) by
Eric Gill, made in the early twentieth century, inspired by the "Trajan" capitals on
Trajan's Column The capitals on Trajan's Column have long been an inspiration to many artists and students of lettering. The calligrapher and type designer
Edward Johnston in his book
Writing & Illuminating & Lettering (1906) wrote that "the Roman capitals have held the supreme place among letters for readableness and beauty. They are the best forms for the grandest and most important inscriptions." Trajan letterforms were used for many years for signs in British public buildings, including government offices. Twombly's translation of the Trajan inscription into type is quite crisp and faithful. Many looser interpretations (often with an invented lowercase) predate Twombly's, particularly Emil Rudolf Weiss'
"Weiss" of 1926,
Frederic Goudy's
Forum Title, Hadriano and "Goudy Trajan", and
Diotima by
Gudrun Zapf-von Hesse, while
Warren Chappell's "Trajanus" of 1939, while having similar forms for capitals has a markedly medieval lowercase. Many other examples of lettering and typefaces are based on Roman capitals, for instance lettering made under the influence of the
Arts and Crafts movement in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Trajan was designed for display instead of printed text – specifically for use in large sizes. A bold weight was added to Trajan when it was made digital. but Adobe has continued to release versions in consultation with her. Trajan Pro was the initial OpenType version, which added central European language support and added
small caps in the lowercase slots. In 2012 the existing OpenType version was significantly revised as "Trajan Pro 3," with Robert Slimbach adding four additional weights as well as Cyrillic and Greek glyphs. Adobe has also released a "Trajan Sans" companion face, forming a
font superfamily. Neither version supports the archaic Latin vowels
long I or
apex-V. ==References==