Type to Print: The Book & The Type Specimen Book

Geometry of Type > Tory

GEOFFROY TORY (1480-1533)
Champ Fleury
Paris: Par Maistre Geofroy Tory de Bourges...Et par Giles Gourmont, 1529

Geoffroy Tory, one of the major printers in Paris during the first third of the sixteenth century, wrote and printed this theoretical treatise on the design of Roman capital letters in 1529. He was rewarded by François I with the title of Imprimeur du Roi in 1531.

Like Dürer, whom he criticizes, he shows how to draw letters with geometrical aids, and how their proportions relate to the human body. Although the book was not aimed at the printing trade, the work is mentioned by many subsequent writers on lettering and printing and has had a great influence on typography.

American Type Founders Company Library

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