Blackletter vs Fraktur
Fraktur evolved from Blackletter — the quintessential German blackletter.
Blackletter
The dense, angular family of broken-pen scripts that carried medieval Europe from manuscript to movable type, all dark vertical strokes and fractured curves. Its descendants — textura, rotunda, schwabacher, and fraktur — range from rigid liturgical density to looser vernacular forms.
- Curves broken into angular straight pen-strokes
- Strong vertical emphasis with minimal letter spacing
- High contrast from a steeply-held broad nib
- Diamond-shaped serifs and terminal feet
- Condensed, narrow counters creating a dark page color
Fraktur
The quintessential German blackletter, a broken script whose name comes from the Latin for 'fractured' — its curves literally broken into angular strokes. For four centuries it was simply how German was printed.
- Curves broken into angular segments by the broad nib
- Capitals with curved 'elephant-trunk' decorative strokes
- Lowercase mixing broken bowls with bulbed hairline strokes
- High stroke contrast and condensed vertical proportions
- Pointed, diamond-tipped terminals throughout
At a glance
| Blackletter | Fraktur | |
|---|---|---|
| Era | c. 1150–present | c. 1513–present |
| Discipline | Typography | Typography |
| Region | Germany, Western Europe, England | Germany, Austria, German-speaking Europe |
| Family | Blackletter | Blackletter |
| Formal traits | broken-script, high-contrast, condensed, vertical-stress | broken-script, high-contrast, condensed, vertical-stress |
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