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Gutenberg to the 19th century A study on the history of typography from 1445 to the Industrial Revolution by Jack Mead
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The Chinese and Koreans were the earliest
for their customers attention. Typefaces
civilizations to develop printing methods,
are now 560 years old, with nationality,
most of which involved the one-off
culture, and technological advances pushing
production of books with woodblocks
the art forwards from the blackletter of
and cast bronze type. In the West, Johann
Gutenberg’s type, to the delicate curves
Gutenberg, born in Mainz, near Frankfurt,
of Didot, to the heavy slab serif display
the son of a wealthy merchant wth links to
typefaces of the Industrial Revolution, to
the local mint, was the first to master the
the clean geometric sans serifs we see
principles of mass production in printing
today. All books and manuscripts before
in Europe. His innovations with casting
Gutenberg had to be handwritten. To most
reusable letters set the pattern for printing
modern eyes, the handwritten script can
for the next 500 years. The book became
almost look mechanical, though this was a
cheaper and more available, and what was
result of painstaking work by a professional
once the sole province of the church and
scribe hunched over a single volume for
the wealthy became in time a source of
months. Complete words could be engra-
pleasure and enlightenment for all educated
ved into individual blocks of metal or wood
classes. (Garfield 26) The next breakthrough
and then inked, but this would take even
in typography came at the turn of the 19th
longer to create a book. But what if it
century with the Industrial Revolution and
were possible to transform this process
the machine age. New technology radically
by casting an alphabet in small pieces of
altered printing techniques and business
movable type that could be reused and
owners started to use posters to compete
reconfigured as often as each new page of a document or book required?
The punch and matrix
What was once the sole province of the church Johann Gutenberg
and the wealthy became in time a source of pleasure and enlightenment for all educated classes
Gutenberg’s precise method of type founding is unknown, but popular wisdom suggests that it was at least similar to the process documented two decades later. This begins with punchcutting – carving a letter in reverse on the end of a steel rod a few inches long. The punch is then hammered into softer metal, often copper, forming an indented ‘matrix’ to be fitted into a hand-held wooden mould with the aid of a spring. Hot metal – a mixture of lead, tin, and antimony – is poured into the mould with a ladle, and hardens swiftly into a single letter at the tip of a slither of type, ready to be aligned into words. Taken as a whole, a font is born (Garfield 28) After Gutenberg’s letterpress invention in 1445, the next 50 years witnessed an explosion of printing throughout Europe.An unprecedented diffusion of technical and social knowledge spread throughout the Western world and the education of the masses had begun.
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Even today, if you want something respectable and warm, Garamond is a fine choice.
Claude Garamond’s letterforms convey a sense of fluidity and consistency. Some unique characteristics in his letters are the small bowl of the a and eye of the e and the upper-case W that resembles two Vs superimposed. Long extenders and top serifs have a downward slope. Like all old-style designs, variation in stroke
England had to wait almost 200 years for
width is restrained in a way that resembles
a type designer to rival Garamond. William
handwriting, creating a design that seems
Caslon was an English typefounder who
organic and unadorned. The alphabet is
designed the typeface that bears his name,
full of contrast and movement but with
helped to modernize the book, making it
a precision of line and elegant serifs, so
a separate creation rather than a printed
even today, if you want something respec-
imitation of the old hand-produced book.
table and warm, Garamond is a fine choice.
His letters were very significant in their establishment of a strong English style: confident serifs, thick capitals in comparison to the lower case, an important wide ‘M’ grounding the alphabet from the center. The taste for Caslon spread to America, and Caslon was the type used for the Declaration of Independence of the USA in 1776. With thick, strong strokes and a ‘firm’ appearance, no typeface seems more suitable.
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W Garamond’s uppercase W
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As time went on type designers started to deGiambattista Bodoni
sign their letterforms for beauty and legibility for the letterpress with no concern to how hand drawn they appeared
The simple mechanized typefaces that Bodoni designed were made of interchangable parts, reflecting the increasingly machinated age of that day. They were dramatically vertical in stress and high in contrast between thick and thin letter parts, leaving large proportions of open space, although. Bodoni also set his text with wide margins and ample spacing for an open, air modern feel. The two are quite similar, with each font having its own regional panache. The svelte French style is more apparent in Didot, while Bodoni has a higher contrast in stroke thickness, giving it a bit of Italian flair. The evolution of typography between Gutenberg and Didot is incredibly rich with many contributors and innovators. The earliest goals of type design were to create typefaces that most closely resembled handwritten script, but as time went on type designers started to design their letterforms for beauty and legibility for the letterpress with no concern to how hand drawn they appeared.
