From the Origins of Writing to Gutenberg's Invention of Movable Type

3150 BCE–1450 CE

By Kevin Buglewicz, Pha Nguyen, and Sydney Rotthaus

Survey of the History of the Western Alphabet Years of Study: 3150 BCE – 1450 CE

By Kevin Buglewicz, Pha Nguyen, and Sydney Rotthaus Spring 2015 GRPH 223 – Stacy Asher Typeset in ITC Caslon

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Table of Contents 8

Zeitgeist

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The Origins of Writing

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Egyptian Typography

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Typography in Greece

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Typography in the Roman Empire

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Christianity Influences Typography

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Typography Spreads Worldwide

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References

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Zeitgeist c. 1350 BCE – 1450 CE

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he turn of the first century, or what is now referred to as the “Common Era,” was a time

of great transition in the world. From typography to technology, and all the way to civilization and culture; the way people interacted with their peers and their environment evolved significantly in this specific time period, which is certainly exciting as a surveyor of history.

Beginning in the 14th Century BCE, the people of the world had only what they could see, which limits understanding of the world, but at the same promotes curiosity and innovation. Knowledge of the world beyond one’s immediate location was nonexistent, meaning the people were forced to make sense with what they could. Some worshipped Gods, who seemingly brought upon the goodness in life. Others researched and learned. As time went on, and humans’ methods of recording history improved, a general uprising of knowledge occurred.

People not only began to understand the world, but also each other. Really, the world grew–though not in size.

At the beginning of the Common Era, the worldly religions began to emerge, and as the people on Earth realized their differences, conflict arose. Battles over territories and belief systems ensued, and a toll was taken on the way history was being recorded.

Thankfully, many records survived, and what we can see now is how the evolution of the human condition had a direct correllation with the discovery, development, and creation of typographic traditions that are still commonplace today.

Lascaux Cave discovered in 1940 in France. This section of the cave is the “Hall of the Bulls”.

The Origins of Writing North Africa, c. 1350 BCE

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W

riting is relatively new to man compared to spoken languages which evolved over tens of

thousands of years ago. Writing started as signs that were understood as symbolic values to communicate with. Then proto-writing began to take shape in the form of tokens and seals after 10,000 BCE. By 3000 BCE advancements in carvings and inscriptions began to occur. Specialized tools were made to support different writing surfaces such as clay, stone, papyrus, skin, bone, wax, metal, and wood.

The great thing about written language is that it offers access to nearly the entire history of some scripts. The earliest known script is the Sumerian cuneiform. The Sumerian cuneiform is considered the ancestor of all writing and offers an abundance of documented evidence about its beginnings. Several alphabetic scripts also document evidence about their beginnings such as the ancient Greek and Latin provide much information that maps their evolution.

The earliest indications of writing were cave drawings and carvings from the Upper Paleolithic (35,00015,000 B.C.), which are scattered in the caves at Lascaux, France. Theses drawings and carvings are still questioned if they can in fact be considered writing, since it challenges the definition of writing, however cannot be completely ruled out.

After 8000 BCE numeric and pictography signs began to appear on clay tokens. “Pictography” (or “pictogram”) is seen as another early stage of writing.

Pictorial signs show early stages of writing and development of phonetic scripts.

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P

ictography connects us to the development of phonetic scripts. Pictograms are seen

everywhere in today’s world, such as the signage on the women’s and men’s restroom doors.

These pictograms were combined with logograms and ideograms, and were used from there to communicate. These images were arranged in an order so it could be more easily communicated.

Pictography and the rebus system is not applied the same in all non-alphabetic scripts, which gives each written language it’s own uniqueness.

The shapes we see in the first glyphs, letters, and signs are similarly related to our present day alphabet. Letters used in some type first appeared in Development of the alphabetic letterforms from ninth to the first century BCE

a schematic system that consisted of around twenty signs and used Egyptian hieratic script and principles of cuneiform syllabaries. The early alphabet was flexible and easy to make changes to and advance over the years. Mark making has always been one of the most basic forms of graphic expression and we have been doing it for thousands of years through writing. Fully developed writing represents language in a strong system of signs that has been used for years and has only advanced.

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Egyptian Hieroglyphics Paint on Papyrus

Egyptian Typography North Africa, c. 2500 BCE

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F

rom African pictography in etchings on clay tablets directly to beautiful inks on the walls

of great tombs and ornate pottery, the imagery of humankind’s early typography quickly spread around 2500 BCE to the great Egyptian Empire in the form of Hieroglyphs.

Hieroglyphics show pictures, human beings or object that were familiar to most people in ancient Egypt.

