Poliphilus®

Poliphilus is a facsimile of the text of the 'Hypnerotomachia Poliphili', after which it is named, published by Aldus Manutius in Venice in 1499, using a type that had been cut by Francesco Griffo. As a design, Poliphilus is related to Bembo, but whereas Bembo was redrawn, with the intention of making a new face based on an old design, Poliphilus is an exact copy of fifteenth century printing on hand made paper. So exact in fact that even the original ink spread is reproduced. This may not seem like a very sound idea for a typeface, but the letterforms are good and the design is functionally successful. Blado, the italic for use with Poliphilus, was used by Antonio Blado in 1539, and designed by the calligrapher Ludovico degli Arrighi. The Poliphilus font is used mainly for book and text work.