anatoma gothic specimen
Aa ABCDEFGHIJKL MNOPQRSTUVXWYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvxwyz
Antique Types of Beauty,
the Gothics and Dorics and Titles
• • • • •
Formal, Rigid, Upright, Angular Absence of Curves Short Ascenders Feet as End Point
from Textus, early 12th century, used for Bible and Religious service texts during the 15th century. Used for titles and headings thereafter.
Textura
{
Known as Text in Britain, see: The Indulgence of 1476 Caxton type 3, 5, 7, 8
* Anatoma Gothic 72 pt. ≠e
Textura, 14th century Caslon Gotisch, 1730
From which derived the 2nd generation of British printers Wynkyn De Worde & Richard Pynson. Textura was used as ordinary type until the Civil War (1642-1651). • Consistent Uppercase • Some Curves
Chronicle of Bollogne, 1499 King Edward IV & Queen visiting Caxton � Edward IV (4 March 1461 - 2 October 1483)
I
n Caxton’s day, gothic Letter was in vogue for all English printing. ¶Later this gothic cry�allized into an English pointed blac�~letter character, similar to some of the blac�~letter types of the Netherlands, from which, tempered perhaps by French influences, it was derived. ¶
a : closed g : trapezium b c d e h o : round • • • •
Full of Curves Feet only partially: n No Roman tendencies Not as broad, more economical
Rotunda * Anatoma Gothic 72 pt., 24 pt. ≠ I L r s tt st e
D. B. Updike “Printing Types: Their History Forms & Use” 1937
Coin of the 15th century
B
ologna’s hand of Law. The Italian Rotunda is the countries own textura. In Britain it is an alien letter though De Worde and Pynson’s catalogue show a small set. Redman and Berthelet (see example on the left) used it until 1544. “Midway between Bâtarde & Lettre de Forme”
A.F. Johnston “Type Designs: Their History And Developments” 1959
Rotunda Examples Exeter Cathedral, 1400
Exeter Cathedral, 1400 Berthelet Rotunda, 1544
Typology of black letter as found in A.F. Johnston “Type Designs: Their History And Developments” 1959
Fraktur
Schwabacker
Bâtarde
Rotunda
Humanistica
Fere-
Textura * Ermete Pesce Mangiarete, for Festa dei Desideri, Ancona, Italy, promoted by Associazione Vista Mare. The Project was intended for an exhibition; the two sides are two characters telling a story, one in modern lettering, one in black-letter.
Study for Anatoma: Glyphs, sketches
Next page: Study for Anatoma: Glyphs, and size, sketches
Study for Anatoma Gothic: Glyphs, Sketches
Study for "Look Different" mural.
Study for "Look Different" mural.
Completed Mural: Overview, details of the motto "Look Different", far left.
Br 750
500
0
-250
Styles
Anatoma Runes Anatoma Uncial Anatoma Gothic Anatoma Gothic Book Anatoma Sans Anatoma Book Anatoma Grotesk Anatoma Humanist
Uppercase
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP QRSTUVWXYZ
Lowercase
abcdefghijklmnopqrstu vwxyz
Numerals
0123456789
Ligatures and additional characters
Ca Ce Ci Co Cu Æ æ � � � � � � � � tt ��
Accented Characters
àáâãäåèéêëìíîïòóôõöùú ûüýŸÿ
Punctuation
(.,:;?!)[&@#]{~-−}«»*¶ „“”‚_/\'"†‡≤≠≥÷<+>ו£
72 points
60 Points
The hand of the 15th century The hand of the 15th century evolved for
48 points
The hand of the 15th century evolved
36 points
The hand of the 15th century evolved for necessity of speed to be used as
30 points
The hand of the 15th century evolved for necessity of speed to be used as movable type, with all its
24 points
The hand of the 15th century evolved for necessity of speed to be used as movable type, with all its consequences. One being that now each letter was separated, but also that now one had to cast various styles, sizes and a large amount of letters to compose an entire book. By tradition each
18 Points
The hand of the 15th century evolved for necessity of speed to be used as movable type, with all its consequences. One being that now each letter was separated, but also that now one had to cast various styles, sizes and a large amount of letters to compose an entire book. By tradition each manuscript held a different letter style according to its content; movable black-letter type equivalents did the same, Texturas for liturgical print, Schwabacker for vernacular texts and Rotundas for literary content. The visual differences
12 points
The hand of the 15th century evolved for necessity of speed to be used as movable type, with all its consequences. One being that now each letter was separated, but also that now one had to cast various styles, sizes and a large amount of letters to compose an entire book. By tradition each manuscript held a different letter style according to its content; movable black-letter type equivalents did the same, Texturas for liturgical print, Schwabacker for vernacular texts and Rotundas for literary content. The visual differences are at the basis of the choice, yet our way of reading each style remains the same. Our understanding of the letter, and of letterforms, remains attached to the skeleton of a letter, which allows us to read it. Identifiable architecture, in the
10 points
The hand of the 15th century evolved for necessity of speed to be used as movable type, with all its consequences. One being that now each letter was separated, but also that now one had to cast various styles, sizes and a large amount of letters to compose an entire book. By tradition each manuscript held a different letter style according to its content; movable blackletter type equivalents did the same, Texturas for liturgical print, Schwabacker for vernacular texts and Rotundas for literary content. The visual differences are at the
8 points
The hand of the 15th century evolved for necessity of speed to be used as movable type, with all its consequences. One being that now each letter was separated, but also that now one had to cast various styles, sizes and a large amount of letters to compose an entire book. By tradition each manuscript held a different letter style according to its content; movable black-letter type equivalents did the same, Texturas for liturgical print, Schwabacker for vernacular texts and Rotundas for literary content. The visual
basis of the choice, yet our way of reading each style remains the same. Our understanding of the letter, and of letterforms, remains attached to the skeleton of a letter, which allows us to read it. Identifiable architecture, in the shape of forms or features, make symbols on the printed page to be recognised as letters. According to A.F.Johnston “The fact that English Printers did ultimately adopt roman (n.d.r. over the black-letter) seems to be almost accidental.” And to look for, or recognise, a British typeface at the
differences are at the basis of the choice, yet our way of reading each style remains the same. Our understanding of the letter, and of letterforms, remains attached to the skeleton of a letter, which allows us to read it. Identifiable architecture, in the shape of forms or features, make symbols on the printed page to be recognised as letters. According to A.F.Johnston “The fact that English Printers did ultimately adopt roman (n.d.r. over the black-letter) seems to be almost accidental.” And to look for, or recognise, a
British typeface at the time is erroneous as there were no British standards to be maintained when printing was developed in the 16th century. Fashion, or humility as Johnston suggest, is the root of the transition: “We have no black-letter versus roman dispute, perhaps because in the 16th century our printers were conscious of their inferiority to continental printers, in particular the French which they followed.” D.B.Updike adds that indeed “In Caxton’s day, gothic letter was in vogue for all English Printing”.
Matteo Blandford London, 2015 #matteodoingthings MatteoBlandford.com