Upon their creation, Hieroglyphs were written with the intention of being read from right to left, left to right or in a column from top to bottom. This complex system showed evidence that great thought went into the iconography and pictography in the creation of the individual symbols. Moreover, all Egyptians alike were able to discern what each message meant individually. Knowing “how to read” was not the same thing as it means today; one needed

Along with Hieroglyphics was the Egyptian discovery

only the knowledge of simple cultural symbols to

of a new form of paper called Papyrus. The earliest

understand the stories being told with them. In this

papyrus roll is Egyptian, dating to c. 3000 BC.

way, Hieroglyphics were somewhat universal to

Papyrus was made from the pith of a water plant

the Egyptian Empire, and successfully became the

growing mainly in the Nile River. The pith was sliced

vernacular of the people. Hieroglyphs can be divided

vertically into thing strips, and one layer of strips

into three categories: sound signs which we call

with fibers running vertically was superimposed on

phonographs, ideograms which are both sound and

another layers were hammered together and adhered

sense signs, and determinatives which are sense signs

by means of the plant’s natural gum. The sheet was

that cannot be pronounced.

dried and the surface polished. The sheers were about 16 in wide and 9 in high and were pasted side by side to form a continuous roll (khartes) (as papyrus does not fold well). It was also written on wooden tablets, metal or stone. There were 2 types of ink people can choose from. One was made from carbon mixed with a thing vegetable gum to give it adhesive properties. Most writing on papyrus rolls was done with this type of ink. And the other type is iron-tannin ink. Pens were made of reed, and a stylus was used for wax tablets.

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Egyptian Hieroglyphics

T

Jean Francois Champollion

here are over seven hundred Hieroglyphic

For the next fourteen hundred years hieroglyphic

symbols, and each one is something familiar

writing remained a mystery that no-one could

and relatable to the ancient Egyptian culture.

solve, though many people have tried. The key

Hieroglyphs were carved and painted on the walls of

was finally discovered in 1799 at a place known as

tombs, temples, pyramids, and statues, along with

Rosetta. They found something that was about four

everyday objects and personal possessions. The

feet high and was covered with what seemed to be

ancient Egyptians called their writing ‘words of the

three completely different kinds of writing. One of

gods’, because they believed that Thoth, the god of

the texts was written in Egyptian hieroglyphs. A

learning, had invented writing. The word ‘hieroglyph’

second of the three texts was written in demotic, an

was first used to name these signs after 300 BC,

extremely cursive script that developed around 700

when the Greeks in Egypt saw them carved on the

BC from hieratic; the latter is itself a cursive version

temple walls. After the Greeks, under the command

of hieroglyphic writing. Although the Egyptian scripts

of Alexander the Great, took control of Egypt in 332

could not be read, the third inscription was in Greek

BC, Greek became the official language of Egypt,

and could therefore be translated. Young

spoken by the Greeks themselves and used for official

Frenchman named Jean Francois Champollion

documents. But the ancient Egyptian language

eventually solved the mystery, under twenty years

continued to be spoken and its scripts written by the

of studying and learned eleven languages, including

Egyptians for at least another seven hundred years.

Greek and Hebrew.

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16th Century Map of the Greek Islands

Typography in Greece Greece, c. 1500 BCE

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A

lthough Greece was divided into numerous regions and states, the same language was

spoken, distinguishing Greeks from barbarians (a word they applied to all non-Greek speaking people, especially the Persians in the 5th century BC).

Greeks were therefore monoglots. Greek is an Indo-European language, originating at the end of the 2nd millennium BC with the migrations of Indo-European language. During the 17th and 16th century BCE the Greek language began to develop and is recognizable in the Linear B script written on clay tablets in the Mycenaean period. From about 1200 BC there were widespread movements of people throughout Europe, these events may have resulted in the distribution of various dialects in historic Greece. There were three major dialects in ancient Greece, Aeolic, Doric and Ionic. Each of these were from different tribes, the Aeolians lived in the islands of the Aegean, the Dorians, from the Greek coast of Peloponnesus, including Crete, Sparta and other parts of West Coast Asia Minor. With the unification by conquest of many parts of Greece by Phillip II of Macedonia, and many parts of the east by Alexander the Great, local dialects declined, and a new uniform Greek dialect emerged known as koine (common dialect). It was based on the Attic dialect rather than the semi barbarous Macedonian dialect. Its use spread throughout the Greek Empire.

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North African Hieroglyphics, which served as the inspiration for Greek Symbology.

I

n Minoan Crete in the 2nd millennium BC a pictographic form of writing (found mainly on sealstones or selaings) emerged, sometimes miscalled hieroglyphic. The small number of symbols probably represented open syllables.

