Jenson, Nicolas

Nicolas Jenson, (born c. 1420, Sommevoire, Champagne—died 1480, Rome), publisher and printer who developed the roman-style typeface.

Apprenticed as a cutter of dies for coinage, Jenson later became master of the royal mint at Tours. In 1458 he went to Mainz to study printing under Johannes Gutenberg. In 1470 he opened a printing shop in Venice, and, in the first work he produced, the printed roman lowercase letter took on the proportions, shapes, and arrangements that marked its transition from an imitation of handwriting to the style that has remained in use throughout subsequent centuries of printing. Jenson also designed Greek-style type and black-letter type.

Although he composed his types in a meticulously even style, he did not always print them with the accuracy they deserved. Nonetheless, he published more than 150 titles, soundly edited by scholars of authority.