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èéôåâøôéä òáøéú: îàîøéí —
îëúáéí îòæáåðå ùì àéúîø ãåã
îëúáéí îòæáåðå ùì
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ãåã îòåìí ìà úéàø áëúá àú òéöåá äàåú ãåã, àáì áòæáåðå ðùàøå îëúáéí ùùåôëéí àåø
òì äù÷ôåúéå áòðééï, åëï èéåèú äøöàä ùðùà. äîëúáéí äììå äåòáøå àìé (ñéåï
èåìãå) òì éãé äìï áøðãùàôè, ùèéôìä áòæáåðå. çì÷ âãåì îäòæáåï ðîñø òì éãé äìï
áøðãùàôè á-1997 ìàøëéåï Cary Collection áîëåï
äèëðåìåâé ùì øåö'ñèø áàøöåú äáøéú. úìîéãä áàøëéåï, ñåæï ÷åìåãðé, äëéðä îñîê PDF ùîúàø áìååéú àéåøéí àú äçåîø ùì ãåã
ùáàøëéåï. Letter to Abram Kanof, MD, “I would consider the design of “David Hebrew” one of my important
works. It is comprised of a series of
contemporary Hebrew alphabets forming together a family. It was designed for the Intertype
Corp. I am aware that to many that is
a very esoteric matter, but to me it is an important area of
self-expression. I attempted and I
hope succeeded to fuse a sound cultural, historic foundation with a true
personal present-day expression.” Letter to Sam Bleir (Technomark) Dear Mr. Blier, In answer to your
letter which came (as the saying is better late than never) I have to state
that only the Intertype faces for hot metal are true to my original designs,
intended for letter sizes between 8 and 12 points of shaded or serifed
nature. Larger sizes need corrective
changes in order not to look blow ups of small letters. This applies specifically to shaded or
serifed letter forms. These adjustments I made. … Complete letter to Mr. Soifer Oct. 3, 1972 Dear Mr. Soifer, As loyal followers of
Dr. Leslie’s lectures we have been aware of your coming and I am sure that
your lecture will be of special interest to a good number of the group that
usually attends. I am very glad to provide you with some data of David Hebrew, if this
will be of help to you. The design of
it goes back to about 1937, it represented a family of nine. Three basic variations, standard, oblique
and sans serif, each design in three weights, light, medium and bold. They all fitted together in style as well
as in measurement, any two of these nine variations could be paired on
Intertype matrices. From the start I
had planned these alphabets for slug composition. Monotype equipment, at that time, was not
in operation in Palestine and it seemed unlikely that it would be introduced
in the foreseeable future. My dream
was to enable every printer in the country to produce well planned and well
organized printing for books and commerce, aesthetically comparable to
printing with Roman type. In 1939, while in New
York, I began negotiating with the Interype Corporation, but the war
postponed any decision. In 1950, I
finally concluded an agreement with Intertype. This included the standard and the oblique
versions, each in three weights, I then redesigned these six variations and
provided the final work drawings, which were finished in 1952. My dream of the large
family, including a sans serif never materialized, only in an essay about
Hebrew typefaces by Dr. Spitzer, for the Schoken-Festschrift is the full
scheme shown. Around 1954, the
first sets in 12 pt. were issued and since then, many sizes have been added. In later years, I
designed some display faces for photo-composition. The titles and chapter openings in the
Berman Siddur show one of these. I did
not design the book, only binding, box jacket and calligraphic elements. Of
another photo-lettering design, I enclose a sample. The book “The Five
Megilloth and Esther” I designed but I consider it a rather unfortunate
production job. I had to use the Hebrew from deteriorated plates of the
Soncino edition of these books which in turn had been lifted from still older
plates of earlier edition. (The curse of present day photo offset that makes
such ventures possible and so often tempting to publishers.) At the present time I
am involved in a Hebrew-English edition of The Psalms. The Hebrew will be
David Hebrew, the book will also have 58 line drawings which I did in recent
years. I hope that this will be
considered a contribution to contemporary bi-lingual printing of books of
quality. The edition is scheduled for 1973. I cannot claim any
more contributions to Hebrew printing, as much as I would have liked to do
more work in this field. We are looking
forward to greet you here and hope that you will be able to spend sometime,
perhaps an evening, with us. With best belated
wishes for the New Year and greetings from Dorothy and myself. Sincerely, P.S. Our home address is 1001 Jerome Avenue, N.Y., N.Y. 10452. The label shows the new address of my
studio. Notes about David Hebrew probably in response to a letter from
Elaine Varady, Israel Museum which received the originals for redesign of
David Hebrew for digital process (for Stempel) Agnon’s A Stray Dog was the first book printed in my Hebrew. It was Dr. Spitzer who made this
selection. The first international
showing: my contribution to Liber
Librorum. 1933- conception of
the family of book, cursive and even stroke, each in three weights. 1934-1950 The
development of preliminary variations 1951 contract with
Intertype Corp 1951-1952 final
drawings 1954 year of issue Letter to Yehuda Miklaf (response to letter dated Dec. 24, 1990) Dear Mr. Miklaf, I always had hoped to
be able to contribute to the development of Hebrew printing. In 1933 when the only available book faces
were Frank Rühl and a Meruba version; while Miriam and Chayim the only
commercial faces (none available in more than one weight), the idea came to
me that there should be one new basic typeface, free from form corruptions
that have beset Hebrew type development during the last centuries. But this new design should be so basic that
it would lend itself to three variations:
book face, italic and even stroke.
