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From: snidely@inteloa.intel.com (David P. Schneider)
Newsgroups: comp.fonts
Subject: Re: Italic & Oblique
Message-ID: <4108@omepd.UUCP>
Date: 6 Feb 89 19:33:47 GMT
References: <1603@csuna.UUCP> <1989Jan23.144822.29002@cs.rochester.edu> <43873@linus.UUCP> <323@iconsys.UUCP> <44253@linus.UUCP>
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> [previously posted text]

As a pointer to tradition, the original "fonts" dating back before  Gutten-
berg were generally done with pens that did not exhibit the same line width
in all directions.  This includes reed/quill pens,  stone  chisels,  stylii
for tablets, etc.  Brush letters are a different story, however.

Anyway, when holding one of these anisotropic pens, the nib  was  generally
slanted  to  the  direction of the baseline of the text.  Take a fat, broad
magic marker, draw a circle, and study the widths of  various  portions  of
the resulting "character".

Typically, a roman hand uses a different nib angle  than  an  italic  hand.
But  since  hands  are  all  done  by individuals, distinguishing different
"fonts" requires a more generic  approach  than  just  minutiae.   One  key
difference  is  that  italic  was  intended to be written fast, which meant
lifting the pen less:  more  rounded  characters,  smaller  letters,  joins
between  letters  (replacing serifs), and fewer strokes (one reason a's ap-
pear different).  Slanting the whole letter was  also  characteristic.   Go
back  to  your  magic marker, and draw an oval slanted to the right (/, not
\).

Originally, typefaces where intended to imitate  formal  hands  and  italic
hands,  and  we can expect that italic fonts were designed by copying hand-
made text.  Later (19th and 20th century  in  particular),  font  designers
made  their decisions based on other criteria.  For computer fonts, ease of
generation is obviously important, so simple obliquing has become more com-
mon.

By the way, "roman" originally was "upper  case"  [capitals]  only  --  and
stone  cutting  was a dominant force in its design, since the Roman culture
was much into permanent records.  I believe was tablets were also very com-
mon, but I don't know as much about Roman pens and/or brushes.

Uncials were an early (Christian era) attempt to speed up  the  handwritten
Roman letters, and contain capitals only.

If you've read this far, thanks.  References can be found in good calligra-
phy  texts, and Disney has a short on calligraphy narrated by John Houseman
(narrated the "old-fashioned way"?); it shows up on the Disney  Channel  as
filler, occasionally.  Also, the Western [American?] Italic Handwriting So-
ciety publishes journals and other information that may apply.

                                                       dave,
                                                      Monday