#granjon

cover vignette abstracted from Mars and Venus Surprised by Vulcan [1585] by hendrik goltzius—another version.

greeting set in the goudy garamont italic—vide ‹harmony›. tailpiece of fleuron pair [lanston monotype 294-5]—with whom these cuts originate, no clue.

a london ornament

the first illustration displays digital reissue of monotype’s recutting [english monotype 218] of an arabesque unit. d.l. vervliet attributes the original to robert granjon;¹ however, the unit was also recut by fournier: which served as exemplar for monotype 218 is difficult to say. however, to my eye the monotype recutting looks closer to the original.   vervliet found first display in the office of london printer henry bynneman in 1569 [2nd illustration²], & notes: granjon founts had arrived around this time in london; exiled antwerp punchcutter françois guyot was residing in london & «is known to have provided types to printer John Day».³ vervliet gets his dates from oastler,⁴ but oastler only mentions that john day was among the first london printers to use guyot types, & françois’ son, gabriel guyot, «may have been instrumental» in bringing to london the guyot double pica italic. oastler further gives evidence that guyot, his family, & servants resided in john day’s house in 1568 (françois returned to antwerp in 1570, where he died shortly thereafter). vervliet dismisses guyot as the ornament’s designer on aesthetic grounds.⁵  as evidenced by his italics guyot was an admirer of granjon; indeed, harry carter views guyot’s types as «revolutionary in effect, bringing an archaic regional typography almost into line with Paris». ⁶ the oldest know type specimen by a founder who was not also a printer⁷ is confirmed by carter to show the types of françois guyot (the sheet survived for having been bound in with a set of elizabethan proclamations). arguably, guyot prepared the sheet as advertisement of his types to london printers:⁸ on it appears a solitary ornament, a vine leaf [3rd illustration⁹]. granjon cut many vine leaves—no surprise to find a version by guyot. i must, however, disagree with vervliet on one point: bynneman’s ornament i do not find particularly granjonesque, & the engraving of guyot’s vine leaf seems consistent with the hand that cut bynneman’s ornament.  it is conceivable that day held strikes of guyot ornaments—his property or that of guyot—to cast sorts for use in his office or to sell to other london printers, such as bynneman.

a granjon arabesque

arabesque units recut after those oirignally engraved by robert granjon circa 1578: four units (a‒d in 6), or two pairs, from his eleven-piece combinable flower on small pica [48 in : hendrik d. l. vervliet, Granjon’s flowers, oak knoll press, new castle (del), 2016, p115].

booklet [duardius, 2002]: cover & four spreads 1. cover set in monotype’s recuttings [lanston monotype 701‒4]; first issued in 1923; from the ornament group by bruce rogers to complement the goudy garamont [lanston monotype 248]. composition reproduces digital setting 7 in the 2nd spread.

letterpress on curtis retreeve vellum, rouge.

2‒5. booklet spreads set in monotype’s digital reissue of their recuttings [english monotype 206-9].

digital print [toner] on mohawk superfine softwhite.

specimens 6. ancient founder’s specimen section from a facsimile of the konrad berner specimen sheet, frankfurt, 1592, showing the eleven units in composition. [no. 2 in john dreyfus, Type Specimen Facsimiles, bowes & bowes and putnam, london, 1963]. i have indicated the eleven units following vervliet, lettered a‒k.

7. 1923 showing from the cover of A Journal of Composing Room Efficiency, vol 9: no. 6 [lanston monotype, philadelphia, 1923], rogers’ composition with his recuttings of the four arabesque units, augmented w/ fleurons of renaissance & rococo revival also in the garamont group. he redrew one further unit (k) from granjon’s eleven, however of modified design [lanston monotype 700]—vide ‹vase & screen›, but also drew a large fleuron that is an arrangement (4k in 6 center) of four unaugmented original units [lanston monotype 1022]; both included in the garamont group. 

intellectual club

tongue in taile