THE OLD TYPOGRAPHY (1440-1 914 }
The history of typogra phy shows a steady progress from its invention down
to about the middle of the last century. but after that it is disturbed by dis
organized movements and turned upside down by new technical inventions
which decisively affected its course.
The typography of the first period (1440- 1 850) is limited almost entirely to
the book. The few broadsheets and newspapers that were produced were
in book formats. The distinctive feature, especially since the beginning of
the 16th century, was the typeface. The other parts of the book seem of
secondary importance; they are decorative. inessential additions. The basic
form of the book varied from time to time but did not change decisively.
Gutenberg, who was concerned only to imitate the book of his day - which
was handwritten - developed his types out of the contemporary book
hand. the gothic minuscule. That type, reserved today for religious and
other ceremonial matter. was at that time used for the writing or printing of
all. even profane. texts. The inventor also used "textura," the gothic minus
cule. for texts of more than day-to-day importance. Beside the gothic
minuscule, there was also the gothic cursive (known in France as
"Batarde") for day-to-day writing. notes. and records. which Schaeffer later
took as a basis for the "Schwabacher" type which he was the first to use.
Between the invention and the beginning of the 16th century these were
the only two letterforms in use. For the purposes of this historical survey
we may disregard the variations of gothic and Schwabacher. whose con
tours were similar to the types of Gutenberg and Schaeffer, as well as the
forms of roman type before 1500.
The form of the book as a whole corresponded almost entirely, at this time.
with the design of the late gothic handwritten codex. Its wealth of painted.
gold-heightened large initials and coloured smaller initials. rubrications.
and margin decorations on opening pages was taken over by the printed
book. Originally filled in by hand. these decorative additions were soon
being cut on wood and printed with the text, and in expensive works after
wards hand-coloured. Text was generally in two columns. Title-pages were
asymmetric but not arranged very logically. Centred layouts were hardly
ever used and were confined to Italy. Harmony of text. initials. and titling
was achieved by strong contrasts of colour. shape, and weight. In this
respect gothic books can be compared with the typogra phical expression
of our own day.
Around 1500, the humanistic Renaissance. through the work of Aldus
Manutius. its chief exponent. established a completely different visual
ideal. the even silver-grey page, whether text. title-page, illustrations. or
elle
(Elle)
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