From this script Linear A probably developed early in the second Palace Period. Linear A was a syllabic script used throughout Crete and some other Aegean islands c. 1700-c. 1450 BC, and it is only partly deciphered. It sees to have been used for administrative documents and in religious sites, and is found on clay tablets, stone vases and double axes. During the Mycenaean period a syllabic script known as Linear B was used 1450-1200 BC. It was written on clay tablets, as many of the signs are similar or identical, Linear B probably developed from Linear A at Knossos during the early Third Palace Period. Clay Tablets: Linear A and B scripts have been found on thousands on unbaked, sun-dried clay tablets.

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The signs of the Greek lettering system were most commonly written on damp clay with a sharp instrument. Parchment and papyrus: Skins or parchments may have been used for writing from an early date.

Parchment (pergamene) was made from skins of cattle, sheep and goats, and manufacture may certainly have been improved at Pergamum. It was made up in to leather rolls known as diphtherai.

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Majuscule typography on the Pantheon in Rome

Typography in the Roman Empire Italy, c. 1500 BCE

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Lapis Niger, mid-sixth century BCE, is one of the

Roman inscriptions from the

oldest Latin inscriptions in Rome.

Colosseum in Rome.

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he alphabet clearly did not begin with the

a permanent part of the letter. The Romans had

Romans. However, the Roman alphabet is

guidelines to provide them for overcutting letters,

where we start to see the alphabet become slowly

but there was no distinct serif treatment. This serif

modernized. The Roman alphabet has a lot to them

however was just a simple detail that really helped

that can and has been studied for years. The early

complete the Roman alphabet. The way each Roman

stages of the Roman alphabet no explanation to the

letter was made was also not explained. Roman

creative process on how it came to be. Which is one

letters varied in widths, and some strokes were thin,

of the reasons we analysis and try to understand it

while others were thick. Stylistically the Roman

now. No Roman ever explained the serif and why

alphabet has a lot going on, and a lot we can study

it was used, the serif was taken for granted in the

such as open-lobed P’s, splayed M’s, long-tailed R’s

Roman alphabet. It was a common item in ancient

and other alphabetic facts. The Roman culture used

Rome and after the late Republic the serif never

written language all the time, because the Roman

left the Romans side. The Roman alphabet is one of

culture was highly literate. The streets of Rome were

the main origins of the serif. It is believed that the

covered with signage. Scales in these inscriptions

serif was originally a guideline that was accidentally

often demonstrated social hierarchy. Carving letters

made when carving letters, which then turned into

in stone was a common theme for the Romans.

Carving letters was a multiple-stage process. Rusted

In 281 BCE, after the Romans conquered the

letters were carved into marble and were often not

Etruscans at Cumae the Romans took 21 letters from

read in a system that made sense, but seemed to be

their script’s 26, and then added some of their own.

everywhere. A good example of carved lettering is

The, in 410 CE when Rome was attacked by northern

the Lapis Niger from mid-sixth century BCE, which

invaders marks the end of the Classical period.

is one of the oldest Latin inscriptions found in Rome. The marks from this milestone also provided evidence of political power and cultural influence.

When you observed signage in Roman culture you automatically knew the social hierarchy and the impact of Roman authority.

The Roman Alphabet

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A page from the original Gutenberg Bible, the first artifact created using movable type. (Late 1400s)

Christianity Influences Typography Europe, c. 400 CE–900 CE

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A

s the Roman Empire rapidly transformed the traditions of culture, art, architecture and

typography in Europe, knowledge and traditions were kept alive within Christian monasteries. Here, highly-trained Christian monks would spend hours in dark studies hunched over desks producing manuscripts in scriptoria. Scriptoria comes from the root word scriptorium which translates to “place of writing.” During this time period, later dubbed the medieval era, a vast number of monastic scriptures were drafted, thus creating an era that is – to this day – extremely well documented. Different monasteries within the Christian faith had opposing beliefs of typography’s true role in scriptures, and the duty of scribes changed over time as a result.

In the beginning, monks would enhance upon the teachings of their religion, making them more clear and relatable to the public through personification of objects and the transformation of the religious law into thematic parables and stories. As time went on, however, the scripture became less and less about Christianity itself, and began to reflect more on the time period historically. This is one of the reasons why historians know so much about this era – Christians did a thorough job in recording their presence on Earth.

