this typography, famous for its quality and clarity (in roman typeface was cut by Fancesco Griffo for Manutius the designer) and used by the latter in February 1495, for De Aetna, a book for Pietro Bembo, a scholar and literary theories of the Reinassance, for which reason the typeface was named Bembo.
here a portrait of Bembo:
what are the characteristics? here's a copy of Manutius and Bembo De Aetna
manutius&griffo's bembo shows unsurpassed clarity and elegance.
1. minimal variation in thick & thin stroke weight,
2. ascender height exceeding cap height (something new)
3. oblique stress (not so new but designed in a new context)
4. short bracketed serifs with cupped bases,
5. angled serifs on lower case ascenders,
Griffo made his lowercase ascenders taller than the capitals to correct what he thought was an optical color problem that plagued earlier roman texts. HE WAS RIGHT! there's a tendency of capitals to appear too large and heavy in a page of text.
Griffo's typeface became the model for the french type designers who perfected these letter forms during the following century.
Critic Robert Bringhurst observes that bembo has a serene quality. It calls attention to itself by refusing to call attention to itself, and yet it is elegant without being fancy.