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Gill Eric An Essay On Typography PDF
Gill Eric An Essay On Typography PDF
BY ERIC GILL
C o n te n ts:
Com position o f Tim e & Place i
Lettering 23
Typography 39
Punch-cutting 75
O f Paper and Ink 81
The Procrustean Bed 88
The Instrument 93
The Book 103
But W h y Lettering ? 119
Printed and Made in Great Bntain
b y Hague & Gill, High W ycom be
Published by
Sheed and W ard
3 1 Paternoster Row, London E.C.
afctiefgbtjMmnop
(Figure 4: Caslons Black Letter. This type, like that of
Gutenberg, Caxton, &c., was cut in imitation of fifteenth
century northern European handwriting. But though the
original was handwriting it was for the first printers simply
lettering the only lettering with which they were familiar,
book-lettering.)
A B C D E F G H 1 J K L M
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
a b c d e f g b t j k l m n o p
q r s t u v w x y z
(Figure 3: the Subiaco type. This modern version, cut for
the Ashendene Press, London, of the type of Sweynheim
and Pannartz, 1463, shows the change in style caused by
Italian influence.)
not in the North. Germ an printers m oved to the
South. The influence o f Italian letter forms m ay be
34 An Essay on Typography
seen in the sem i-gothic or semi-humanistic type
o f Sw eynheim and Pannartz (see figure 3). Except
in G erm any, the gothic forms o f letters w ere gener
ally abandoned. The Italian printers set about the
designing o f typographic form s o f the round, open
Italian penm anship (see figure 6). Again th ey did
not invent n ew forms, but form alised and adapted
existing forms to the exigencies o f typefounding
and printing.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N
O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
a b cd efgh ijklm n op q
rstuvwxyz
(Figure 6: Jensons type. This modern version, cut for the
Cranach Press, Weimar, of the type of Nicolas Jenson,
c. 1490, shows the emancipation achieved both from the
gothic of northern Europe and from handwriting generally.
Henceforth the designing of type was primarily the work
of punch-cutters, that is of engravers. Letters were still
reminiscent but no longer an imitation of handwriting.)
ABCDEFGHIJ KLM
NOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstu
vwxyz
Figure 7: Caslons Old Face, 1 734
ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OP
QRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstu
vwxyz
Figure 8: Monotype Bodoni
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO
PQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstu
vwxyz
Figure 9: Monotype Baskerville
ABCDEFGHIJKLMN
OPQRSTUVWXY&Z
abcdefghijklmnopqrstu
vwxyz
Figure 1 o: Miller & Richards Old Style
38 An Essay on Typography
m anufacture, rather than exact and scholarly
resuscitations o f letters w h o se virtue is bound up
w ith their derivation from hum ane craftsmanship.
W h ile the m ain stream o f lettering has run in ty
pographic channels for the last four hundred years,
there has, o f course, continued the need o f lettering
in m any other things than books and newspapers.
Even handw riting has m aintained its existence, &
the style o f letter called italic still preserves its
cursive character. M ost italic typ e faces, how ever,
(see figure 1 1 , 3 ) are too sloping and too cursive.
There is a great need o f a narrow and less sloping
letter, w hich, w h ile giving emphasis and difference,
shall be o f the same noncursive character as the up
right letters th ey are used w ith. Both the Perpetua
(fig. 1 1 , 3) and the Joanna italics (figure 1 1 , 4) are
so designed, and the latter having only a very slight
slope is used w ith the upright capitals. The Joanna
italic w as designed prim arily to be used b y itself,
i. e. as a book face and not sim ply as a letter to be
used for emphasis.
T h e same excessively cursive quality as afflicts
Italic has a lw ays afflicted G reek types (fig. 11 , 7).
For som e reason or other, probably the com pa
rative rareness o f G reek printing, the leaders o f
Lettering 39
typographic design in the fifteenth century never
achieved for G reek w h a t th ey did for Latin & m od
ern languages. That the thing is possible is sh ow n
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTU VW XYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
abcdcfghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz