The Apostle, Russia's first ever printed book The State Russian LibraryThe printed semi-uncial typeface retained the visual features of handwritten fonts. Why a new typeface was neededThe printed semi-uncial typeface was more standardized and better suited for typographic reproduction than its handwritten predecessor, but it had a significant drawback. Thus, the introduction of the new ‘civil’ typeface brought the Russian alphabet closer to Western European printing standards. Peter's corrections for the alphabet Russian State Historical ArchiveKuhlenbach produced designs for thirty-two lowercase and four uppercase letters (А, Д, Е, Т). The Russian civil typeface spread beyond Russia's borders.