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From: laser-lovers@uw-beaver
Newsgroups: fa.laser-lovers
Subject: Font Lore
Message-ID: <1035@uw-beaver>
Date: Mon, 15-Apr-85 01:03:05 EST
Article-I.D.: uw-beave.1035
Posted: Mon Apr 15 01:03:05 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 16-Apr-85 00:40:26 EST
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Organization: U of Washington Computer Science
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From: Chuck Bigelow <CAB@SU-AI.ARPA>

In response to Perry Smith's request for sources of font lore,
such questions are not stupid. New students of typography always
ask such questions. It is merely a question of ignorance, not
of stupidity. It is when people like me try to provide answers
that we begin to encounter the possibility of stupidity.
Nevertheless, having warped the opinions of several years of
students, as well as hundreds of thousands of innocent readers,
I feel confident that I can confuse laser-lovers as well.

1. First, it is helpful to distinguish between a "font" and a 
"typeface". A typeface is a design; it is an artist's conception
of how a text image should appear in the mind's eye of the reader.
Originally, the face of the type referred to the printing surface
of metal type; today, it is a more abstract notion, but usually
can refer to the visual image on a printed sheet. A font, on the
other hand, is an implementation of a typeface in a particular medium
for a particular device. A font is device-specific, unless it is
part of a "device-independent" software system, in which case it
is still specific to that particular device-independent software.
A typeface is an artistic creation, whereas a font is an engineered
artifact. It is usually easier to identify and talk about typefaces,
unless one is specifying a particular face for a particular device or
software system. Also, type designers and typographers would prefer
that one speak of a typeface, when it is the design that is being
talked about. 

2. Some good reference books:
AN ATLAS OF TYPEFORMS, by James Sutton and Alan Bartram,
	Hastings House (Lund Humphries) 1968
A TALLY OF TYPES, by Stanley Morison,
	Cambridge University Press, 1973
PRINTING TYPES: AN INTRODUCTION, by Alexander Lawson
	Beacon Press, 1971
THE THAMES & HUDSON MANUAL OF TYPOGRAPHY, by Ruari McLean,
	Thames & Hudson, 1980
PRINTING TYPES: THEIR HISTORY, FORMS, AND USE, by Daniel Berkeley Updike
	Dover, 1980

These are all good because they are written by expert typographers
of real learning and taste. Some might seem a bit old-fashioned 
because they talk about types that are hundreds of years old, but
of course most of our modern types are based on models that are
hundreds of years old. Times Roman, for example, is based on
Franco-Flemish designs of the late 16th Century. Helvetica is
based on 19th century "grotesque" designs by English and German
foundries. Even Lucida, which was designed specifically for laser
printers, has letterforms derived from 15th and 16th century scribal
styles. 

An interesting attempt at an organized "key" to typeface styles
is Rookledge's INTERNATIONAL TYPEFINDER, by Christopher Perfect
and Gordon Rookledge; Frederic C. Beil, 1983. It shows many styles
and identifying traits, though it has no explanation about what types
really are. It is more like a botanical key that assumes a prior
course in botany. One can use it to identify types by name, but not
to gain understanding of typographic variation. 

The problem of identification is made worse by the endemic plagiarism
in the typographic industry. Many firms which plagiarize designs resort
to pseudonyms to avoid trademark infringement. Thus, a single design
might have many names, as well as many implementations -- some good,
some bad. 

If I ever finish my long delayed book on Digital Typeface Designs,
it will contain a chapter on the aesthetics of typefaces.

Meanwhile, the journal VISIBLE LANGUAGE (c/o Cleveland Museum of
Art, Cleveland, Ohio 44106) will be publishing the first volume of
THE COMPUTER AND THE HAND IN TYPE DESIGN, Proceedings of the Fifth
ATypI Seminar, held at Stanford in 1983. This has articles by
several noted type designers, typographers, and computer scientists
(Hermann Zapf, John Dreyfus, Donald Knuth, etc.) on digital type. 
This will appear as an issue of the journal, so one should subscribe
now and request that the subscription start with this issue.
(Rates are $15 per year for individuals and $25 for institutions,
4 issues per year). The second volume will be out later this year, and 
contain articles by Matthew Carter, Charles Bigelow, and other luminaries
and sublunaries.

--Chuck Bigelow
$