Transcription and illustrations and notes for two lectures given by Stanley Morison. The first was originally delivered in Edinburgh in 1944. The second in London before the British Academy in 1937.
Ratdolt was the son of a carpenter and woodcarver. He published Muller Kalendar in 1478. I like his mise en page.
Poeschel?
What is an arabesque?
Look into Luca de Paccioli’s 1509 work
Moyllus 1468 copies of Roman
Manutius’ octavo Aristotle was influential. The first modern book format.
What was aldus Manutius’ monogram?
Aldus Manutius’ Poliphilus was also influential
Black page (gothic) -> grey page (roman) transition
Geoffrey Tory accelerated the gothic -> roman transition in France, which was delayed in England. Look more into him, he sounds cool. He lectured on philosophy.
Richlieu founded the French academy.
Caslon and Caxton are not the same people, as far as I can tell.
Compare Clarendon’s History of the Rebellion with Louis XIV Medailles (roman du roi type) .
Who was Dom Mabillon and what did he write in 1685?
Look into Alcuin of York’s work for Charlemagne. Look into Alcuin’s engraving of Roman type
Look up Jaugeon’s lettering patterns for the guidance of the punch cutter.
How did the French Revolution affect French typography?
Baskerville liberated and refined English typography
Stanley Morison thinks finest English typography occurred between 1770 and 1820
First newspaper in English was the Daily Courant, 1702.
Look up Creery Incised Slabs 1891. Did the ancients write anything down about stone carving?
Type got much smaller (1/8 in a few decades?) over time as punch cutting became more precise.
Look into Inscriptions de la France, 1873
Morison is a little fuzzier compared to the Warren Chappell’s short history of the printed word I read before.
Download mourner’s Manuel typographique
Why are so many publisher’s symbols trees with fallen branches?
Write text justification algorithm. Can we run it in advance?
Download specimen of bell’s printing types
Read Hommage a jean Gutenberg.
Download all William Morris on the internet
I the like the Dropcaps which match the grey of the rest of the page (See Manutius)
I like the work of the Bremer Presse
I like the work of Erhardt Ratdolt
Presses to look up: ASHDENE PRESS, DOVE PRESS, KELMSCOTT PRESS, MERRYMOUNT PRESS
Moxon was the first to write in English about type founding. His work ‘Formation of letters’ was dedicated to Christopher Wren.
Read ‘The History of the Rebellion’
The first history of typography written for the trade was James Watson’s art of printing.
Read William Morris’ ‘The Ideal Book’
crible - entrelac - Mulcted -
Published December 3, 2018 in Reading notes