Why is Bembo such an amazing design?

In 1929, Stanley Morison appropriated and redesigned Francesco Griffo's Bembo (created for Aldus Manutius in 1495) for the Monotype Corporation. 

The question is, why would Morison do that? Let's recall "Bembo" is based on Griffo’s type used in De Aetna, an essay by Pietro Bembo. Morison's typeface reintroduced the elegant and balanced proportions of Renaissance letterforms to modern printing. Why? Legibility and Readability – Bembo’s refined, humanist design makes it highly readable and popular for book typography, academic texts, and fine printing. 

TAKE A CLOSE LOOK: 

1. The serifs are bracketed; there’s a curved connection between the serif and the stem of the letter. 

2. An axis drawn through the thinnest part of the round letters will lean to the left. 

3. The difference between the thin strokes and the thick strokes is not that great. 

THIS IS HOW a scribe’s flat-edged pen forms letters. 

As the pen held by a right-handed writer passes through the circle of the round letters, it naturally forms the tilted axis. 

As the scribe finishes each stroke, his pen naturally creates the little serifs, or ending strokes on the letters as he moves to the next letter. 

This helps tie the letters together into words, and is the chief reason we prefer serif typefaces for text. And the pen, although naturally creating thin and thick strokes as it moves through the letterforms, will never make a really thin line.

THE TYPEFACE WORKS BECAUSE IT FOLLOWS THE HUMAN ACTION OF DOING CALLIGRAPHY!

As it turns out, Bembo influenced well-known humanist typefaces such as Garamond and Palatino. 

We already know Garamond from De Aetna. Remember De Aetna is Pietro Bembo's book of poems published by the printer Aldus Manutius.

AND HERE IS THE PROOF.