Created by UK designer Richard Yeend in 2002, Linotype Buckingham Fraktur constitutes a remarkable calligraphic blackletter face. Blackletter refers to typefaces that evolve out of Northern Europe's medieval manuscript tradition. Often called gothic, or Old English, these letters are identified by the traces of the wide-nibbed pen stroke within their forms. Many different forms of blackletter typefaces have been developed over the centuries. Since the 1500s, fraktur faces have been the favorite variety of blackletter available. First developed in 1517 in Nuremberg, Germany, fraktur faces were among the most widely used types in Northern Europe until the early 20th century. As the name implies, Buckingham Fraktur is an English version of this style. Remarkably, Yeend's letters retain the style of the pen stroke that must have drawn them. The typeface Linotype Buckingham Fraktur has two supplementary fonts available for purchase: Linotype Buckingham Fraktur DFR contains many alternate characters, such as the long s and historical ligatures. These characters are necessary for the setting of historical documents. Linotype Buckingham Fraktur Alternate contains alternate letters that convert the first and last letters of individual lines of text into swash-like elements. This addition allows for the setting of extra calligraphic-like texts or pages. All three Linotype Buckingham Fraktur fonts are part of the Take Type 4 collection from Linotype GmbH. |
