Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-10
SPECIFICATION In TYPE STYLES
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

commercial. 1t brings prices to the
consumers down. When II is not neces.
sary for a dealer to carry big line OF
varieties, mis- overhead rs diminished.
The customer who wants. for example,
a simple, everyday type has TO pay, In
effect, a part of the cost of the special
fancy type ordered by another Gus
toner. under existing conditions.
There is in the printing Industry
a body known as the National Board
on Printing Type Faces, and already
1t has been in touch with the Depart
ment of Commerce. The board repre-
sents printing interests producing
books, magazines, newspapers and ad-
vert1sing matter. The ,dea OF the
function of this board Is ito pass judg-
ment on all new type faces offered from
either domestic or foreign sources and
to recommend such faces as are in
their judgment OF value TO the art Of
typography" II would seem that such
a body, already existing in the indus
try, would be well situated TO deal with
the Government in bringing about his
reform. However, all of these simpli-
f1cation procedures move Siowly; there
are so many elements to bring into
agreement.
idea Of letter reform goes back to the
days of scroll writing before the time
of the Gutenberg Bible. In the Middle
Ages black letter was used wherever
scrolls we're written. Not many per-
sons could write at all, but those who
could employed only black letter with,
of course, variations in the way OF ini-
tial letters and other enumeration in
the Illuminated manuscripts.
First Letter Reform.
The first reform came in 1875 when
an italian named Niccolo Niccoli set
up at Florence a school of copyists, In
venting for their instruction and use
a new letter. It was a much more deli
cate letter In design, had more curves
in 1t, was more open, and gave to the
page less black and blurred look. This
letter, known as the neo-caroline, be-
came very popular with the scholars
and princes and patrons of art of the
time and worked a deep-sunk reform
! which was destined almost to elimi-
nate black letter. Indeed, the scholars.
by way OF Identification, began refer
ring TO the old black letter somewhat
derisively as gothic, meaning, of
course, barbaric. We still EMPLOY a
type called gothic by printers, and it
Is somewhat reminiscent of the heavy
black letters
Az was AOG uIltll lAOA-a ReneTaLlOn
later-that Gutenberg printed the first
book from type. From that time on
type faces were experimental with and
as much care spent on designs as upon
such artistic work as portrait painting.
Printing became the worlds newest art.
/ Printers Sprang up in Venice and In
Germany and Spain. Type designers
names became known and their work
recognized as high form of art. Such
names as Jensen, Aldus, Garamond
and Caslon still stand for much in the
printing world and represent work done
centuries ago, but which still stands.
Giambattisa Bodoni Of Parma was
the first Of the so-called moderns, early
in the eighteenth century. Then came
Didot and Baskerville and finally in
the nineteenth century william Morris,
the English poet. essayist and worker
In wood. In this country Ebert Hub
bard. inspired to considerable extent
by Morris, produced some original type
styles.