Perpetua (typeface)

Monotype Perpetua
CategorySerif
Designer(s)Eric Gill
FoundryMonotype Corporation
Date released1929–32
VariationsPerpetua Titling

Perpetua is a serif typeface that was designed by the English sculptor and stonemason Eric Gill for the British Monotype Corporation. Perpetua was commissioned at the request of Stanley Morison, an influential historian of printing and adviser to Monotype around 1925, when Gill's reputation as a leading artist-craftsman was high.[1] Perpetua was intended as a crisp, contemporary design that did not follow any specific historic model, with a structure influenced by Gill's experience of carving lettering for monuments and memorials. Perpetua is commonly used for covers and headings and also sometimes for body text and has been particularly popular in fine book printing.[2][3][4] Perpetua was released with characters for the Greek alphabet and a matching set of titling capitals for headings.

Perpetua is named for the Christian martyr Vibia Perpetua, an account of whose life was used in one of its first showings. Its companion italic is named "Felicity" for her companion of that name. The choice had appeal to Morison and Gill, both of whom were converts to Catholicism.[5][6]

  1. ^ Brewer, Roy. Eric Gill: The Man Who Loved Letters.
  2. ^ Simon Loxley (12 June 2006). Type: The Secret History of Letters. I.B.Tauris. pp. 162–4. ISBN 978-1-84511-028-4.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Seddon2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Perpetua". Microsoft Typography. Microsoft. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
  5. ^ Poole, J. Stephen (January 1982). "Stanley Morison, Catholic and Man of Letters". The Heythrop Journal. 23 (1): 51–55. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2265.1982.tb00629.x.
  6. ^ Burns, Tom. "Stanley Morison - the man within". The Tablet. Retrieved 9 October 2016.