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Fairbank

Fairbank™

by Monotype
Individual Styles from $29.99
Complete family of 2 fonts: $125.99
Fairbank Font Family was designed by Steve Matteson, Alfred Fairbank, Monotype and published by Monotype. Fairbank contains 2 styles and family package options.

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About Fairbank Font Family


Monotype Bembo is generally regarded as one of the most handsome revivals of Aldus Manutius' 15th century roman type, but the original had no italic counterpart. The story is told that Stanley Morison commissioned Alfred Fairbank, a renowned calligrapher, to create the first italic for Bembo, which was released as metal fonts in 1929. Alfred Fairbank, however, claimed that he drew the design as an independent project and then sold his drawings to Monotype. According to him, the statement has been made that I was asked to design an italic for the Bembo roman. This is not so. Had the request been made, the italic type produced would have been different."

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."

Designers: Steve Matteson, Alfred Fairbank, Monotype

Publisher: Monotype

Foundry: Monotype

Design Owner: Monotype

MyFonts debut: Oct 13, 2005

Fairbank™ is a trademark of The Monotype Corporation and may be registered in certain jurisdictions.

About Monotype

The Monotype Library is one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of typefaces, featuring original designs of historical importance and a fresh range of contemporary and fashionable fonts. The Monotype Library includes thousands of timeless classics, hand-crafted revivals and original designs from many of the most innovative type designers and foundries in history. This distinctive, award-winning library of premium fonts provides brands and designers with a broad and reliable selection of typefaces for expressive typography in print and on screen. The Premium Foundry page can be viewed Here.

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