9781845110284

"Type: The Secret History of Letters tells its story for the first time, treating typography as a hidden measure of our history. From the tempestuous debate about its beginnings in the fifteenth century, to the invention of our most contemporary lettering, Simon Loxley, with the skill of a novelist, tells of the people and events behind our letters. How did Johann Gutenberg, in late 1438, come to think of printing? Does Baskerville have anything to do with Sherlock Holmes? Why did the Nazis re-invent Blackletter? What is a Zapf?"--BOOK JACKET.

Simon Loxley is a practicing typographer, designer and teacher. He lives in London.

Sine qua non

vi

The naked letter: the anatomy of type

viii

Introduction

1

(122)

1 The adventure and the art: the obscure origins of a revolution

7

(21)

2 Dynasty: in which William Caslon makes Britain the type centre of the world

28

(12)

3 Garamuddle: when is a sixteenth-century typeface not a sixteenth-century Typeface?

40

(3)

4 The maverick tendency: the type and strange afterlife of John Baskerville

43

(19)

Detour Meltdown: a stroll around fallen giant

55

(7)

5 'Hideous Italians': thicks, thins, and the rise of advertising type

62

(6)

6 American spring: creating the modern age

68

(11)

7 An awful beauty: the private press movement

79

(14)

8 Under fire: Frederic Goudy, type star

93

(16)

Detour Typecast: on the trail of the metal fanatics

103

(6)

9 Going Underground: Edward Johnston's letters for London

109

(14)

10 The doves and the serpent: Stanley Morison and the Wardes

123

(13)

11 Dangerous passions: radical European typography in the inter-war years

136

(21)

12 Leper messiah: Gill semi-light, Gill heavy

157

(11)

13 Europe after the rain: rebirth and twilight

168

(15)

Detour Portable serenity: the precision and the passion of the letter cutter

175

(8)

14 Two ghosts: forgotten technologies from the dustbin of history

183

(7)

15 Motorway madness: David Kindersley and the great road sign ruckus

190

(11)

16 A company man: Herb Lubalin and the International Typeface Corporation

201

(7)

17 The twenty-six soldiers: fiddling with the format

208

(8)

18 New gods: Neville Brody and the designer decade

216

(12)

19 Revolution again: liberating the letter

228

(8)

Detour Inside the micro-foundry: twenty-first-century type

233

(3)

20 Typocalypse

236

(5)

Illustration credits

241

(1)

Bibliography

242

(2)

General index

244

(3)

Typeface index

247

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Type The Secret History of Letters

Type The Secret History of Letters

1845110285

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

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