Grandjean-Simonneau Romain du Roi (1702)

A digitization of Phillipe Grandjean's Romain du Roi type from the book Médailles sur les principaux événements du règne de Louis le Grand (1702), the first book to be set with this type. The Romain de Roi was a constructed type commissioned by Louis XIV to be created by a committee led by engraver Charles Simonneau for the Imperimerie Nationale. The committee mapped their designs geometrically on large grids before giving them to Phillipe Grandjean to cast the type.

Grandjean improvised some adjustments to the committee's design, but the type became instantly distinctive for its cold, rationalistic design that markedly influenced the development of typography in 18th century France.