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John Baskerville was the next great innovator,
on the page. Didot and Bodoni both
who’s fonts were, for their time, unusually
developed fonts that were increasingly
slender, delicate, well balanced, and tasteful.
extreme in their stroke contrasts, while
They appeared modern, though we classify
also flattening serifs and increasing the
them as ‘Transitional’, an eighteenth century
height of their narrow capitals. (Garfield
bridge between the thicker Caslon and
204) Firmin Didot cut the first Modern
the ‘Modern’ hairline artistry of the French
typeface in 1784 – a dramatic font with thin
Didot. (Garfield 97) Giambattista Bodoni of
serifs, extreme contrast, and a vertical
Parma and Firmin Didot are the designers
angle of stress. Soon after, in Italy, a tal-
credited with inventing the ‘Modern’ class of
ented perfectionist named Giambattista
typefaces in the eighteenth century, building
Bodoni began to produce typefaces that
on the ‘transitional’ Baskerville by introducing
revealed his admiration for Didot’s work.
even greater contrast between the thin and the thick lines, and long, fine serifs. These faces appeared when improved printing techniques and paper quality enabled the punch cutter to cut far thinner strokes without a risk of cracking or disappearing
Bodoni’s manual of typography. often called the greatest type specimen book ever printed.
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R A sturdy R in Clarendon Bold
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R
As innovation in printing technology improved, so did demand for print advertising
For three and a half centuries, typography and printing had been concerned exclusively with the printing and publishing of books. By the early 1800s, the impact of the Industrial Revolution propelled the printing industry in a new direction. The advent of industrial manufacturing created a need to promote the sale of ready-made goods and, as the
new style in type design that was compa-
technology of industry became more comp-
tible with mass-production.
lex, manufacturers required a more literate
The advent of print journalism and advertising
workforce. In addressing these needs, the
demanded types that were not only readable,
commercial, or job, printer emerged. New
but bold and distinctive enough to catch the
print media, magazines and newspapers,
reader’s attention. This was the era of Slab
proliferated with great appeal to the masses.
Serif, or Egyptian typefaces. The first truly
Print advertising emerged in these media
‘fat’ roman typeface is believed to have been
as an effective way to sell products to the
introduced by prominent London type founder
general public. The impact of technology on
Robert Thorne, in 1803. This was a period
printing, paper manufacturing, and mech-
of invention and discovery, when Europe was
anical typesetting created a demand for a
experiencing an enormous expansion of trade and commerce. As innovation in printing technolog y improved and enterprising new trades began to flourish, so did the demand for print advertising.
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One of the most important products of
world.” (Wilson) Around the same time
the industrial revolution was the invention
that revolution was occurring, the Arts and
of the linotype machine. Invented by Ott-
Crafts movement quickly began to spread
tmar Mergenthaler, in 1886, it was an
across Europe, representing the beginning
immediate international success. There
of a new appreciation of the decorative arts.
were thousands of people that were trying
It began primarily as a search for authentic
to invent a mechanical typesetting machine
and meaningful styles for the 19th century
but Ottmar was the genius who actually
and as a reaction to the “soulless” machine-
made it work. The linotype machine works
made production aided by the Industrial
by moving small, brass pieces around the
Revolution. Considering the machine to be
machine via a typewriter style mechanism.
the root cause of all repetitive and mundane
These pieces are molds of a letter and are
evils, some of the protagonists of this
about the size of a postage stamp. The
movement turned entirely away from the
machine pumps molten metal into them
use of machines and towards handcraft.
