Week Three

as viewed in Wikipedia - example of Bodoni

 I am fascinated with the transformation of typefaces. In particular, the Roman typeface was continually modified through the ages. This week we saw the transformation into the ‘modern’ version produced by Bodoni. I imagine most people aren’t familiar with the origin of this word.  According to the New World Dictionary (second college edition), the term as it relates to printing means “a style of typeface characterized by heavy down strokes contrasting with narrow cross strokes.”  “Of or relating to the period of history after the Middle Ages, from c.1450 A.D. to the present day.” So far we have seen Roman script transformed in various iterations as hand written script and carved into stone.  As printing spread from Germany to Italy, Germany clung to Gothic-style type while printing in Italy encompassed Roman-style type.  In Venice, Johannes da Spira employed Roman type in his printing operation. Types designed by Sweynheym and Pannartz are examples of typography based on the letterforms developed by Italian scribes.  Their version of Roman type morphed from a hybrid of capital letters of ancient Roman inscriptions with a flavor of Caroline minuscule.  After moving to Rome, they recreated their typeface into what Meggs’ describes as, “a more fully Roman alphabet that became the prototype for the Roman alphabets still in use today.”   Eventually the Venitian style of Roman type was transformed yet again into Romain du Roi, also known as transitional roman. Based on mathematical formulation, it had, “an exaggerated difference in weight between the stem and hairline stroke, reduced bracketing, and created thin, horizontal, squared-off serifs.”- according to a Typographic Workbook by Clair & Busic-Snyder.  Romain du Roi literally means Roman of the King and was designed for exclusive use by the royal printing office of France. While Caslon carried on the tradition of Old Style roman typographic design in the early 1700’s, Giambattista Bodoni took the Roman typeface to a new standard that became known as modern.  He incorporated hairline serifs and made the thin strokes of his letterforms the same weight as the hairline serif.  According to Meggs’, he achieved his goal of giving roman letterforms a “more mathematical, geometric and mechanical appearance” that created standardization of the Roman typeface.