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| taken from bibliotypes |
words originate from gestures of the body.
the first typefaces are directly modeled on the forms of calligraphy.
typefaces are not bodily gestures, they are manufactured images defined for infinite repetition.
the history of typography reflects a continual tension between the hand and machine, organic and geometric, human body and abstract system.
immediately after gutenberg, typefaces reflected traditional heavy, gothic script.
humanist writers rejected gothic scripts in favour of "lettura antica" classic hand writing.
humanist scripts were used in prestigious books. Cursive type was used in cheaper writing shops. 16th Century printers integrated "Roman" and "Italic" forms into type families. Italics were not simple slanted versions of the roman typeface.
with the advent of capitalism, advertisers demanded BIG BOLD letters, distorting anatomical elements of classical letters. so, the larger fonts required carved wooden letters.
now relationships between letters became more important than the letters themselves.