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nations. trial Greek and Cyrillic forms are currently going through their first review with these In addition to the large number of Latin cycles diacritic, phonetic and non-European letters, the Brill fonts include support for Greek and Cyrillic text. In this expert advisors.
we are fortunate to have the expert advice of Gerry Leonidas, head of the MA programme in type design at the University of Reading (UK) and acknowledged expert on Greek typography, and of Maxim Zhukov, former typographic advisor to the United Nations.

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type design is an iterative process, involving frequent review and revision, making what are often minute adjustments to the weight of a stroke or other feature, or a tiny adjustment to the width of a letter. Digital font technology certainly makes this much easier and less costly than it was in the 3process Trial Greek and Cyrillic letters. 4. Greek and Cyrillic letters. days of metal type manufacture, but the attention Type design in is an iterative process, involving frequent review and revision, to detail the development of a typeface for setting type design is an iterative process, involving making what are often minute adjustments to the weight of a continuous text is the same. All the forms shown stroke or other feature, or a tiny adjustment to the width of a letter. Digital font frequent review revision, making here are subject to and further review and testing.what By theare often technology certainly makes this process much easier and less costly than it summer of 2009, the roman and italic designs will minute adjustments to the weight of a stroke orin the was in the days of metal type manufacture, but the attention to detail development of a typeface for setting continuous text is the same. be finalised, andor work will be underway on bold other feature, a tiny adjustment tothe the width of a and bold italic types.

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letter. Digital font technology certainly makes this process much easier and less costly than it was in the days of metal type manufacture, but the attention to detail in the development of a typeface for setting continuous text is the same. All the forms shown 4 The design progresses by testing, revision, more heretesting, are subject to further review and testing. By the more revision. Red outline: the initial trial 5. The design progresses by testing, revision, more testing, more revision. Red summer of 2009, the roman and italic designs will form of the lowercase a,the aslowercase presented Brill duroutline: the initial trial form of a,to as presented to Brill during project planning in the spring of 2008. Blue outline: an intermediate revision ing project and planning in the spring of 2008. Blue be finalised, work will be underway on the bold after the first press test in late 2008. Black outline: the current version. On the outline: an intermediate revision after the first press and bold italic types. right, the three letters are superimposed, revealing their subtle but important
test in late differences. 2008. Black outline: the current version, likely close to the final form. On the right, the three letters are superimposed, revealing their subtle but important differences.

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John Hudson Tiro Typeworks, www.tiro.com

Announcing Bst The Brill Typeface r i l Bs r l Bst i . r

brill.nl/brill-typeface

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The Brill typeface: the future in progress

brill.nl/brill-typeface After careful consideration, Brill has taken the initiative of designing a typeface. Named the Brill, it presents complete coverage of the Latin script with the full range of diacritics and linguistics (IPA) characters used to display any language from any period correctly, and Greek and Cyrillic are also covered. There are over 5,100 characters in all. This indispensable tool for scholars will become freely available later this year for non-commercial use. You will be able to download the font package after agreeing to the End User License Agreement. The Brill is available in roman, italic, bold, and bold italic, with all necessary punctuation marks and a wide assortment of symbols. It will be especially welcomed by humanities scholars quoting from texts in any language, ancient or modern. The Brill complies with all international standards, including Unicode. John Hudson of Tiro Typeworks, well-known for his multilingual fonts, is the Brills designer.

output conditions. At a later stage, on-screen rendering in our online products will be tested. When announced in the 2007 report, the new typeface was to be named Brill Minerva. It is now called, more prosaically, Brill. Introduction Aims and benefits; licensing policy For over 325 years, the publishing house of Luchtmans and its Use of the Brill typeface will streamline the publicamodern successor, Brill, have brought to print and now to the process, reducing costs and time-to-market, and Web tion the works of many thousands of scholars working in various branches of the humanities, law, and the sciences. The typographic increasing productivity (the investment is expected needs of these scholars frequently go beyond those of everyday text, to pay for itself in two years). At the same time, because of the languages involved, specialist systems of notation, we shall provide our authors with aover valuable tool, non-standard orthography, or even uncertainty the content of manuscript sources. Recent developments in computerised text at no cost to them, which will ensure that textual processing notably the Unicode Standard for character encoding, integrity is maintained throughout the publication and smart font and layout technologies such as OpenType provide process and beyond that, far into the needs, future, using a framework for addressing scholarly typographic and at thetime Unicode Standard to achieve maximum data the same streamlining the workflow of authors, editors and seproduction staff. curity. Unicode assigns each character of each script The Brill typeface provides its users authors, editors, and service a unique numeric identifier, so that there can be no providers such as typesetters with the fullest support imaginable confusion and corruption as text is moved of the more Latin script. Not only do data the fonts contain nearly every Latin character defined in the Unicode Standard, but they also allow for between different computer systems and programs, the correct placement of any diacritic on any base (Latin) character vastly simplifying data exchange. Only by adoptor on any other diacritic: diacritics can be stacked at will. ing standards such as this can we reliably and easily exploit multimedia output of our multilingual texts. GPOS <mark> and <mkmk> attachment While Brill reserves all rights to the typeface, which therefore does not fall in the Open Source category, we shall offer it as a free download for individuals for non-commercial purposes.

the new Brill types should honour that heritage. Consequently, the Brill fonts may be generally classified as neoclassical in inspiration: the stress axis, the relationship of thin to thick strokes, is close to vertical, and the expansion model of the split nib is systematically applied.

