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Akzidenz-Grotesk (Re-)Release Dates
Posted by gabrielhl in
31 Jan 2006 — 8:49am
31 Jan 2006 — 8:49am
In Anatomy of a Typeface, A. Lawson says that sometime around the 50s "Berthold reissued the even older Akzidenz Grotesk", but there's no date for the original release or the reissuing. I would be very very thankful if someone pointed me to these dates.
Thank you! :)
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29 Sep 2006 — 10:43am
if you need short passages translated, i'll be happy to help (just not very fast, but i'll do it). not 2 pages full of text, but passages are no problem ;)
29 Sep 2006 — 12:17pm
So Thiery, then you won't translate Wagner's Parsival for me in one night? :-)
ChrisL
29 Sep 2006 — 3:15pm
Now if someone could just translate that chronology for me before I have turn in the research paper on Thursday night...
This is a really rewarding bit of research, but next time I have a two-week deadline I'm not choosing to write about pre-WWI German typeface.
29 Sep 2006 — 6:36pm
jpad, i'll probably be able to do it saturday or sunday (its 3:30AM here, friday night to saturday), so if you'll show me exactly which passage you want translated, i'll translate it. of course i dont know the print/design terms as exact as someone like erik, but i'll try my best.
29 Sep 2006 — 7:50pm
Can I say this has been a thrilling thread, I have my family specimen of Standard (Amsterdam Type), which brings up the point, if AG was just renamed Standard and "BertholdTypes" is now selling both, what gives? Also, Berthold big book in the 70s "E" lists AG and Standard together under AG, interesting, nes't pas?
I have always maintained that to design with AG, you gotta have guts, cause it is a great family, but it is a little wacky here and again and the spacing, well maybe it is just me, but it is a loose cannon.
Beautiful specimens!
The Truth shall set you free
29 Sep 2006 — 8:04pm
"but it is a little wacky here and again"
That is a real truth. With the history of AG, I don't see how it could be anything else. It amazes me that it can work as well as it does. I still can never mix the medium with the regular because they are just too wierd together. The xtra bold is fine though, go figure.
ChrisL
29 Sep 2006 — 8:23pm
Chris, you are right, for instance, the numeral "1" from regular to medium they defy logic to one another, are they they related?! It seems to me that regular seems almost taller, by sight(which gets worse each day) and they seem to me to be spaced very much the same, but it is a beautiful font!
The Truth shall set you free
29 Sep 2006 — 9:39pm
Different weights have different functions (beyond intermixing).
hhp
30 Sep 2006 — 7:40am
I could really use translations of the major events listed in the chronology, especially since I've had trouble with some of the verbs. Just important stuff like the founding or major moves/deaths/etc. Stuff like buyouts or probe releases I can figure out on my own. Thanks!
Also, if it's not verboten to do speak about it, is the stuff Luc Devroye wrote about Berthold and the Hunts accurate?
30 Sep 2006 — 7:55am
"Different weights have different functions (beyond intermixing)"
That is quite true. I have used the different weights. I just meant that the weights in AG do not intermix as well as Univers or Frutiger, for example. This seems to be due to the way AG came about with a mixture of designers, foundries, and time periods. Univers was designed as a system right from the start by one designer in one era so it makes sense that it would be more successful in mixing weights.
ChrisL
30 Sep 2006 — 9:31am
> the weights in AG do not intermix as well as Univers or Frutiger, for example.
But this is exactly why the latter might be deficient in other ways.
hhp
30 Sep 2006 — 12:51pm
> But this is exactly why the latter might be deficient in other ways.
Fruitger or Univers deficient? That's just apostasy! ;)
30 Sep 2006 — 1:10pm
You should hear what I think of Modernism as a whole. :-)
hhp
30 Sep 2006 — 5:35pm
If you ever come to DC let me know, we can get tanked and crack on modernism together.
30 Sep 2006 — 5:46pm
You got it man.
hhp
1 Oct 2006 — 11:13am
Erik, John Kane's book A Type Primer states that you added the oldstyle numbers to AG in 1990. Is this correct? And were any other big changes made in 1990?
1 Oct 2006 — 3:08pm
John Kane’s book A Type Primer states that you added the oldstyle numbers to AG in 1990.
That is correct. But I only did them for the light weight, Akzidenz Grotesk Mager, and only for in-house use on Berthold’s own stationery. It was never supposed to be released. I think that only happened after Berthold went bankrupt in 1993 and the library was taken over by someone claiming to be the legal successor (there is no legal successor to a bankrupt company, unless they would also take over the liabilities). BTW: We (myself and my colleagues at MetaDesign Mark I and II) designed all the forms, invitations, exhibition stands, brochures and type specimens for Berthold between 1983 and 1993, including the revised logo.
17 Oct 2006 — 3:43am
This was one of the most interesting threads I found in this forum.
Thanks for it.
This is a picture of a 84 p Bücher-Grotesk (Akzidenz-Grotesk schmalfett as I learned here from Andreas):
Preußisches Bleisatz-Magazin
7 Nov 2009 — 12:35pm
I have posted a gallery of Standard/Akzidenz—pre-Lange version—specimen scans on Flickr under a Creative Commons license:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28813954@N02/sets/72157622754652530/
7 Nov 2009 — 4:25pm
@ Spiekermann: Thank you for such great content. It says you've been here for seven years and this is the first time I have seen you speak. A valuable contribution.
8 Nov 2009 — 6:36am
@ Christopher Dean: Well, this thread is 3 years old, after all. Find more Spiekermann on Typophile here: http://typophile.com/user/1042/track