Balík: fonts-gfs-solomos (1.1-5)

ancient Greek oblique font

From the middle of the 19th century an italic font with many calligraphic overtones was introduced into Greek printing. Its source is unknown, but it almost certainly was the product of a German or Italian foundry. In the first type specimen printed in Greece by the typecutter K. Miliadis (1850), the font was listed anonymously along others of 11pts and in the Gr. Doumas' undated specimen appeared as «11pt Greek inclined». For most of the second half of the century the type was used extensively as an italic for emphasis in words, sentences or excerpts. In 1889, the folio size Type Specimen of Anestis Konstantinidis' publishing, printing and type founding establishment also included the type as «Greek inclined [9 & 12 pt]».

Nevertheless, the excessively calligraphic style of the characters, combined with the steep and uncomfortable obliqueness of the capitals, was out of favour in the 20th century and the type did not survive the conformity of the mechanical type cutting and casting. The font has been digitally revived, as part of our typographic tradition, by George D. Matthiopoulos and is part of GFS' type library under the name GFS Solomos, in commemoration of the great Greek poet of the 19th century, Dionisios Solomos.