Choubau

Elzevir Plantin is a typeface that emerged around 1905 and carried forward into the catalog of the Fonderie Typographique Francaise (FTF) after the 1921 merger.

What makes Elzevir Plantin particularly fascinating is its true origin. The "Elzevir Plantin" italic issued by the Fonderie Typographique Francaise is actually the French cut of the German Romische Antiqua Cursiv, a typeface which predates De Vinne and many American eccentric Elzevir types. In other words, what the FTF marketed under a proudly French-sounding name, evoking both the Elzevir tradition and the legendary 16th-century Antwerp printer Christophe Plantin — was in fact rooted in a Germanic design tradition, quietly reinterpreted for the French market.