Abstract/Summary

Fiona Ross, John Hudson (co-designers) were specially commissioned by Harvard University Press to design an original typeface in the Gurmukhi script for the publication of the first Punjabi book in the prestigious Murty Classical Library of India series. The brief was to provide high-quality readable type that would render the classics accessible to a wide readership world-wide, i.e. to young readers as well as scholars of Indian literature. The publication of the classical text of the Bullhe Shah, Sufi Lyrics (HUP, 2015), required sensitive treatment that would provide a contemporary design according to traditional proportions. Informed by archival research and discussions with scholars, particularly Professor Christopher Shackle, the translator, the new design reintroduces traditional stroke modulation patterns that are apparent in manuscript letterforms but which have been lacking in conventional Panjabi typography to date. The design consciously recalls forms found in the manuscript Prayer Book of Rani Jindan (British Library Panjabi MS D4). The designers are also indebted to Dr Marina Cellini and the British LIbrary Board for providing access to the rare resources at the British Library, London.