Italic type
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In typography, italic type is a cursive font based on a stylised form of calligraphic handwriting. Along with blackletter and roman type, it served as one of the major typefaces in the history of West
Aldus Manutius' italic, in a 1501 edition of Virgil. Italic is only used for the lower case and not for capitals.
Sample of Niccoli's cursive script, which developed into Italic type
Catherine of Siena, Epistole ("Letters"), published in Venice by Aldo Manuzio in September 1500: illustrated table in which appear the first words ever printed in italics: iesus, inside the heart in the left hand and iesu dolce iesu amore inside the book in the right hand.
A page from La Operina by Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi, showing early "chancery italic" typeface
Bembo
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Bembo is a serif typeface created by the British branch of the Monotype Corporation in 1928–1929 and most commonly used for body text. It is a member of the "old-style" of serif fonts, with its regula
A page spread from De Aetna, the model for Bembo
Text sample from De Aetna
Giovanni Antonio Tagliente's 1524 writing manual, which inspired Bembo's italic. This section is engraved as a simulation of Tagliente's handwriting; other parts were set in a typeface of similar design.
A book published by Antonio Blado in 1531, using italics as was normal in the period: lower-case italics, upper-case upright capitals. The modern concept of an italic using sloped capitals had not become popular at this point.