A history of alphabets from around the world
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A history of alphabets from around the world | |
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The Alphabet and Elements of Lettering by Frederic W. Goudy Chapter 4: The Development of the Roman Capital, page 5 Through all the centuries since the first use of Roman capitals, scribes and printers have been developing uncials, half uncials, capitals, lower-case letters, and italics; the original form of the Roman majuscule from which each of these later forms is derived has been retained in all its essentials and still holds an organic place in the books and inscriptions of today. Especially is this apparent in the stone-cut inscriptions of the present. Other forms of lettering used in common commercialism have suffered, yet the fine tradition of the lapidary capital still persists. Forms based on metal types or on hand lettering often seem mean, trivial, and without dignity when inscribed in stone. Much modern work seems to lack the spirit of delight in fine craftsmanship so evident in the old work. Letters, to be classic, need not be cast in Greek or Latin mold; if they are expressed clearly, as a Greek or Roman might have rendered them, with entire freedom from whims and with a realization of the necessity for directness, no frigid adherence or pedantic prejudice for the Greek or Latin forms themselves is essential. Classicism, therefore, is not the mere reproduction of those creations, but, instead, is the craftsman's individual reexpression, in the spirit of the classical, of the thought underlying those ancient characters.
Continue to Letters Before Printing |
The Alphabet and Elements of Lettering by Frederic W. Goudy Introduction What Letters Are Letters in General The Development of the Roman Capital Letters Before Printing The National Hands The Development of Gothic The Beginnings of Types The Qualities of Lettering Some Practical Considerations Notes on the Plates |
