1
The Evolution of Typography
Typography is an intensely visual form of communication. Because this visible language communicates thoughts and information through human sight, its history is presented here in chronological visual form on four timelines. This evolution is shown in the context of world events, architectural development, and art history. The first timeline predates typography. It begins with the invention of writing over five thousand years ago and ends with the invention of movable type in Europe during the middle of the fifteenth century. The second timeline covers the long era of the handpress and handset metal types. This period, from Gutenberg’s invention of movable type to the end of the eighteenth century, lasted about three hundred and fifty years. In the third timeline, the Industrial Revolution and nineteenth century are revealed as an era of technological innovation and an outpouring of new typographic forms. The fourth timeline begins with the year 1900 and covers the twentieth century, when type was shaped by the aesthetic concerns of modernism, the need for functional communication, and technological progress. In the late twentieth century, the digital revolution in typography occurred, followed by the dawning of a new century and millennium.
1
From the origins of writing to Gutenberg’s invention of movable type: 3150 B.C.–A.D. 1450
1.
2.
4.
c. 3150 B.C.: The earliest
c. 3000 B.C.: Cuneiform, a
c. 2400 B.C.: False-door stele
c. 1570–1349 B.C.:
written documents are
very early writing system,
inscribed with hieroglyphic
Polychromed wood sculpture from New Kingdom Egypt,
7.
impressed clay tablets from
consisting of wedge-shaped
writing, from Old Kingdom
Sumer. The signs represent
marks on clay tablets, was
Egypt.
with hieroglyphic inscriptions.
clay tokens, which were used
invented by the Sumerians.
5.
8.
for record keeping before the
c. 2100 B.C.: Cuneiform tablet
c. 1450 B.C.: Detail, The Book
2500 B.C.: Egyptians begin to
listing expenditures of grain
of the Dead of Tuthmosis III,
make papyrus, a new writing
and animals.
hieroglyphic writing on
material derived from the
6.
papyrus.
further descriptive
stems of the papyrus plant.
c. 1800–1400 B.C.:
information for timeline
3.
Stonehenge, a megalithic
illustrations start on
c. 2600 B.C.: Completion of
monument of thirty-foot-
page 302.
the pyramids at Giza, Egypt.
tall stones set into circular
invention of writing. Note: Picture credits and
patterns.
c. 3150 B.C.
1.
3.
2. 8.
5.
6.
4.
7.
2
9.
10.
13.
14.
c. 1500 B.C.: The twenty-two
389 B.C.: Inscription in the
414–413 B.C.: Fragment of a
c. 50 B C.–A.D. 500: Roman
150: The Roman codex, with
characters of the Phoenician
Phoenician alphabet on a frag-
Greek record of sale, carved
square capitals (capitalis
folded pages, begins to be
alphabet.
ment of a marble bowl.
on stone.
quadrata) were carefully writ-
used alongside the rolled
11.
ten with a flat pen.
scroll.
c. 800 B.C.: Homer writes the
Fourth century B.C.: Greek
c. 160 B.C.: Parchment, a new
Iliad and Odyssey.
manuscript writing.
writing material made from
c. A.D. 33: Crucifixion of Christ.
c. 100–600: Roman rustic
12.
animal skins, is developed in
15.
writing (capitalis rustica)
the Greek state of Pergamum.
c. 79: Brush writing from a
conserved space by using
wall at Pompeii, preserved by
more condensed letters
16.
540 B.C.: The first public
448–432 B.C.: The Parthenon,
library is established in
temple of the goddess
Athens, Greece.
Athena, on the Acropolis in
44 B.C.: Julius Caesar is
the volcanic eruption of
written with a flat pen held in
Athens, Greece.
murdered.
Vesuvius.
an almost vertical position.
105: Ts’ai Lun invents paper in China.
c. 1500 B.C.
9.
11.
13.
12.
14.
15.
10. 16.
3
17.
19.
118–25: The Pantheon, Rome.
312–315: Arch of Constantine,
c. 400–1400: During the
476: Emperor Romulus
Third–ninth centuries: Half-
18.
