=Aldine: the intellectuals begin their assault on font design|url=http://www.bergsland.org/2012/08/book-production/typography/aldine-the-intellectuals-begin-their-assault-on-font-design/|website=The Skilled Workman|date=29 August 2012 |access-date=14 August 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Parkes |first1=Malcolm Beckwith |title=Pause and Effect: An Introduction to the History of Punctuation in the West |date=1992 |publisher=Scolar Press |location=Aldershot, UK |page=215}}</ref>]]

In Latin script typography, '''roman''' is one of the three main kinds of historical type, alongside blackletter and italic. Sometimes called '''normal''' or '''regular''', it is distinct from these two for its upright style (relative to the calligraphy-inspired italic) and its simplicity (relative to blackletter).

During the early Renaissance, roman (in the form of Antiqua) and italic type were used separately. Today, roman and italic type are mixed, and most typefaces are composed of both an upright roman style and an associated italic or oblique style.

==History== Roman type was modelled from a European scribal manuscript style of the 15th century, based on the pairing of inscriptional capitals used in ancient Rome with Carolingian minuscules.

Early roman typefaces show a variety of designs, for instance resembling what would now be considered blackletter.<ref name="The first roman fonts">{{cite web|last1=Boardley|first1=John|title=The first roman fonts|url=http://ilovetypography.com/2016/04/18/the-first-roman-fonts/|website=ilovetypography|date=18 April 2016 |access-date=21 September 2017}}</ref><ref name="Unusual fifteenth-century fonts: part 1">{{cite web|last1=Boardley|first1=John|title=Unusual fifteenth-century fonts: part 1|url=http://ilovetypography.com/2014/02/08/unusual-fifteenth-century-fonts/|website=i love typography|date=7 February 2014 |access-date=22 September 2017}}</ref><ref name="Unusual fifteenth-century fonts: part 2">{{cite web|last1=Boardley|first1=John|title=Unusual fifteenth-century fonts: part 2|url=http://ilovetypography.com/2015/07/01/unusual-fifteenth-century-fonts-part2/|website=i love typography|date=July 2015 |access-date=22 September 2017}}</ref> Printers and typefounders such as Nicolas Jenson and Aldus Manutius in Venice and later Robert Estienne in France codified the modern characteristics of Roman type, for instance an 'h' with a nearly straight right leg, serifs on the outside of the capital 'M' and 'N', and 'e' with level cross stroke, by the 1530s.<ref name="Venetian origins of roman type">{{cite web|last1=Olocco|first1=Riccardo|title=The Venetian origins of roman type|url=https://articles.c-a-s-t.com/the-venetian-origins-of-roman-type-a856eb3f0cb|website=Medium|publisher=C-A-S-T|access-date=27 January 2018}}</ref><ref name="A View of Early Typography up to about 1600">{{cite book|last1=Carter|first1=Harry|title=A View of Early Typography up to about 1600|date=1969|publisher=Hyphen Press|location=London|isbn=0-907259-21-9|pages=72–4|edition=Second edition (2002)|quote=''De Aetna'' was decisive in shaping the printers' alphabet. The small letters are very well made to conform with the genuinely antique capitals by emphasis on long straight strokes and fine serifs and to harmonise in curvature with them. The strokes are thinner than those of Jenson and his school...the letters look narrower than Jenson's, but are in fact a little wider because the short ones are bigger, and the effect of narrowness makes the face suitable for octavo pages...this Roman of Aldus is distinguishable from other faces of the time by the level cross-stroke in 'e' and the absence of top serifs from the insides of the vertical strokes of 'M', following the model of Feliciano. We have come to regard his small 'e' as an improvement on previous practice.}}</ref>

==Use today== Popular roman typefaces include Bembo, Baskerville, Caslon, Jenson, Times New Roman and Garamond.

The name ''roman'' is customarily applied uncapitalized distinguishing early Italian typefaces of the Renaissance period.

Roman is used as the default font in LATEX.

==See also== * Gaelic type * History of Western typography * Serif

== Notes == {{reflist}}

== References == * Bringhurst, Robert (2008), ''The Elements of Typographic Style'' (version 3.2). Vancouver: Hartley & Marks. Often referred to simply as "Bringhurst", ''Elements'' is widely respected as the current English-language authority on typographic style. * Nesbitt, Alexander ''The History and Technique of Lettering'' (1957), Dover Publications, Inc. {{ISBN|0-486-40281-9}}. The Dover edition is an abridged and corrected republication of the work originally published in 1950 by Prentice-Hall, Inc. under the title ''Lettering: The History and Technique of Lettering as Design''.

== External links == * {{Wiktionary-inline|roman}}

Category:Typography