Giovanni Mardersteig started work on Dante after the Second World War, when printing at the Officina Bodoni returned to full production. He drew on his experience of using Monotype Bembo and Centaur to design a new book face with an italic which worked harmoniously with the roman. Originally hand-cut by Charles Malin, it was adapted for mechanical composition by Monotype in 1957.

The new digital version has been redrawn, by Monotype’s Ron Carpenter, free from any restrictions imposed by hot metal technology. It was issued in 1993 in a range of three weights with a set of titling capitals, and is now available from Adobe.

Dante is a beautiful book face which can also be used to good effect in magazines and periodicals.