Rome. Carved into marble,
thousand-year medieval era,
Augustulus, last ruler of the
uncials, a lettering style of the
Undated: The fluid gestural
monumental Roman capitals
knowledge and learning are
western Roman Empire, is
Christian Church, introduces
quality, harmonious
survived the thousand-year
kept alive in the Christian
deposed by the Ostrogoths.
pronounced ascenders and
proportions, and beautiful
Dark Ages.
monastery, where manuscript
20.
descenders.
books are lettered in the
533–49: Church of Sant’
23.
effectively translated into the
325: Emperor Constantine
scriptoria.
Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna.
Sixth–ninth centuries: Insular
permanent stone carving of
adopts Christianity as the state
21.
majuscules, a formal style with
monumental capitals (capitalis
religion of the Roman Empire.
22.
forms of Roman writing are
monumentalis).
452: Attila the Hun invades
Third–sixth centuries: Uncials
exaggerated serifs, was
and ravages northern Italy.
are rounded, freely drawn
developed by Irish monks
majuscule letters, first used by
from the half-uncials.
the Greeks as early as the third century B.C.
A.D. 118
17.
19.
18.
21.
22.
23.
20.
4
27.
29.
732: The Battle of Tours ends
868: The earliest extant printed
Eighth–twelfth centuries:
Eleventh–twelfth centuries:
Thirteenth–fifteenth centuries:
the Muslim advance into
manuscript, the Diamond
Caroline minuscules became
Early Gothic lettering, a
Gothic Textura Quadrata, or Textura, the late Gothic style
31.
Sutra, is printed in China.
the standard throughout
transitional style between
25.
Europe after Charlemagne
Caroline minuscules and
with rigorous verticality and
Tenth century: High Cross at
issued his reform decree of
Textura, has an increased
compressed forms.
emperor of the Holy Roman
Kells, Meath County, Ireland.
796, calling for a uniform
vertical emphasis.
Empire by Pope Leo III.
26.
writing style.
30.
1347–1351: First wave of the
24.
c. Eleventh century: Round
Twelfth century: Bronze and
Black Death, a plague that decimates the European
Europe. 800: Charlemagne is crowned
c. 800: Portrait of Christ from
tower on the Rock of Cashel,
1034: Pi Sheng invents
copper crucifix from northern
The Book of Kells, a Celtic
Tipperary County, Ireland, a
movable type in China.
Italy.
manuscript.
lookout and refuge against Viking invaders.
population. 32.
1096–1099: The First Crusade.
1215: The Magna Carta grants
Thirteenth century: Byzantine
28.
constitutional liberties in
School, Madonna and Child
1163–1250: Construction of
England.
on a Curved Throne.
28.
32.
Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris.
A.D. 732
24.
31.
27.
25.
29.
26.
30.
5
33.
39.
Thirteenth–fifteenth centuries:
1431: Jeanne d’Arc is burned
c. 1450: Johann Gutenberg
Woodblock print of the hand-
Rotunda, a more rounded
at the stake.
invents movable type in
printing press, with
Gothic letter, flourished in
36.
Mainz, Germany.
compositors setting type from
southern Europe.
Fifteenth century: First page
38.
a typecase in the background.
34.
of a block-book, Apocalypse.
c. 1450–55: Page from
40.
Fourteenth century: Lippo
Woodblock printing probably
Gutenberg’s 42-line Bible, the
The cathedral in the medieval
Memmi, Saint John the
appeared in Europe before
first European typographic
city of Mainz, Germany.
Baptist.
1400.
book.
35.
37.
1420–36: Filippo Brunelleschi,
1440–45: Fra Filippo Lippi,
dome of Florence Cathedral.
Madonna and Child.
c. 1200
34.
37.
38.
35.
33.
40.
39.
36.
6
42.
45.
Typography from Gutenberg to the nineteenth century: A.D. 1450–1800
1450–1500: Books printed in
1467: Sweynheym and
c. 1485: Filippino Lippi, Portrait
c. 1494: Scholar and printer
the first half-century of
Pannartz, the first Roman-style
of a Youth.
Aldus Manutius established
typographic printing are called
type, influenced by Roman
46.
the Aldine Press in Venice to
Incunabula.
inscriptional capitals and
1486: Erhard Ratdolt, the
publish works by the great
manuscripts written in
earliest known specimen sheet
Greek and Roman thinkers.
