Hebrew Typography

As a designer, it’s hardly surprising that I find type in other languages and scripts fascinating – and have featured exceptional examples of Arabic type and Islamic script before, so it seems only right that an example of Hebrew typography that’s caught my eye is shown here too.This exceptional “Shiviti” sample, was painted in 1852 by Abraham Ben Zundel, who was an immigrant from the Greek island Corfu arriving to Moravia (a region in today’s Czech Republic).

It is characterized by it’s naïve Sephardi typographic style (unlike the acceptable Ashkenazi-style of that time that was common in that area), decorative additions (flowers, leaves, stars and even fish) and a composition derived from the Kabbalistic visual lexicon.

If you’re interested in seeing more, there a whole website dedicated to Hebrew typography over at www.hebrewtypography.com