Italic

A slanted, often redrawn companion to the upright, for emphasis and aside. True italics are not tilted romans; they are a different hand.

A true italic is a second design, drawn from a different hand: narrower, quicker, often with different letter shapes entirely. An oblique merely leans the upright over. The difference is between a voice that can genuinely soften and one that is tilted while still shouting.

Italics carry the aside, the title, the borrowed word, the emphasis that should not add volume. The italic display cuts on these pages do exactly that work: they change register, not loudness. A family without a real italic has only one way of speaking, which eventually shows.