ABCD ABCD WXY WXY ABC ABC WXY WXY

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUV WXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUV WXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

2. Comparison the Baskerville by Brill in recent years, recent of years, top, withfont theused new Brill design at thetop, with the new Brill design at the same nominal size. Note the relative same of nominal size.as Note the relative of robustness the new type, well as its superiorrobustness space efficiency. However, to better respond to the print conditions of Brill publications, the Brill letters are more robust than their historical antecedents. The forms are simpler, allowing the font to be used with confidence down to 9 points in footnotes or other small matter. Brill is also designed to be more efficient in its use of horizontal space than the old Baskerville font. It is slightly narrower overall, and depending on the length and arrangement of paragraphs can result in 13 more lines of text per page. Over the length of a book and, cumulatively, over the print run of an edition, these gains may amount to a significant reduction in the amount of paper used, allowing Brill to reduce its environmental footprint. Since one of the goals of the Brill fonts is to support the great variety of specialised diacritic letters and signs used in academic publishing, andthat to doconforms so in a way that conforms to the high standards soparagraphs in a way to more the high standards of can result in 13 lines of text per of typography set for regular text, attention has been paid to these typography set for regular text, attention has been forms early in the design process.

A custom typeface enables a publisher to take control of typography in a way that isnt possible with off-the-shelf fonts. One of the principal benefits is the harmonisation of text across multiple languages, books and series, contributing to a recognisable Brill look and feel. In a typeface for such a wide range of languages, not only modern but also historical, the basic characteristics of the design need to accommodate worst case characters, even if these might be very rare in publications. Thus, the mostly vertical contrast axis and expansion stroke model of the Brill types were chosen because they favour the mirrored letters of the International Phonetic Association alphabet. There is an inherent stability in this style that makes it more easily adaptable to a wide variety of shapes than, for instance, a renaissance style type with an oblique axis and broadnib modelling. Technically, the Brill fonts have to be able to legibly display any combination of the supported characters that might be encountered in text, including sequences of combining diacritic marks above and below letters, and to be able to do so in typographically sophisticated ways involving smallcaps etc. The OpenType Layout programming in the fonts includes smart contextual rules affecting the shape, spacing and mark positioning of characters. The idea is that users will be able to throw pretty much any text at these fonts and get back a legible and aesthetically pleasing display.

1. Diacritics can be stacked at will.

ABCDEFGHIJKLM the new type, as well as its superior space efficiency. NOPQRSTUVWXYZ However, better respond to the print condiabcdefghijklmnopqrs page. Over to the length of a book and, cumulatively, tions of Brill publications, the Brill letters are over the print run of an edition, these gains may more robust than their historical antecedents. The tuvwxyz amount to a significant reduction in the amount of forms are simpler, allowing the font to be used with paper used, allowing Brill to reduce its environmen confidence down to 9 cicero points in footnotes tal footprint. or other small matter. Brill is also designed to be Since one of the goals ofof the Brill AHILO fonts is than to sup more efficient in its use horizontal space the ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUV port great variety ofis specialised diacritic letters oldthe Baskerville font. It slightly narrower overall, abcdehijlmnopqrsu WXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz and signs used in academic publishing, and to of do and depending on the length and arrangement
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1. Comparison of the Baskerville font used by Brill in

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About the design

At the very end of the 17th Century, two English writing masters, John Seddon and George Shelley, began to experiment with a new style of lettering, using the steel split nib pen, with its characteristic stroke expansion in reaction to writing pressure, to write a formal roman letter similar to typographic forms but unlike any types existing at that time. Indeed, it was not until half a century later that type founders began to create types in this new style, notably John Baskerville, whose neoclassical types have remained popular down to the present day. These types, and the more dynamically extreme romantic or modern types of the 19th Century that derive from the same stroke expansion model, have had long service in Brill publications most Brill books in recent years have been set in a digital revival of Baskerville , and it seemed fitting that the new Brill types should honour that heritage. Consequently, the Brill fonts may be generally classified as neoclassical in inspiration: the stress axis, the relationship of thin to thick strokes, is close to vertical, and the expansion model of the split nib is systematically applied.

- John Hudson, designer, Tiro Typeworks (www.tiro.com)

You can download the font on our website brill.nl/brill-typeface once the Brill is available.

3. Brill roman: the basic alphabet and a selection of diacritic and exotic letters, with some italic letters.

The design of the Brill italic is somewhat unusual: the ascenders on b d etc. do not have the typical serifs, but instead are based on cursive written forms contemporary with the neoclassical letters on which the roman is based.

tuvwxyz AEHILO abcdehijlmnopqrsu 2 Brill roman: the basic alphabet and a selection of diacritic and exotic letters, with initial trial forms of italic letters. The companion italic design is in its first stages of development. trial forms have been made and now need to be press tested alongside the roman. The design of the Brill italic is somewhat unusual: the ascenders on b d etc. do not have the typical serifs,

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