[Pkg-fonts-bugs] ITP: GFS Baskerville - Ancient Greek font revival

[Nicolas Spalinger]

Package: wnpp
Severity: wishlist

* Package name    : ttf-gfs-baskerville
* Version         : 1.0
* Upstream Author : Sophia Kalaitzidou and George D. Matthiopoulos
(Greek Font Society)
* URL             :
http://www.greekfontsociety.org/pages/en_typefaces18th.html
* License         : Open Font License
* Description     : Ancient Greek font revival


John Baskerville (1706-1775) got involved in typography late in his
career but his contribution was significant. He was a successful
entrepreneur and possessed an inquiring mind which he applied to produce
many aesthetic and technical innovations in printing. He invented a new
ink formula, a new type of smooth paper and made various improvements in
the printing press. He was also involved in type design which resulted
in a latin typeface which was used for the edition of Virgil, in 1757.
The quality of the type was admired throughout of Europe and America and
was revived with great success in the early 20th century. Baskerville
was also involved in the design of a Greek typeface which he used in an
edition of the New Testament for Oxford University, in 1763. He adopted
the practice of avoiding the excessive number of ligatures which
Alexander Wilson had started a few years earlier but his Greek types
were rather narrow in proportion and did not win the sympathy of the
philologists and other scholars of his time. They did influence,
however, the Greek types of Giambattista Bodoni. and through him Didot's
Greek in Paris.
The typeface has been digitally revived as GFS Baskerville Classic by
Sophia Kalaitzidou and George D. Matthiopoulos and is now available as
part of GFS' type library.