Intended especially for book typesetting, the Crabath Collection is a loose interpretation of roman and italic designs from Krabat’s specimen book. The proportions and construction are based on the Garmond Antiqua and Garmond Cursiv samples (figs. 35 and 37). Garmond here denotes a type size of 10 points. The details of the design, the contrast and overall character of the typeface draw on the stylistic traits of several characters of the Missal Antiqua courent sample (fig. 10), with Missal equaling a size of 44 points.
Crabath sensitively reproduces the variation in letterform design for individual sizes with a collection of five optical sizes ranging from Display to Text to Caption. Its distinctive decoration, typical for late Baroque typefaces, is deliberately muted here, so that its overall appearance suits the eye of the contemporary reader. At the same time, the stems of the italics are trimmed more evenly without losing the functional characteristics.
The sets are extensive enough in all weights to meet the needs of everyday digital typesetting. Each set includes small capitals, basic and decorative ligatures, and several figure variations. A pleasant x-height, adequate contrast, and sufficiently pronounced accents for all European languages means that this typeface is especially well-suited for long, complex and difficult-to-set texts, both in printed output and on screen. The delicate nature of the headline styles will likely awaken a desire for typographic compositions on book and magazine covers or on posters.
Václav Jan Krabat (1719—1805) was a privileged burgher of the city of Prague. From 1751, he worked in the Old Town as a type founder. Together with the journeyman Ondřej Zaška of Klatovy and two apprentices, Josef Graf and František Haring, Krabat ran his workshop for more than 50 years in the university building on Celetná Street No. 560, and supplied a number of local printing houses with type. In 1761, he published the very first specimen book of type cast in the Czech lands under the Latin title “Specimen characterum latinorum existentium in Pragensi typorum fusura apud Wenceslaum Joannem Crabat mense Martii Anno 1761”. This volume is made up of four parts. Krabat presents 41 “Latin” typefaces in roman and italic styles on 19 sheets, and another 33 “German” typefaces in fraktur and schwabacher styles on 17 sheets. Six sheets are devoted to 21 Greek and Hebrew typefaces. On the last eight pages he shows ornaments, headers, border elements, and decorative lines. It’s unlikely that the punches for these typefaces were cut in Krabat’s workshop. Apparently he ordered the matrices to be produced according to his needs at the time, as was common, probably from Nuremberg or Vienna.
Crabath Collection is available here.
