Gutenberg’s textura
The dense Gothic type of Gutenberg’s Bible – the first printing type imitated handwriting.
Gutenberg wanted his Bible to look like the finest manuscripts. He therefore made type in textura, the Gothic script used in liturgical books, with several hundred different characters.
Gothic types survived in German-speaking countries and the Nordic region into the 20th century, as fraktur. In Sweden most books were printed in fraktur until the late 18th century.
Materials: Type cast in an alloy of lead, tin and antimony
Manufacture: Cast with a hand mould; Gutenberg used many variants of the same letter to resemble script.
Straight, close-set strokes and angular, diamond-shaped terminals.
Many ligatures and abbreviations, as in manuscripts.
Two columns per page and initials painted by hand afterwards.