Fairbank™
Whichever version you believe, it was obvious that Fairbank's design - while undeniably beautiful - was not harmonious with Bembo roman. A second, more conventional italic was eventually drawn and added to the Bembo family.
Fairbank's first design, which was based on the work of sixteenth-century writing master Ludovico degli Arrighi, managed to have a modest life of its own as a standalone font of metal type. It never made the leap into phototype fonts, however, and the face could have been lost, were it not for Robin Nicholas, Monotype Imaging's Head of Typography in the United Kingdom, and Carl Crossgrove, a senior designer for Monotype Imaging in the US.
Nicholas and Crossgrove used the original drawings for Fairbank as the starting point for a new digital design, but this was only the beginning. They improved spacing, added subtle kerning and optimized the design for digital imaging. In addition, Nicholas created an alternative set of lowercase letters, fancy and swash capitals and enough alternate characters to personalize virtually any design project.
By the time his work was complete, Nicholas and Crossgrove had created a small type family that included Fairbank, a revived version of the earlier metal font, and Fairbank Chancery, a more calligraphic rendition of the design. An additional suite of ornate caps, elegant ligatures, and beginning and ending letters accompanies both fonts, as does a full complement of lowercase swash characters. Now, instead of a failed Bembo italic, Fairbank emerges in its true glory: a sumptuous, elegant design that will lend a note of grace to holiday greetings, invitations, and any application where its Italianate beauty is called for."
Monotype Bembo is considered one of the most handsome revivals of Aldus Manutius’ 15th century roman type, yet the companion italic originally designed for it was rejected outright.
Prior to Bembo’s release as metal fonts in 1929, Stanley Morison commissioned renowned calligrapher Alfred Fairbank to create the italic. Fairbank’s design, while undeniably beautiful, was deemed to be inharmonious with the Bembo roman. A second, more conventional italic was eventually drawn and added to the Bembo family.
Fairbank’s design managed to have a modest life as a standalone font of metal type, but it never made the leap into phototype fonts. The face might have been lost, were it not for Robin Nicholas, Monotype’s Head of Typography in the United Kingdom.
Nicholas decided to use the original drawings for Fairbank as the starting point for a new digital design. He improved spacing and optimized the design for digital imaging. Nicholas also created lowercase letters, fancy and swash capitals, and enough alternate characters to personalize virtually any design project.
Nicholas decided to use the original drawings for Fairbank as the starting point for a new digital design. He improved spacing and optimized the design for digital imaging. Nicholas also created lowercase letters, fancy and swash capitals, and enough alternate characters to personalize virtually any design project.
Thanks to this creative revival, Fairbank is no longer a failed Bembo italic, but a sumptuous, elegant design in its own right. Suitable for holiday greetings, invitations, or any application where its Italianate beauty is called for, Fairbank is a true “gem” of a typeface.