and thus creates a line of type. The linotype
As the Industrial Revolution really kicked
allowed for a daily newspaper. Before
into gear, job printers produced posters
the linotype, most small towns only had a
very quickly using whatever typefaces
weekly newspaper, so you were getting
happened to be available at the shop. The
week-old news. And then, all of a sudden,
quality of book printing was also in decline
you’re getting day-old or sometimes even
as demand for books increased and printers
hour-old news. Thomas Edison once called
rushed to meet this demand and therefore
the linotype the “eighth wonder of the
there were many errors and little regard for craftsmanship. William Morris was known as the leader of the Arts & Crafts movement and dedicated his life to rediscovering the traditional standards that existed prior to the industrial revolution and fighting the ugliness that it had spawned. (Britannica)
The Linotype Machine
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All of a sudden, you’re getting day-old or sometimes Ottmar Mergenthaler
even hour old news. Thomas Edison once called the linotype the 8th wonder of the world
The British punch-cutter and typefounder Vincent Figgins (1766-1844) ran a notable London typefoundry and is credited with designing the first Egyptian typeface, at the time, there was a mania for ancient Egyptian artifacts, and other type founders adopted the name Egyptian for their slab serif designs, which he simply named ‘Antique’ and released in 1815. Figgins’ designs reflected a trend in the early nineteenth century toward the use of bolder types, rather than the lighter, more delicate faces popular at the end of the previous century. The new style of types were met with a mixed reception, with descriptions of them ranging from “the most brilliant typographical innovation of the nineteenth century” to them being described as “typographical monstrosities”. A typeface still widely used today and named after Oxford’s Clarendon Press, Clarendon, the popular slab-serif was created in 1845 by Robert Besley for the Fann Street Foundry. Notable as one of the last new developments in nineteenth century typography, the letterforms represented a significant change from the slab-serif Antiques and Egyptians that were so popular in that time. (Skylar)
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In today’s digital landscape more people are aware of typography, design, and how the world looks The design of typography has developed alongside the development of typesetting systems and technology. In the very first stages of European printing, the Gothic blackletter typefaces were designed in imitation of the hand-lettering styles of scribes. As the methods and materials for letterform construction were improved
rare functional exceptions, the world doesn’t
upon, new typefaces and styles developed.
“need” new clothing designs, but people
Bold, eye-catching fonts became more
want to evoke a particular feeling or fit with
important and sought after. Industrialization
a particular “look,” and there are trends and
made print for the masses a necessity, and
styles that manufacturers and designers
more and more people became literate.
have to cater to. In today’s digital landscape
Typography is, in a way, like fashion. With
—more than ever— people are aware of typography, design and how the world looks around them. With hundreds of new fonts and typefaces being designed and shared around the world every day, we live in a time where we are typographically spoiled for choice. In this highly oversaturated market, it is interesting to note that despite the oversaturation, we still return to typefaces designed hundreds of years ago. Perfection is perfection.
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The original Apple Macintosh computer, the first computer to have corectly spaced type
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Colophon Jack Mead Typographers Timeline Book Typography 2 Francheska Guerrero Clarendon Univers
Works Cited
Casey, Brian. “Garamond, the Eco-Friendly Font.” Casey Connect. Casey Connect, 18 Oct. 2013. Web. 18 Jan. 2015. Challand, Skylar. “Know Your Type: Clarendon.” IDGSN.com. IDGSN, 21 Aug. 2009. Web. 20 Jan. 2015. Garfield, Simon. “Capital Offence.” Just My Type: A Book about Fonts. NY, NY: Gotham, 2011. 26. Print. Hackett, Lewis. “The Age of Enlightenment.” History World. History World, 1992. Web. 25 Jan. 2015. Harskamp, Jaap. “Early German Printing in Rome.” On Books and Streets An Approach to Cultural History. Freshly Pressed, 01 Oct. 2011. Web. 20 Jan. 2015. Encyclopædia Britannica Editors. “italic”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 20 Jan. 2015 Encyclopædia Britannica Editors. “William Caslon”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 20 Jan. 2015 Encyclopædia Britannica Editors. “Arts and Crafts Movement”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 13 Feb. 2013 Kennard, Jennifer. “The Story of Our Friend, the Fat Face.” - Fonts In Use. Fonts In Use, 6 Feb. 2013. Web. 18 Jan. 2015. Knopp, Justin. “A Blog.” Typoretum.co.uk. Typoretum.co.uk, 28 Mar. 2013. Web. 18 Jan. 2015. La, Nick. “History of Western Typography.” Web Designer Wall Design Trends. Web Designer Wall, 19 Apr. 2010. Web. 25 Jan. 2015. White, Alex. “The Type Directors Club Promoting excellence in typography For over 65 years.” The Type Directors Club. The Type Directors Club, 3 May 2010. Web. 19 Jan. 2015. Wilson, Doug. “Long Before The Internet, The Linotype Sped Up The News.” NPR. NPR, 28 May 2012. Web. 18 Jan. 2015.