When printing was invented the first types used were imitations of the current Gothic lettering, known to us as Black Letter, Old English, etc. A few years later, when typography was introduced into Italy, the types were cut in imitation of the lettering selected for use by the scribes of the Italian Renaissance, which lettering is familiarly known in our time as Roman. The capitals of this Roman lettering are fashioned after those used in ancient Rome, and the small or lower-case letters are after the Roman writing known as minuscule, of the twelfth century.
The ancient Roman writing was all capitals, and as found on stamps and coins was of the character of the modern so-called “gothic” (plain strokes, without the small cross strokes known as serifs). The more carefully made Roman capitals, as carved on monuments and buildings, are not unlike the present type-faces known as Caslon and French old style.
The evolution of Roman capitals into the small or lower-case letters of the present day is traced in the writing called uncial, in which the letters A, D, E, H, M, Q are rounded and altered in appearance. More changes developed the writing known as half-uncial, in which only the N and F retain the appearance of Roman capitals. The small (lower-case) letters became known as minuscule, as contrasted with majuscule, or capital letters. (See reproductions on preceding pages.)
From this point book writing developed in two directions: one toward the heavy pointed stroke of the churchly Gothic style, and the other, guided by Charlemagne in the eighth century, to the style of Roman letter used by Jenson and other printers of Venice, Italy, in their classic printing of the fifteenth century. Our old-style Roman types are from this source.
Another style, called cursive, was the carelessly executed handwriting used for ordinary purposes, and in that respect may be likened to our own business script.
Thus as the fifteenth century dawned upon Europe we find literature and learning locked in the cells of the monks, while outside, the hosts of people who for ten centuries wandered in semi-darkness had reached an elevation which showed them a new existence coming with the intellectual awakening that was then already upon them.
LETTERED PAGE FROM THE “BOOK OF KELLS”
Showing the beautiful writing of the Irish scribes of the seventh century
Portion of a page (full size) from Fust and Schœffer’s Psalter of 1457
The first book with a printed date: showing initials and decoration cut in wood