In continuation to my earlier post regarding Typography here I update you all about the historical developments of typography, all the material herein is a collection made from different reading sources including internet
Some historical facts about types, typefaces and its evolution
First movable types invented by Johann Guttenberg in 1450 and by 1455 he completed his Forty two line Bible.
Following are some important time periods and milestones that relates to the development of typography
1. Classical/Oldstyle (From 1450-1701). Important milestones achieved during this period includes
a. Creation of Typeface in Italy in 1465
b. Creation of first Italic typeface based on Chancery handwriting by Francesco Griffo in 1551.
2. Transitional (From 1702-1783). Important milestones of this period are
a. Creation of transitional typeface by Philippe Grandjean in 1702 named Romain du Roi
b. Period between 1716-1728 was quite important since during this time William Caslon (1692-1766) created Old Style typefaces which are in use till today and also forms the basis of many typefaces of today.
c. 1750 John Baskerville creates another transitional typeface named after him.
3. Modern (From 1784-1850). Important milestones of this period are
a. First Modern Style typeface is introduced
b. 1796 Lithography invented by Aloys Senefelder.
c. 1799 Paper making machine is invented by Nicholas-Louis Robert.
d. First Fat typeface is introduced in 1803
e. Style of typography revolutionised by creation of Sans-Serif typefaces in 1816 by William Caslon IV.
4. Swiss Modern (From 1850-1950)
5. Contemporary (From 1950-Till date) – With the introduction of Postscript fonts by Adobe in 1985 evolved the modern day typography took a giant leap. Also important is to mention the commercial availability of Univers typeface in 1961.
Units used in Typography/Printing
The Didot point system was created by Francois-Ambroise Didot in 1783.
1 pica = 12 points
1 pica = 4.216 mm
1 point = 0.352 mm
1 inch = 6 pica
1 em = 2 en
Layouting softwares such as QuarkXpress, Adobe Indesign, Pagemaker etc also include the same units in addition to Metric units
