gfs-neohellenic-fonts-20090918-38.fc45

The design of new Greek typefaces always followed the growing needs of the Classical Studies in the major European Universities. Furthermore, by the end of the 19th century bibliology had become an established section of Historical Studies, and, as John Bowman commented, the prevailing attitude was that Greek types should adhere to a lost idealized, yet undefined, Greekness of yore. Especially in Great Britain this tendency remained unchallenged in the first decades of the 20th century, both by Richard Proctor, curator of the incunabula section in the British Museum Library and his successor Victor Scholderer. In 1927, Scholderer, on behalf of the Society for the Promotion of Greek Studies, got involved in choosing and consulting the design and production of a Greek type called New Hellenic cut by the Lanston Monotype Corporation. He chose the revival of a round, and almost mono-line type which had first appeared in 1492 in the edition of Macrobius, ascribable to the printing shop of Giovanni Rosso (Joannes Rubeus) in Venice. New Hellenic was the only successful typeface in Great Britain after the introduction of Porson Greek well over a century before. The type, since to 1930’s, was also well received in Greece, albeit with a different design for Ksi and Omega. GFS digitized the typeface (1993-1994) funded by the Athens Archeological Society with the addition of a new set of epigraphical symbols. Later (2000) more weights were added (italic, bold and bold italic) as well as a Latin version.