Research Catalog

Title

The history and technique of lettering / Alexander Nesbitt.

Author

Nesbitt, Alexander, 1901-

Publication

Mineola, N.Y. : Dover Publications, [1998]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xvii, 300 p. : ill.; 24 cm.

Summary

Comprehensive, well-illustrated volume chronicles writing through ages (Roman lettering, runes, medieval hands, Carolingian minuscule and derivative types, more), plus a 65-page practical course in lettering. 89 complete alphabets, more than 165 additional specimens.

Uniform Title

Lettering

Alternative Title

Lettering

Subject

• Lettering

Note

• "This Dover edition, first published in 1957, is an unabridged and corrected republication of the work originally published in 1950 by Prentice-Hall, Inc. under the title of Lettering: The history and technique of lettering as design"--T.p. verso.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 288-293) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

• The history of letters. From the beginning up to the Greeks. Norse rock-tracing -- American Indian pictograph -- Sumerian word-pictures -- Chinese word-pictures -- Egyptian word-pictures -- Cartouche of Ptolemy with explanatory diagram -- Egyptian hieratic script -- Egyptian demotic script -- Comparison of hieroglyphs with hieratic and demonic symbols -- Cretan symbols -- Phoenician alphabet -- Classic Greek alphabet -- Greek current writing -- The Roman contribution. The Trajan capitals -- Square capitals -- Rustica -- "Older" Roman current writing -- "Later" Roman current writing -- Slanted-pen uncials -- Straight-pen uncials -- Half-uncials -- Runes and the national hands. Three lines from the Codex Runicus Arnamag -- The "Futhark" alphabet -- Irish half-cuncials -- Anglo-Saxon writing -- Merovingian writing -- East Frankish writing -- The Carlovingian minuscule; Arabic numerals. Lines from Otfrid's Book of Gospels -- Lines from the Prum Gospels -- Early Indian numerals --^
• Eastern Arabic numbers -- Western Arabic numbers -- Eleventh century European numbers -- Later European numbers -- Claude Garamont, 1545 -- Gothic letters and types. Lines from a twelfth-century manuscript -- Thirteenth-century book hand -- Fourteenth-century book hand -- The severe Gothic letter, fifteenth century -- Twelfth-century Gothic initials -- Thirteenth-century capitals -- Typical fourteenth-century capitals -- Fifteenth-century capitals -- The Albrecht Durer capitals, sixteenth century -- Tagliente's filigree initials -- Rotonda, Italian-area book hand -- French-area Gothic current-cursive -- German-area current-cursive -- Everyday hand from the English area -- Lines from the "Gutenberg" Bible -- Lines from the Fust and Schoetfer Psalter -- Half-Gothic from Radolt's specimen sheet, 1486 -- Johann Bamler's schwabacher, 1474 -- Transitition to fraktur, hans Schonsperger, 1514 -- Chart of style difference -- Sigmund Feyerabend's fraktur, 1566 --^
• Hans Kilian's fraktur script, 1545 -- Lines of Robert Granjon's Civilite -- Initials and script after Moller, 1645 -- Lines from a munuscript book, Johannes Boehland, 1924 -- Specimen of the Wilhelm Klingspor type -- "Original" schwabacher -- Ehmcke fraktur -- Unger fraktur -- Legende.
• Humanistic writing and its influence on type. Lines of humanistic book hand -- Humanistic current-cursive -- Wendelin of Speyer's half-gothic type -- Second type used by Sweynheim and Pannartz -- The Nicolas Jenson type -- The Aldus type -- Erhard Ratdolt's roman -- The Audus italic -- Arrighi's second italic type -- The sixteenth century. Durer's classic capitals -- Cancellaresca, Vespasiano Amphiareo -- Concellaresca formata -- Cursive initials -- Lettera napolitana -- Mercantile Milanese -- Bastarda, Francisco Lucas -- Redondilla, from Lucas -- Antiqua "type" and Griffo "italic" as written by Lucas -- Simon del Colines's roman -- Robert Estienne's roman -- Antoine Augereau's roman -- Type used by Christopher Plantin -- Italic used by De Colines "Canon de Garamond" from the Egenolff sheet -- Petit Canon de Garamond -- Granjon's italic -- The influence of engraving and the pointed pen. Example of ronde -- Lettre italienne bastarde -- Coulee --^
• Italian hand as used by Ambrosius Perligh -- Capitals in the Dutch style -- An example of John Ayres' Italian hand -- Italian hand as used by with flourishes, George Shelley -- Italian hand of Decaroli -- Italian hand as used by Servidori -- German chancery script -- Engraver's Italian hand -- Great Latin or English roundhand, Johann Heinrigs -- Type used by Matthieu and Bonaventure Elzevir -- The Jean Jannon type -- The fell roman and italic -- Caslon Old Face -- An italic and roman cut by Johann Fleischman -- Baskerville's roman and italic -- Bodoni capitals, lower-case, and French Cursive -- Roman and italic used by Joaquin Ibarra -- Didot roman and italic -- A roman in the English modern style -- A modern italic type -- Eighteenth century decorative types -- Open face titling -- The effects of the industrial revolution. Typical nineteenth-century roundhand -- Flourishing exercises and diagram showing position of pen and hand --^
• Two peculiar roundhand techniques - The Italian letter -- Engrossers' round script -- Robert Thorne's fat-face roman -- Thorne's Egyptian types -- William Caslon IV's Egyptian -- The Beaudoire capitals -- The revived old style -- Miller & Richard -- William Morris's Golden type -- The Troy type -- Specimens of printing types in Hildreth & Fales job printing establishment -- Basic English ornamented type styles of the nineteenth century.
• The twentieth century. Capitals, lower-case, italics and numbers based upon letters by A. Eric Gill -- Typical broad-pen letters -- Typical Von Larisch exercises -- Scripts used during the 1930's -- Use of script and sans serif in late 1930s -- Sans serif letters based on gothic type -- Freely-written headlines, showing present-day usage -- Portion of a letter written by Maxfield Parrish -- A current writing hand -- An experiment in adapting personal writing tendencies -- Forum type, Frederic W. Goudy -- Weiss initials -- Cloister roman and italic -- A Garamond produced by the Stempel type foundry -- Bembo, monotype corporation of London -- Paul Renner's futura -- Memphis -- Ultra Bodoni -- Alternate gothic -- Rudolf Koch's Neuland -- Lydian -- Nicolas-Cochin -- Koch Antiqua -- Berhard cursive -- Trafton script -- Narcissus -- Greco adornado -- Lettering as design -- Lettering with the broad pen -- Built up letters -- Exercises in script -- Problems of integration -- Poster design.

ISBN

0486402819 (pbk.)

LCCN

^^^98035000^

OCLC

• 39478091
• SCSB-11743827

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library