Each of these three I began to visualize in three different weights
light medium and heavy. The book face
and italic version in light weight were the first to be issued by Intertype
Corp. They are authentic. Jerusalem Foundry’s type is not. I was never shown any sample and never okayed
any. The serif-like beginnings of each
letter I consider misinterpretations of my design. The hand type used for Liber Librorum which
I had designed was cast without my supervision but with my full consent on
the Thompson caster, a device which casts from Linotype matrices. Clark and Way a firm long out of business
had enough type cast for this project but as they were not typesetters of
Hebrew they gave at least some of this type to Erich Wronker, Lili Wronker’s
husband. Authentic Foundry type of
David Hebrew does not exist. At present
most of Hebrew on digital typesetting equipment is lifted, only one of these
variations which I did for Stempel is authentic. However I realize that a typeface design, if successful, becomes
public domain. It becomes an image
just as older styles which [THAT] we may admire or reject but by the nature
of type become the input for other designers.
I am only unhappy if as has happened someone lifts the design but
calls it DOVID to shirk any responsibility for lifting. The following is a draft for a talk at Typophiles luncheon (the
invitations read: Ismar David Day March 3, 1973.) You can see two beginnings. Dear friends. I don’t know whether I deserve the honor of a David’s
day but I want to use the opportunity to chat a little bit about my latest
major work, The Psalms. A new English
translation in poetry form was set in Mardersteig’s Dante with Hebrew along
side it and drawings accompanying the text.
The two components, the Hebrew, which is David Hebrew and the
drawings, which I had worked on for two years preceding the production, concern
me most. So first something about the
Hebrew. When I decided to
venture into type design of Hebrew characters, it was clear to me that these
designs would have to be much closer to classic oriental Hebrew than the type
faces that had developed in Europe.
The impact that new surroundings had made on me precluded any other
way of thinking. Only the technical
aspects should be considered within the framework of western achievements in
type design. Dear friends. I am grateful for
the honor. After I have been
introduced I want to use this opportunity to elaborate some more on one of my
latest works, The Psalms. The Hebrew
typeface and the specific kind of drawings are the aspects that have involved
me a great deal. The Hebrew developed
over a period of about fifteen years in a time when only few Hebrew typefaces
were available. What I set out to do
was bring basic forms closer to true old Semitic forms, to define their
proportions in a way that would create a more even texture and to develop
from one and the same basic form a shaded text version, an oblique version
and a sans serif. Each of these in
three weights light medium and bold.
Each two of these nine styles would be paired on Intertype matrices. All nine variations would be aligned to
each other. When I could not
resist the temptation to venture into Hebrew type design it was clear to me
that these new designs would have to move much closer toward their Middle
Eastern ancestors and away from those styles that had developed in
Europe. The impact and
impression that new surroundings, the Judean landscape, the eastern way of
life and a new social environment had made, precluded any other
conception. But of course all
technical aspects had to be considered within the framework of Western achievements
in typographical design. I intended to
go one step further than in the conception of a type family and add a sans
serif to text face and oblique and I developed these three variations of one
basic form conception, rendering each of these variations in three weights. Each letter of these nine variations would
fit on the same matrix and line up in print on the same base line. This is always a problem that goes with
designs intended for the line casting machines. In those days no one in Palestine thought
of anything else. I had to come to
grips also with proportions of letters and devised a division of the alphabet
into three groups just one group narrow letters then the group of medium
width that included all letters with only one vertical element with the and
very few others and the third wide group including most letters with two full
vertical elements or more. This system
brought a much higher degree of evenness in structure and texture than is
usual in Hebrew typography which too often suffers from spottiness. The new forms that I
developed, I tried out in newspaper ads, as display matter and on signboards,
of which I designed many, during this period.
I gained confidence as I observed the acceptance that was given to
these new forms. After about 15 years
since my start I finally prepared final drawings for Intertype. Unfortunately the three sans serif designs
were not included in Intertype plans.
Since then the accepted designs for the text face and its oblique
companion have gained wide acceptance.
While in the beginning their use was limited to commercial matters,
more and more books are now set in these faces and it does not any longer
seem strange to see a book like The Psalms set in my Hebrew. That much about type. Now about my
drawings. While I admire western art I am drawn toward the oriental concept
that uses symbols but never tries to imitate nature of to create illusions of
realities. But these symbols are
rendered so that they not only stand for objects but convey qualities of it
as well as a mood and atmosphere.
There is a great difference between the simplistic symbol like the red
cross which you can only recognize for what it is after you have learned its
meaning and the brush delineation of a blossom on a Chinese screen that can
convey so much beyond the form which it symbolizes. In my work lines do not any longer define
shapes but become symbols like letterforms, being straight of curved and
modulated. They are grouped to form patterns
to suggest and stimulate but never to define.
A lot is left to the viewer.
Specifically for drawings that are accompanying religious texts, it
seems to me important that the viewer is not irritated by the style of attire
of figures, the fashion of beards or hairstyles, but is allowed to let his
imagination wander. Of course I also like
to use color. But here, too, I will
not use color in a realistic fashion.
Color can create texture and background. It can create tension. And if used successfully, it will
complement or support my lines and strengthen their impact. So I use lines and color but mainly lines
not in the framework of isms like realism, expressionism or impressionism,
but to serve my own needs, to communicate my ideas, my feelings, but [ALWAYS]
in the service of the book. ñéåï èåìãå, ëì äæëåéåú ùîåøåú.
òåãëï ìàçøåðä áúàøéê þ14/05/2003
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