The design of Sabon Next by Jean François Porchez, a revival of a revival, was a double challenge: to try to discern Jan Tschichold’s own wishes for the original Sabon, and to interpret the complexity of a design originally made in two versions for different systems. He first was designed for use on Linotype & Monotype systems. He second version of Sabon was designed for Stempel handsetting, and it seems closer to a pure interpretation of Garamond without many constraints. Naturally Porchez based Sabon Next on this second version and also referred to original Garamond models, carefully improving the proportions of the existing digital Sabon while matching its alignments. The family includes 6 weights up to black, including small caps for most of the weights, various numerals sets and ornaments. The numerals by default are revised lining figures designed a little smaller in size than capitals.

About Sabon Next revival by Jean François Porchez

Everyone has noticed, Tschichold’s Sabon is itself a kind of revival. So, what a great challenge, to revive a revival! Does Sabon is an original design by Jan Tschichold, or a Garamond revival? Jean François Porchez always seen his Sabon as a life achievement of one of the most important typographer of the last century. Perhaps, he has designed the typeface he searched during all his erudite type life user without finding it? As we speak about a Garamond, one might ask: do we really need another one? All Garamonds are not truly based on original letterforms of Claude Garamond, the master French punchcutter from the sixteenth century.

Designing Sabon Nextin in 2002

The design of Sabon Next was a double challenge: to try to discern Tschichold’s own wishes behind the letterforms we know today, and how to interpret the complexity of a design made commonly for three completely different composition systems, Stempel, Linotype and Monotype.

Back in 1988, he realized that the actual digital version was not exactly what he have appreciated very much in one of his earlier reading, the Sebastian Carter book on type designers, he understood that there were at least two versions of the original Sabon: The usual we found at Linotype and Adobe today, who came from the Mergenthaler version who himself came from the Linotype–Monotype matrices versions produced from 6 to 12pts.

Compared to the Linotype-Monotype version, the Stempel version is a real beauty for the eyes of amateurs, and naturally he started from this version to revive it. At Linotype, Otmar Hoefer fond a way to do print outs from Stempel versions, in one his printer shop friends. That was his basis. This version has its own limitations too, notably the short, top curve of lowercase f, perhaps maintained for consistency with the small-size version, and some minor width limitations also.

An early version of Tschichold’s design is shown in a proof from 1962, before the full extent of technical limitations had been imposed on him: this example, which came to my attention by Christopher Burke, only at the end of the Sabon Next design process, confirmed him in his assumptions. This earlier drawing demonstrate the difference between his ideal Garamond and his skills in front of a problem. It’s why Caflish who published this earlier sample, called it New Antiqua to avoid any reference to the future Sabon? Or just he used this name to kept the project secret? What is interesting with this earlier sample, is that it confirm the wishes of Jan Tschichold. It show a magnificent Garamond revival with many small details missing in the Sabon, because of the technical constraints described before.

Jean François tried to take design decisions after a careful review of the official sources of the original Sabon. Tschichold claimed that he took the Egenolff-Berner type specimen sheet as the model for his revival of Garamond. This specimen sheet (of mostly French types) was produced by a German typefoundry in the sixteenth century and so provided a good opportunity to give local roots to a new version of a Garamond commissioned initially by the German Master Printers as Jan Tschichold mentioned: “It is none other than Jakob Sabon to whom credit can be accorded for having prepared the way for the typefaces of Garamond and Granjon into Germany.” Then, it can’t be more obvious to use Sabon to call the Jan Tschichold Garamond! But, despite all this story, Jean François Porchez don’t think that the official models that appear in this specimen, Saint Augustin and Paragon, were the only models followed by Tschichold for the design of his Sabon.

There is a lot of Garamond

There is many differents typefaces called today Garamond, but most of them just belong to the Garalde category, done in same period, by various punchcutters under the guidance of Garamond, or by others without any links to the master himself. At the death of Claude Garamond, when his punches and matrices were dispatched to Le Bé, Plantin and others, none of the new owners got all sizes, and it was natural to cut a missing size for a particularly job.

Considering that the enlargement of examples was a more difficult task in the 50s than it is for us with the digital facilities of today, perhaps it was easiest for Jan Tschichold to partly follow a type that already existed in a much larger size? When you are in the process of a type revival, designing letter after letter, each day of your week, you feel the letterforms in a unique way; you are ‘in communion’ with the letterforms. The design of the C and G capitals done in June 2002 he remember the Béziers adjustments he have done to precisely kept the dynamics of the sources. He realized that the Stempel proof made especially for the project did not have enough similarities with the Egenolff-Berner specimen.

He began some research and discovered that Tschichold had published an example of a Roman in is his book Treasury of alphabets and lettering, “Lettres de deux points de Petit Canon by Guillaume II Le Bé,” which clearly demonstrated common ground with Tschichold’s version. The type was in fact cut by the senior Le Bé (father of Guillaume II) who after Garamond’s death purchased most of his punches & matrices and later cut other sizes in the typical style of the master.

An exchange of e-mails with James Mosley also helped him to confirm some of his thoughts. He asked him about sources for some Garamond types and particularly those sizes we find on the Egenolff-Berner sheet, and explained the reasons behind my searches. Straight away James answers showed that they had the same view on this question: “I’m sure Jan Tschichold looked at the Garamond St Augustin and Parangon on the Berner sheet, but it was far easier for him to take much of his design from the Le Bé types because they were bigger and easier to see! As you say – certain special features show this clearly.”

Working with Linotype

When the project started, Bruno Steinert, the boss of Linotype at the time offered Jean François the great freedom on how it will be done and he imagined to create more than a simple display, an extensive specimen, actually designed by Muriel Paris, with some background on Jan Tschichold and the original Sabon wrote by Christopher Burke, to add a cultural and intellectual value to the specimen.

Sabon Next was is unique true revival at the time, in a sense that he have to respect the multiple facets of the history of a typeface. It was possible because it was made for Linotype, the actual owner of of the rights of Sabon since the mid 60s. At no time would he have imagined being able to revive a design from the 1960s which is still protected by copyright: you have to wait 70 years after the death of the author under French law.