Hermann Zapf designed some of the greatest typefaces of the 20th century. He was born in Nuremberg, Germany in 1918. In 1933, he began an apprenticeship as a retoucher with a local printing firm, Karl Ulrich & Co. In 1935, he became very interested in calligraphy after seeing a exhibition of Rudolf Koch's work in Nuremberg.

After Zapf's apprenticeship, he began working at Paul Koch's workshop in Nuremberg learning printing, punchcutting, and related skills. He also met master punchcutter August Rosenberger at this time. With Rosenberger, Zapf produced a book of 25 calligraphic alphabets titled, Pen and Graver (Feder und Stichel), published in 1949 by Stempel. Other published works include: Manuale topigraphicum (1954); About alphabets, some marginal notes on type design (1960); Typographische Variationen (1963); Hunt Roman, the birth of a type (1965); and Orbis Typographicus (1980).

A partial list of typefaces designed by Hermann Zapf:

Gilgengart (1941), Palatino (1948), Michelangelo (1950), Sistina (1950), Aldus (1952-53), Melior (1952), Saphir (1952), Kompact (1952), Virtuosa (1952-53), Antiqua (1954), Phidias (1953), Frederica (1953), Heraklit (1954), Optima (1958), originally named "Neu-Antiqua", Hunt Roman (1962), several different typefaces for Hallmark Cards (1967-72), Venture (1969), Medici (1969), Orion (1974), Marconi (1976), Comenius (1976), Zapf Book (1976), Zapf International (1977), Edison (1978), Zapf Chancery (1979), Vario (1982), Aurelia (1983), Euler (1983), produced for the American Mathematical Society, using Metafont, and Civilite (1984-), a script face.

Syntax | Lithos | Folio | Century Schoolbook | Bembo | Eras | Helvetica | Insignia | American Typewriter | Garamond | Futura | Gill Sans | Fritz Quadrata | Goudy | Bodoni | Optima | Baskerville | Kabel | Palatino | Template Gothic | Franklin Gothic | Lubalin Graph | Officina Sans | Didot