Koch-Antiqua


Koch-Antiqua is a serif typeface intended for decorative and display use, designed by Rudolf Koch and published by his employer the Klingspor Type Foundry from 1922 onwards. It is a delicate face with a low x-height, intended for decorative printing rather than for extended body text.
Koch-Antiqua was Koch’s first roman or “Antiqua” type and achieved considerable attention both in Germany and abroad. It was exported under the names “Locarno” and “Eve”. Walter Tracy commented of it “I know of no type more elegant…Koch Antiqua is a highly individual design. It reveals the working of a fastidious mind and a skilful hand…perfectly suited to express in print the idea of elegance”.

Family

Koch-Antiqua was released in several weights:
A number of unauthorised imitations were later created by American Type Founders under the names of Rivioli and Paramount.

Digitisations

Koch-Antiqua has never been fully digitised, but a number of releases of some of the weights have been created. According to Paul Shaw, Eva Antiqua is the most complete digitisation, which also adds digitisations of the bold weights of the ATF knockoff font Paramount. None of the releases available as of 2011 include the decorative and extra-high letters of the original. At least one freeware implementation uses the Zierbuchstaben as its basis.