The humanist philosophy
41.
Caroline minuscules.
of printing types.
48. cutter for Aldus Manutius),
that flowered during the
1465: Sweynheym and
43.
Renaissance embraced the
Pannartz, the first type
1470: Nicolas Jenson, early
1492: Christopher Columbus
study of classical literature, a
designed in Italy. It had some
Venetian roman typeface.
lands in America.
belief in human dignity and
Roman features.
44.
worth, a spirit of individual-
1475: William Caxton,
ism, and a shift from religious
typography from the first book
to secular concerns.
printed in the English
47.
1495: Francesco Griffo (punch roman type first used in De aetna by Pietro Bembo.
language.
1450
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
47.
48.
46.
7
49.
51.
1501: Francesco Griffo, the first
Woodblock initial by Geoffroy
1517: Martin Luther posts his
1525: Albrecht Dürer,
1519–47: Pierre Nepveu,
italic typeface, based on
Tory, who returned to France
ninety-five theses on the door
construction of the letter B.
Chateau of Chambord, France.
chancery script handwriting.
from study in Italy in 1505,
of Wittenberg Palace Church,
54.
56.
50.
inspired by roman letterforms
launching the Reformation.
1529: Geoffroy Tory,
c. 1480–1561: Claude
Home of Albrecht Dürer,
and Renaissance design
52.
construction of the letter B.
Garamond, outstanding
Nuremberg, Germany.
ideals.
1523: Lodovico Arrighi, an
designer of Old Style
Italian writing master,
typefaces during the French
introduces his formal chancery
Renaissance.
53.
55.
italic type.
1501
50.
51.
53.
54.
55.
49.
52. 56.
8
57.
59.
c. 1540: Titian, Portrait of
1546: Jacques Kerver,
1582: Pope Gregory Xlll
1603: Shakespeare writes
1621: Jean Jannon, typefaces
Cardinal Pietro Bembo.
typography, illustration, and
initiates the Gregorian
Hamlet.
upon which twentieth-century
decorative initials, which were
Calendar, which is still in use.
62.
Garamonds are based.
1607: Carlo Maderna, façade
64.
of St. Peter’s, the Vatican.
1628: The Vatican Press,
1543: Copernicus publishes his
combined into a rare elegance
63.
theory of the heliocentric solar
during the French
1584: Sir Walter Raleigh
system.
Renaissance.
discovers and annexes
58.
60.
Virginia.
1609: Regular weekly
1544: Simone de Colines, title
After 1577: El Greco, Saint
61.
newspapers appear in
page with woodcut border.
Martin and the Beggar.
1595: Johann Theodor de Bry,
Strasbourg, Germany.
specimen of roman capitals.
illustrative initial E.
c. 1540
64.
61.
58.
62. 57.
59.
60.
63.
9
65.
71.
68.
1632–43: The Taj Mahal, India.
1657: First fountain pen is
c. 1670: Christoffel van Dyck,
During the eighteenth century,
1709: Matthaus Poppelmann,
66.
manufactured, in Paris.
Dutch Old Style type.
type design went through a
Zwinger Palace, Dresden.
c. 1630: Sir Anthony van Dyck,
67.
portrait of Henri ll de Lorraine.
c. 1664: Jan Vermeer, Woman
1686: Sir Isaac Newton sets
Style to Modern Style fonts
1709: England adopts the first
Holding a Balance.
forth his law of gravity.
designed late in the century.
modern copyright law.
gradual transition from Old
1639: The first printing press in the British Colonies is
72.
69. 1666: The great fire of London.
established in Massachusetts. 1667: Milton publishes
1675–1710: Sir Christopher
1700: The emergence of the
1720: William Caslon, Caslon
Wren, St. Paul’s Cathedral,
Rococo Style.
Old Style types, which from
London.
70.
this date were used
1702: Philippe Grandjean
throughout the British Empire.
Paradise Lost.
(punch cutter), Romain du Roi, the first transitional face.
1632
68.
65.
66. 72.
69.
70.
67.
71.
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