Type with Norwegian characters?
I am fairly new to letterpress, and am at the point where I’m searching for a typeface(s) to use as my “workhorse” face, like say Garamond or Cloister Lightace, and/or a sans serif. I would like to have the ability to set type in Norwegian, therefore best if whatever I choose has the characters æ, ø and å included. In my search, I’ve yet to find any fonts ( let alone Garamond, etc) with ø and å included, or even mentionings of them being available. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to where I might look? Any reliable European sources/ websites to check?
I realize an alternative would be to go the Boxcar base/plates route when typesetting in Norwegian, but I like the flexibility of type and haven’t yet made the investment in a base.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Kurt
No.0 Poco Proof Press
kdaniels
Try Michael Bixler (Google). I don’t buy metal anymore but if anyone would have the extra characters you need it would be him. English Monotype typefaces exclusively (I think).
Gerald
http://BielerPress.blogspot.com
I think you can custom order them from M&H type, at http://www.arionpress.com/mandh/catalog.htm the catalogue states:
“NOTE: Numbered pages from 1 to 18 are not included in this facsimile; these pages in the printed catalog contained listings of thousands of foreign language accents, fractions, special characters and related information. Please inquire for details.”
The Danish-Norwegian alphabet is common enough that Ø/ø and Å/å should be available. Æ/æ is also found with more common sets of English ligatures.
-Kim
M&H certainly has the characters mentioned, but except for æ, they don’t generally go beyond 12 or 14 point. Display sizes will be a real problem.
It used to be a common practice to substitute special characters from other faces with suitable weight and x-height, but I wonder if many of today’s users would accept that?
I know we have some of your accents in some faces; it depends which sizes and faces you’re after.
I’m pretty certain that we could make matrices for most accents you require. Display sizes are a problem, but accents up to 24pt are normally possible.
If you want to talk about it in a bit more depth, drop me a line on [email protected]
If you want to go the route of Foundry type,
www.schriftenservice-d-stempel.de/index_en.htm
ALL european Foundry type can be specified for any european language (the number of specific letters may change in the casting list) with the country specific accents added.
Caslon is one face used in Denmark and available somewhere in text and display sizes. Nordlunde printed using what they called Monotype Bembo, and of course a number of other faces.
I had someone (Bixler?) cast Albertus on 36 point to cover the Scandinavian languages and German, in the process allowing for the accents on capitals.
Med venlig hilsen
typenut
Schriftenservice Stempel no longer trades under that name, it’s Rainer Gerstenberg now and he can be reached here: [email protected]
Thank you all for the leads! Much appreciated.