Pietro Bembo / De Aetna.

Giovanni Mardersteig is considered by many to be the finest letterpress printer of all time. Mardersteig was also a scholar of calligraphy and typography. He shared his friend Stanley Morison’s admiration for the 1495 roman font cut by Francesco Griffo for Aldus Manutius. And, like Morison, Mardersteig supervised the production of a revival of that roman type: Morison’s Bembo was made for Monotype machine composition, while Mardersteig’s Griffo font was hand cut for hand composition at the Officina Bodoni. Both versions of this seminal Aldine roman are shown in Pietro Bembo & De Aetna.

At the end of the volume is an informative essay by Mardersteig on the 1495 font and early type production in general.