The Book: Its History and DevelopmentDavenport, Cyril
History
The Book: Its History and Development
Davenport, Cyril
Bookbinding; Books; Books -- History; Printing -- History
But a certain differentiation in the direction of squareness soon
became apparent, as we have already noticed in the case of rock
inscriptions; it was found easier to cut squarely-shaped letters than
rounded or cursive forms.
So letters cut for the purpose of being printed tended gradually to
differentiate themselves from their written analogues, and a new kind
of designing came into existence. It was, however, always necessary
to preserve as much of the original form of the letters as possible,
otherwise they might fail to be recognised.
Printers have always liked to show their types, and from the catalogue
printed by Schöffer about 1469 to Caslon’s eighteenth century
specimens, there have been numbers of them made and issued. A short
study of these specimens will show, firstly, how very much they are
copied one from another, and secondly, that no designer of genius seems
ever to have appeared. All that can be said is that some are uglier
than others. It has not been for want of trying, as Geoffrey Tory shows
in his _Champfleury_, but, except as to Greek types, in which Robert
Procter has, by his counsel, met with much success, there is no doubt
that good types for printing are rare.
In the eighteenth century P. E. Fournier caused much improvement in
French types, both by his example and his writings. He was the son of
a typefounder, and began as a wood engraver, but eventually followed
in his father’s footsteps and became a typefounder himself. Fournier
published a table of types in 1737, with suggestions for designing
them, but his most important work is the _Manuel typographique_, which
is an important work on the subject, and had widespread influence.
In the matter of facsimiles of early printed books, it may be well here
to say a word or two of warning. Photography has revolutionised many
things, it has destroyed some of the minor arts, but in book production
it has had far-reaching effect, much of which is good.
It has also opened up several new industries, and now photo-lithographs,
collotypes, half-tone blocks, and prints from line blocks made by the
swelled gelatine or other processes, can be so wonderfully like the
original, that a page of old printing made by one or other of these
methods will often deceive an ordinary purchaser. There are many such
facsimiles in the market, and the best advice I can give as to them is
that very great attention should be given to the _paper_ on which they
are done, as this will often give the secret away. The texture and
appearance of old paper is worthy of careful study, because nearly all
the photo-mechanical processes need a paper which is radically different
to the thick good rag-made papers which were used before cheap modern
papers were thought of.
Type founding in England was first carried on in the sixteenth
century, when John Day made some Anglo-Saxon types for Archbishop
Parker.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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