The

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

word Schwabacher (pronounced ) refers to a specific style of

blackletter Blackletter (sometimes black letter), also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule, or Textura, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 until the 17th century. It continued to be commonly used for the Danish, Norweg ...

typefaces which evolved from Gothic Textualis (''Textura'') under the influence of Humanist type design in Italy during the 15th century. Schwabacher typesetting was the most common typeface in Germany, until it was replaced by Fraktur from the mid 16th century onwards.

Etymology

The term may derive from the Franconian town of Schwabach, where, in 1529, the

Articles of Schwabach Beginning in July 1529,Johann Michael Reu, ''The Augsburg Confession'' (1930), p. 28. Philipp Melanchthon, along with Martin Luther and probably Justus Jonas, wrote the Articles of Schwabach (so named because they were presented at the Convention o ...

, a Lutheran creed, were adopted. The Articles became the basis of the 1530

Confessio Augustana The Augsburg Confession, also known as the Augustan Confession or the Augustana from its Latin name, ''Confessio Augustana'', is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of the Protestant Ref ...

, and possibly also promoted the use of Schwabacher types.

Characteristics

Similar to Rotunda, the rounded Schwabacher types were nearer to handwriting than the former Textualis style, though it also includes sharp edges. The lower-case ''g'' and upper-case ''H'' have particularly distinctive forms. In the context of German language texts, Schwabacher appeared vibrant and popular.

History

While the Latin Gutenberg Bible was still set in Textualis type, the oldest preserved Schwabacher

incunable In the history of printing, an incunable or incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. Incunabula were pr ...

dates from 1472, and was printed in Augsburg. Schwabacher types appeared in the

Free Imperial City of Nuremberg The Imperial City of Nuremberg (german: Reichsstadt Nürnberg) was a free imperial city — independent city-state — within the Holy Roman Empire. After Nuremberg gained piecemeal independence from the Burgraviate of Nuremberg in the High Mid ...

from about 1485: Anton Koberger (–1513) used them for the publication of the ''

Nuremberg Chronicle The ''Nuremberg Chronicle'' is an illustrated encyclopedia consisting of world historical accounts, as well as accounts told through biblical paraphrase. Subjects include human history in relation to the Bible, illustrated mythological creatures, ...

'' (in both Latin and German) in 1493, and

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...

(1471–1528) for his ''

Apocalypse Apocalypse () is a literary genre in which a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a human intermediary. The means of mediation include dreams, visions and heavenly journeys, and they typically feature symbolic imager ...

'' series in 1498. Schwabacher became widely known with the spread of Luther Bibles from 1522. After Schwabacher was displaced by Fraktur as the most-used German language type style from about 1530, it remained in common use as a secondary typeface for emphasis in a similar way to italic.Steinberg, S. H. (1961) ''Five Hundred Years of Printing''; 2nd ed. Penguin Books; p. 41 It was still used occasionally until the mid 20th century. When the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

officially abandoned the widely used Fraktur type by

Martin Bormann Martin Ludwig Bormann (17 June 1900 – 2 May 1945) was a German Nazi Party official and head of the Nazi Party Chancellery. He gained immense power by using his position as Adolf Hitler's private secretary to control the flow of information ...

's ' of 3 January 1941, it was called ' ("Jew-letters of Schwabach"): Schrifterlass Antiqua1941

The statement ignores the fact that Schwabacher originated from the earlier Rotunda blackletter script and late medieval Bastarda types. Actually, there is no evidence of any connection between Jews and the Schwabacher typeface. At the time of its origin the ownership of printing houses was reserved for Christian citizens.

Samples

The German sentence in the figures reads: "

xample of Old Schwabacher Gavin Harris, better known as Xample, is a British drum and bass producer and DJ, who originates from Bristol, England. He has been releasing records since 2003. In June 2007, he scored a number 1 on the Number-one dance hits of 2007 (UK), UK ...

". This is a nonsense sentence meaning "Victor chases twelve boxers across the dike of Sylt", but contains all 26 letters of the alphabet plus the German umlauts and is thus an example of a pangram.

Notes and references

External links

* {{Typography terms Blackletter Blackletter typefaces German orthography