Berling Antikva by Forsberg Karl-Erik - 1952

Offering: The rare first edition of the Berling Antiqua manual with 1951-1952 style variants, hand-set in Berling font. The signed English language presentation was made by Forsberg for the esteemed American type designer, Robert Hunter Middleton with the elegant calligraphy in Berling Antiqua. Both designers established their reputations with modern adaptations of Nicolas Jenson's Roman serif letter designs, Hunter Middleton with Eusebius, Forsberg with Berling Antiqua. Roman Typeface: Nicolas Jenson [1420-80] created his finely cut, harmonious Roman typeface for "De Evangelica Praeparatione" by Eusebius in 1470. Centuries after, his work was used as the principal model for creating modern Roman alphabets, William Morris with Gold (1890), Bruce Rogers with Centaur (1915), and Ernst Detterer with Nicolas Jenson (1923) with the vital assistance of Robert Hunter Middleton who continued to extend and refine the type family, beginning with Nicolas Jenson Italic (1929) and continuing to 1941. In 1937, the type family was renamed Eusebius. Edition Note: The manual was designed by Forsberg and printed in black except for, headings, first initials, and some highlighted words in red. It was one of 25 books selected for the 1952 Swedish Book Arts Exhibition at the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. The 1952 issue date is at the foot of the lower side. Rarity: A comprehensive worldwide search finds institution holdings only in Denmark and Sweden. It rarely appears for sale. Condition: Pages: clean with light crease at top corner, gutter with pleated creasing at crown and foot. / Wrappers: light scattered soiling; Upper side with light top corner crease; Spine with slight handling wear. / Binding: solid and reliable, cord between center and top stab holes has slack in closed position but when book is opened, cord is tight and true. Pagination: Complete; 16 pages with twelve pages of facing texts in different styles and sizes, spanning 6-60p, some with alphabets and numerals, illustrated with two rear tables. Format: Publisher's beige wrappers with red and black letters, octavo sewn with beige cord in a three stab-holes saddle binding. Size: 245 x 164 mm. Berling Antiqua: The alphabet is Forsberg's best known typeface and was sold to the Berling Foundry in 1945. A noteworthy modern adaptation of Nicolas Jenson's Roman serif letter designs, it was made for the Swedish language and later adapted for English. Its finely balanced serif style epitomizes modern Nordic letter forms. Weights were added in 1958. It was posthumously updated for digital use in 2004 by Örjan Nordling and Frederik Andersson. Karl-Erik Forsberg [1914-95]: Sweden's grand master of the book arts, born in Munsö, Sweden, trained in typography and calligraphy at the School for Book Crafts, Sweden and the Akademie für Graphische Künste und Buchgewerbe, Leipzig (1938–41), and also, as a compositor at the Gewerbeschule, Basel (1946-47). Artistic director for Almqvist Wiksell (1942-49), printers for Uppsalla University and for publishers, P. A. Norstedt & Söner (Collins) from 1950, where he succeeded Akke Kumlien. Forsberg created several other widely used typefaces, including Lunda and Carolus, as well as logos for Volvo, Swedish Radio, the Royal Library, the City of Stockholm, and University of Stockholm. Reference: Lindegren, ABC of Lettering and Printing Types. Caxton Club, Robert Hunter Middleton, the Man and His Letters. Additional Images: by request.