Western Typeface Evolution (continued)

The next biggie after the fifteenth century's Jenson was  in the eighteenth century, when William Caslon set a new standard for legibility. His typeface, with its thick serifs, is referred to now as Old Style.

CASLON

Caslon has a full-bodied texture and little contrast between thick and thin strokes. It became popular due to its easy-to-see quality, especially in the days of hot type and unrefined paper.

The next innovation, a few decades later, became known as Transitional. John Baskerville's typeface is seen now as in between the previous Old Style of Caslon, and the later modern styles of Didot and Bodoni. The Baskerville fonts have a higher contrast between the thick and thin strokes.

As well, thinner serifs, and with tapers leading from the strokes to the serifs, made for a more regular appearance overall. The serifs were straight across or up and down, as opposed to slanted like Caslon's.

Baskerville's typeface was not popular in his home country of Britain, where some complained the starkness was bad for their eyes. However, it was a big hit abroad. Benjamin Franklin was an admirer of this typeface.

Modern styles came next, from Firmin Didot and Giambattista Bodoni. These types have very flat and sudden serifs and the whole look stresses the horizontal.

The thick and thin strokes in Didot and Bodoni typefaces are highly contrasted and the rounded letters are very circular - almost "fat" in their appearance. In a way, these modern styles are seen as the last step in the journey away from the calligraphic texts of the middle ages and earlier, and continue to be popular in design and advertising.


Trivia break:
In my last post, I mentioned Aldus Menutius' achievements in the Middle Ages. Did you know he is also credited with reviving the semicolon, which had not been used since ancient Greek times (and even then, the symbol was used as a question mark). The semicolon's use spread across Europe after Menutius first used it in "De Aetna." Now, of course, it is an essential element of punctuation. The National Library of Scotland has Menutius works in its collection, including examples of the semicolon.