augsburg-born printer (1447-1527). a master printer and type designer, he worked from ca. 1474 until ca. 1486 in Venice, where he printed many fine books.
Ratdolt returned home and produced the first printer's type specimens sheet with a beautiful decorative initial and 15 different fonts to announce the occasion. he had the first type specimens sheet in the world, showing rotunda, roman and Greek typefaces in various sizes (date: 1486).
Ratdolt specialized in missals, liturgical works, calendars, astronomical, astrological, and mathematical subjects, and often included masterful diagrams to illustrate the text.
in 1482, he printed Euclid's Elements of Geometry, which became William Morris's reference source for his "while-wine" decorative borders. ratdolt died in 1527 or 1528. he's one of the first to use the so called frontispiece orné. he uses the referred to as Romain de Ratdolt (1486).
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FYI, Euclid's Elements is perhaps the most successful book ever written.
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FYI, Euclid's Elements is perhaps the most successful book ever written.
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