R41 Barnum Regular

R41 Barnum

R41 Clerville Regular

R41 Clerville

R41 Donatello Regular

R41 Donatello

R41 Etoile Regular

R41 Etoile

R41 Gotico Regular

R41 Gotico

R41 Inglesi Allungati Regular

R41 Inglesi Allungati

R41 Orlando Regular

R41 Orlando

R41 Popera Regular

R41 Popera

R41 Ritmo Regular

R41 Ritmo

type designer, R41

This display face issued in 1910 embodies a style in vogue during “La Belle Epoque,” a time when the floral style was supreme in all art’s fields. This very condensed type is still in use today, not not only for its design but also for the advantages of its narrow dimensions. It has been used in famous Italian newspapers and is part of the Italian visual history, announcing events such as the First World War I, the sinking of Titanic and the first intercontinental flight.

Clerville is an homage to the fervid Italian comic book period of the 1960s, known for its vibrant calligraphy and lettering aesthetic. This typeface takes inspiration from icons such as Diabolik and other works from that decade, characterized by bold and dynamic strokes. Energetic and elegant, Clerville captures the essence of stylized calligraphy typical of that period when adventure, horror and intrigue were woven into every vignette, with letter is carefully drawn to reflect that distinctive lettering.

This series introduced in 1928 is inspired by the English civilité or bâtarde design — slightly rounded and without connecting strokes. Its classical design gives it a modern yet timeless appearance. As with other English hand scripts, it produces the perfect effect for delicate works where harmonious lines are required, such as letterheads, greeting cards, announcements, and visiting cards.

Etoile is based on the display lettering of A. M. Cassandre’s famous 1927 poster for Étoile du Nord. R41’s revival of this lettering draws upon numerous other styles of Art Deco lettering to provide a playful new expression of that iconic era.

This comes from Nebiolo typefaces designed at the end of the 19th century. This style of type, of Nordic origin, started in France in the Medieval Age and was adopted in Germany as the national character. It was imported into Italy through the codices of that time and then from the incunabula by German printers.It has an artistic and decorative quality in addition to the remarkable dignity in its stern shapes.

Toward the end of the 19th century, the notable increase in commercial and advertising printing — compared to book printing — required letters with extreme contrast in order to attract attention, such as the very black neoclassical Norman style. The newspapers, on the other hand, for obvious reasons of space, asked for narrow or very narrow characters for their sub-headings: thus the so-called narrow and elongated Bodonian (caratteri allungati) characters proliferated. Inglesi Allungati was born from this need: originally published as an alphabet with uppercase and lowercase letters around the early 1900s, it was subsequently modified into a pure uppercase alphabet and remained so until its disappearance from the Nebiolo catalog around 1960. R41 Inglesi Allungati is an extremely elegant font, ideal for titles and subtitles that require immediate attention with extreme refinement.

Originally issued by Nebiolo in 1920, Orlando is a transitional style capturing the taste and design of the 19th century. It can be used in those particular cases where classical-inspired effects are desirable.

Popera is based on a sample of wood display type manufactured by Societá Nebiolo of Turin, originally shown in an undated specimen. R41’s digital version breathes new life into the orignal fragment, featuring lively contextual alternates and a playful all-caps Ornato style with bifurcated serifs.

This display type was created in 1955 by Aldo Novarese. The design of Ritmo is useful for advertising material; it is significant and expressive face in its original forms, and useful where a unique decorative type is wanted for a special effect. The whole design is uniformly compact. The effect is fascinating, and in spite of its blackness it appears to flow easily.

Ariel Brandolini