The typefounder Václav Jan Krabat supplied printers in Prague for more than fifty years. In 1761, he published the very first type specimen in the Czech lands, titled “Specimen characterum latinorum existentium in Pragensi typorum fusura apud Wenceslaum Joannem Crabat.”
Intended especially for book typesetting, the Crabath Collection is a loose interpretation of roman and italic designs from Krabat’s specimen book. The proportions and construction are based on the Garmond Antiqua and Garmond Cursiv samples. Garmond here denotes a type size of 10 points. The details of the design, the contrast and overall character of the typeface draw on the stylistic traits of several characters of the Missal Antiqua courent sample, with Missal equaling a size of 44 points.
Crabath sensitively reproduces the variation in letterform design for individual sizes with a collection of five optical sizes ranging from Display to Text to Caption. Its distinctive decoration, typical for late Baroque typefaces, is deliberately muted here, so that its overall appearance suits the eye of the contemporary reader. At the same time, the stems of the italics are trimmed more evenly without losing the functional characteristics.
The sets are extensive enough in all weights to meet the needs of everyday digital typesetting. Each set includes small capitals, basic and decorative ligatures, and several figure variations. A pleasant x-height, adequate contrast, and sufficiently pronounced accents for all European languages means that this typeface is especially well-suited for long, complex and difficult-to-set texts, both in printed output and on screen. The delicate nature of the headline styles will likely awaken a desire for typographic compositions on book and magazine covers or on posters.