Bremer Antiqua Revival
My revival project for Type West was of the typeface Bremer Antiqua. It was designed in 1912 for Bremer Presse, a small German private press (1911–1939), considered a benchmark in German book design. Willy Wiegand, founder of Bremer Presse, designed the typeface for proprietary use by the press.
Bremer Antiqua is a text typeface intended for use in editorial design for when one requires a conservative typeface with quirky character and rhythmic, dense texture on the page.
The typeface revival was created during Term 1 of Type West with co-instructors Graham Bradley and Kel Troughton, held online at Letterform Archive in 2021.
Typeface Design
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/1c5fa1c42d509bcfa02f876cfadbaf84/e8f3732b-a630-4e17-8077-19a8272b1acc_rw_1920.jpg?h=65a7498fa20e0e81772b833f2f88833c)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/1c5fa1c42d509bcfa02f876cfadbaf84/91df9bfd-4dee-466e-bb20-c24845db08f8_rw_1920.jpg?h=7b4ff7c3cfe081416a09bd33a35dbd89)
Comparison of the revival (right) with the original (left)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/1c5fa1c42d509bcfa02f876cfadbaf84/1d82008e-3534-4a49-8f2c-e8191e3f9da6_rw_1920.jpg?h=804591ed9ae2a6d634ef3d78418a8d05)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/1c5fa1c42d509bcfa02f876cfadbaf84/190a8758-a277-4462-8052-9ded57fe7059_rw_1920.jpg?h=dccfa473027863e20f37c153fe8ec3e2)
The source material was a single page of the book Cornelii Taciti Germania, printed in 1912 (image made available through Ketterer Kunst, an auction house in Italy). A comparison is pictured below.
I missed out a lot of details in my initial sketches—some of them being characteristic of the typeface—which became clearer on closer inspection.
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/1c5fa1c42d509bcfa02f876cfadbaf84/f62127c1-67c8-4537-8dca-2cb39369f608_rw_1920.jpg?h=915c2f8eb9849af638f28f1acc937cbb)
First sketches
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/1c5fa1c42d509bcfa02f876cfadbaf84/cb60d91d-b4b6-4e0d-92d1-43881c924774_rw_1920.jpg?h=731ba109f40c8250d41d1f21134d58cb)
Comparison of the revival (right) with the original (left)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/1c5fa1c42d509bcfa02f876cfadbaf84/b24bbd45-39a9-4917-aee1-09f94db994bc_rw_1920.jpg?h=ef7ef197cc3aebb2759e18e5c21fab53)
Current character set
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/1c5fa1c42d509bcfa02f876cfadbaf84/b15ce5a0-4ca7-4bce-adf7-e50ab1ea58c0_rw_1920.jpg?h=5e7963da659c86836af6e6ec744aa2f7)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/1c5fa1c42d509bcfa02f876cfadbaf84/fc1a5983-39c1-4ebc-a11a-d129c4e38377_rw_1920.jpg?h=28b28b684ea8c6c563f1d307a00dfe34)
Type specimen layout inspired by the Brandon Grotesque printed type booklet
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/1c5fa1c42d509bcfa02f876cfadbaf84/e659f0d3-5a97-4417-a4e9-76fc2b29d03c_rw_1920.jpg?h=05ac369465dcf8ace2f969c4928dc4fd)
Type specimen layout inspired by the Brandon Grotesque printed type booklet
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/1c5fa1c42d509bcfa02f876cfadbaf84/ea39636c-b494-4915-ad1f-6e1adec6fbcc_rw_1920.jpg?h=718d31ab0e84feffa0df66224398e72e)