Simoncini SA was a manufacturer of linecaster matrices established by Italian type designer Francesco Simoncini shortly after the Second World War. Simoncini had worked with the Ludwig & Mayer foundry before becoming the founder and managing director of his own firm in

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

, Italy. In 1956, he was invited by

Giulio Einaudi Giulio Einaudi (; 2 January 1912 – 5 April 1999) was an Italian book publisher. The eponymous company that he founded in 1933 became "a European wellspring of fine literature, intellectual thought and political theory"Saxon, Wolfgang ''The Ne ...

to design a new typeface for his publishing house. Einaudi wanted a new face based on

Garamond Garamond is a group of many serif typefaces, named for sixteenth-century Parisian engraver Claude Garamond, generally spelled as Garamont in his lifetime. Garamond-style typefaces are popular to this day and often used for book printing and bod ...

, and the result was Simoncini Garamond, loosely based on the original. It was successfully used by Einaudi, and subsequently adopted by many other publishers. Another of his typefaces, Aster, is still very popular. He designed it in 1958, and originally intended it for use in newspapers and books. Simoncini died in 1967. Digital versions of his fonts are now available through Linotype.

Typefaces

These linecaster matrices were produced by Simoncini: Simoncini SA. Untitled, undated (1960s) 8-panel English language brochure of matrices and equipment.

References

{{Authority control Letterpress font foundries Metal companies of Italy Manufacturing companies based in Bologna