About ITC Korigan Bold
Uncial letters were written from the late Roman Empire through the early Middle Ages, their rounded forms being quicker to write with a reed pen than the sharp-angled Roman capitals. There was no division in those days between capitals and lowercase, but uncial handwriting began the evolution of lowercase letters. In this century, we owe the revival of uncial largely to Victor Hammer, who devoted much of his career to creating uncial typefaces and using them in fine printing. When French type designer Thierry Puyfoulhoux set out to design an uncial, he wanted to offer users an alternative to Victor Hammer's American Uncial, which remains for him, “the uncial character of reference”. The roundness of an uncial gives it the look, as Hammer said, of pearls on a string, and ITC Korigan is very much in the spirit of Hammer's type. Despite their extreme roundness, most of the letters in ITC Korigan are familiar in form - the a and g in particular are closer to a regular lowercase than in most historical uncials - which makes it legible to a modern eye. There's much less contrast between thick and thin strokes than in American Uncial, but like Hammer's face, Korigan has accompanying caps, which, except for the D, are roman in form. The black strokes of Korigan Bold are close to the weight of uncial handwriting, but Puyfoulhoux has also provided a carefully spaced light weight. |
