First Italian Type

Just when I was thinking about posting an "on vacation" sign here until after Tuesday's mid-term, I bumped into a blog that reminded me of the Gutenberg Revolution in communication. The German didn't "invent" the printing press or ink or printing on paper or even movable type, which had already been used in China and Korea. His genius was in putting it all together into a system that worked. A goldsmith, he figured out how to cast little letters out of metal (a combination of lead, tin and antimony still used today) and then move them around in a type tray to form words, reusing them after each print job.

That was only the beginning of the revolution. Printers in Venice, Italy, soon established a vibrant and -- for the times--international center of book production. As discussed in class, a fellow named Aldus came up with the idea of making smaller books and a new "typeface," lighter and thinner than the bold and heavy "roman" then in use. It allowed him to get more words on the page and make books small enough to carry around and read anywhere.

The blog I just discovered is called I Love Typography . As I nosed around the blog, I found an old posting about the history of type terminology, which included this little notation about the first Italic type:

And, as we're on the topic of dramatic changes, during this period we see the very first italic type in 1501. They were first created, not as an accompaniment to the roman but as a standalone typeface designed for small format or pocket books where space demanded a more condense type

We thank you Aldus Pius Manutius and so do book publishers everywhere.