Nāgarī Types in Europe

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The Italian Congregatio de Propaganda Fide in 1771 gave Europe the first nāgarī type (created in Rome). Although used for printing translations of the Paternoster and Ave Maria the type was too simple for printing original Sanskrit texts. It was only Ch. Wilkins who made in 1795, the first fount of nāgarī in Europe (London, Caslon foundry, stored in The Type Museum). Nowadays of only historical interest it was the sole fount available in Europe and systematically used till 1820.
In 1821 A.-W. Schlegel (Bonn) commissioned a delicate fount of nāgarī, cut by Viberf (Paris, stored in Cabinet des Poinçons). Schlegel's type was a recast of the Wilkins' fount. F. Bopp (Berlin) acquired Schlegel's matrices and equipment for his own newly established oriental printing office. Schlegel's type spread through European cities, not only capitals, but also academic centers, when exported in 1835 by R. Lenz (St. Petersburg) and in 1851 by E.J. Brill (Leyden). Bopp's Nalus, Lassen's Anthologia and Böhtlingk's Sanskrit-Wörterbuch were printed with the "Paris 1821" type.
In 1847 another, altogether differently designed, rough and thick, nāgarī type was developed (in Leipzig), known from Whitney's Grammar, Lanman's Reader, Hertel's Panchatantra and, for the last time, in Thumb's Handbuch.
At the beginning of the XXth century a modification of the type was developed in Leipzig (probably by G. Kreysing). It was with this type that the second edition of Hertel's Panchatantra (HOS Vol. 14, ed. Lanman), the Kashmirian recension, was printed (in 1913). But after the World War I this type disappeared without trace.