Theuerdank
Emperor Maximilian’s chivalric romance, printed in one of the first fraktur types with flourishes that look handwritten.
Theuerdank was part of Maximilian’s propaganda and was printed on vellum for the court. Fraktur then became the German standard type until 1941. Copies are in the Bavarian State Library and the British Library.
Materials: Vellum and paper, letterpress, woodcuts
Manufacture: The type had several variants of each letter and swash additions, so the setting looked like calligraphy.
The long flourishes reaching from the letters into the margin.
The broken, narrow letters of fraktur.