Erasmus MMXVI
Celebrating the 500-year anniversary of Johann Froben’s printing of the New Testament in 1516 translated by Erasmus of Rotterdam, the Basel Historical Museum initiated a competition for the design of a typeface to be used for the exhibition and related print materials. Judged by a panel of experts and the public-at-large, the winning entry was a font based on Basel’s typographic heritage designed by Katharina Wolff. The influence of Italian letterform models for printing, much admired by Erasmus and the Humanists, is evidenced by the capital letters that retain the qualities of Roman monumental inscriptions and by the robust lowercase letters as designed in Venice. Emulating the handwriting of Erasmus, the italic cut for Wolff’s font is an authentic calligraphic interpretation of a true cursive script, the cancellaresca corsiva.
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