Printing Type Designs--a new history from Gutenberg to 2000

Visible Language, 2001 by Miles, John

Printing Type Designs - a new history from Gutenberg to 2000

DuNAN GLEN Akros Publications, 2001 ISBN 0861 42 1108

[Obtainable direct from Duncan Glen 33 Lady Nairn Avenue

Kirkcaldy, Fife United Kingdom]

This discursive account of the development of type design, from Gutenberg's unique moveable types to the digital plethora we have today, deals with the broad sweep of design while at the same time penetrating into some of the byways of typography over nearly 600 years. It deals not only with the design and manufacture of printing types, but also explores some of the social and political implications of being a printer or typefounder at certain periods of history. Duncan Glen has read very widely and honorably acknowledges his sources throughout. Although the book follows an historical sequence, each section explores a particular style through to the present day so that, for example, the chapter

on Caslon describes Caslon's original designs, through their revival in the nineteenth century to their recent digitized forms. It does not mention the 1990 font designed by Carol Twombly at Adobe; but observes that Ed Benguat's version, which is good in its own right, owes less to Caslon than the attempt at a 'facsimile' range recently released by ITC.

There are times when the detail is in danger of obscuring the general thread of the argument. The discussion and presentation of the research and opinion of various writers into who did what between Garamond, Granjon, Le Be, Augereau et al is so exhaustive that you begin to hear the feet of angels dancing on the end of a six point quad. However this is redeemed by an excellent section on Robert Slimbach's Minion and Matthew Carter's Galliard each of which is in the tradition of Garamond and Granjon.

The chapters on Baskerville, the development of 'moderns' and the rich harvest of 'fancy' types in the nineteenth century are all enthusiastically described. The chapter on san serifs has a particularly good section on the Bauhaus which refreshingly draws on wider influences on design.

True to his nationality Duncan Glen includes two chapters specifically on Scottish typefounders both of which contain material which will probably be new to many students of typography. The chapter on the first printers in Scotland describes the interplay between Scottish, French and English printers at the beginning of the sixteenth century and gives a glimpse of the importance

of power and patronage to the printing trade at that time.

Early Scottish typefounders in America is strong on the business relationships between founders and their gradual self-sufficiency from European sources of type. The author points out that these Scottish pioneers have been recognized before by both Stanley Morrison and Berthod Wolpe, but this account gives a more complete picture of Scottish-American printing and typefounding in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

This book really comes into its own when it begins to explore more recent developments through photosetting to digital production which have not before been so thoroughly described under one cover.

It is good to see names which might be unknown to today's students, such as Robert Harling (now in his nineties), who had such a profound influence in the Igq.Os and 50s with publications such as Image and Alphabet & Image. Also some of the unsung designers from the Monotype Drawing Office such as Robin Nicholas, Patricia Saunders and Ron Carpenter are presented. The work of better known names are also well described from Summer Stone to Hermann Zapf. The Americans, German and British designers are all acknowledged. Contemporary Dutch type designers fare less well as there is no reference to the pioneer letterforms of Gerard Unger, to Bram de Doos or the Hague School of type design.

The later chapters trace the movement in industrial power from the typecasting machine manufacturers to type designers and software programmers. It is particularly good on the development of digital type and the ramifications within the industry which are as complex as those experienced in the time of Garamond but better documented. The book does have one serious defect and that is in the quality of the illustrations.

The general impression is of poor photocopies scanned at a relatively low resolution. The legacy of most of the great masters of typography is the marks they left on paper. To have those marks so degraded devalues the text.

Understandably most of the illustrations are reduced in size but often the reduction is extreme. Only occasionally are the original dimensions given. Some have their margins indicated by a box rule, but many do not and, comparing the reproductions with some originals in my possession, it is not certain that the margins indicated are accurate. This is particularly unfortunate when the original page has boxed rules as in the case of The Diary of Lady Willoughby, a seminal book in the Caslon revival. The impression is of a book with mean margins when they are in fact comfortably proportioned.