Painting of a Spanish monastic scriptorium 14th Century

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No two manuscripts were alike, but most used the same typographic systems and nomenclature. This means that the general identities of the typefaces used in scripture were the same, in terms of individual letterforms and their components. Primarily, the typography seen in this context would be majiscule, meaning all capital letters. More precisely, the common type form used was called uncial, which was an early relative to the Roman alphabet, characterized by broad single strokes and round majiscule forms. In classical Latin uncialis could mean both “inch-high” and “weighing an ounce”, and some have even drawn conclusions to the translation, “block of wood”. This typography was not unfamiliar to change, however.

Over the years, uncial majiscule typography evolved greatly in detail, becoming significantly more ornate as time went on. Later manuscripts created by the Roman Catholics can be observed having several flourishes, stroke width exaggerations, and more contrast in size. Other characteristics of uncial script include definitive spacing between words, wide gutters, and justified alignment.

Greek-Coptic manuscript of the New Testament using uncials, 10th Century

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Gutenberg printing press, invented in the mid–1400s

Typography Spreads Worldwide Eighth-Century CE Onward

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A Renaissance–Style printing press, utilizing Gutenberg’s movable type.

C

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ontrary to popular belief, the most innovation

At this time in Europe, people were perfecting

in the world of typography did not occur in

letterforms rather than creating typography.

Europe (or Western culture at all, for that matter).

Rotunda, for example, is a form of rounded Gothic

It was in China, in truth, where typography sprang

letter flourished in southern Europe, which was

towards the future around the eighth century.

made around the thirteenth century. A few attempts

Everyone in the world knew that books were

at masss printed typography were made, including

becoming more and more necessary for recording

woodblock transfer type, but this method was not

observations of the world, preserving history, and

fast enough to keep up with the demands of reading

marking stories for future generations to learn

consumers. Around 1450, a German goldsmith,

about. In Western Christian culture, the need for

Johannes Gutenberg, developed a printing system

books was especially important, as scribes wanted

by both adapting existing technologies and making

for the teachings of biblical script to be preserved

inventions of his own. By utilizing new tools for

forever. It was around this time that the Chinese

typesetting, mass-produced “assembly-line-style”

produce the first extant printed manuscript, the

typography was possible. This creation of what is

Diamond Sutra, which was a printed book descibing

now called “movable type” in Europe led to the first

the teachings of Buddha.

books, and – ultimately – the future of typography.

T

he first widely produced book using Gutenberg’s printing style was, not

surprisingly, the Bible. Characterized by closelyset Latin type in 42 lines per page, water-based ink, wide margins and gutters, and – in some copies – ornate illlustrations, the “Gutenberg Bible” as it came to be called, had a total of 48 copies printed, and was distributed around Europe around 1455. It’s good reception among viewers made Gutenberg’s printing style the standard of typography to come. The copies of the Gutenberg Bible that remain in existence today are considered some of the most treasured artifacts of human history, and are valued at millions of US dollars.

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References

Catitch, Edward M. The Origin of the Serif. Davenport,

Iowa: The Catfish Press, 1968. Print.

Senner, Wayne M. The Origins of Writing. Lincoln, Ne-

braska: University of Nebraska Press, 1989. Print.

Diringer, David. The Alphabet A Key to the History of

Mankind. New York: Philosophical Library Inc., 1948. Print.

Baker, Arthur. The Roman Alphabet. New York: Art Direc-

tion Book Company, 1976. Print.

Ober, J. Hambleton. Writing: Man’s Great Invention.

Baltimore: Peabody Institute, 1965. Print.

Drucker, Johanna and McVarish, Emily. Graphic Design

History A Critical Guide. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2013.

Print.

Watson, Rowan. Illuminated Manuscripts and their Mak-

ers. New York: Abrams Books, 2003. Print.

Davies, W.V.. Egyptian Hieroglyphs. Berkeley and Los

Angeles: University of California Press, 1987. Print.

Katan, Norma Jean and Mintz, Barbara. Hieroglyphs The

Writing of Ancient Egypt. London: British Museum Publications Limited, 1980. Print.

Adkins, Lesley and Roy A. Handbook to Life in Ancient

Greece. New York: Facts On File, 1997. Print.

Allan Haley, Richard Poulin, Jason Tselentis Tony Sed-

don, Gerry Leonidas, Ina Saltz, Kathryn Henderson with Tyler Alterman. Typography Referenced. Beverly, MA: Rockport Publishers, 2012. Print.

Wiles, Kate. Secrets of Scriptoria. London: History Today,

2014. Print.

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Survey of the History of the Western Alphabet Years of Study: 3150 BCE – 1450 CE

By Kevin Buglewicz, Pha Nguyen, and Sydney Rotthaus Spring 2015 GRPH 223 – Stacy Asher