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A History of Lettering: Creative Experiement and Letter Identity
All lettering is produced for a purpose. It is thus a reflection on the society producing it. In this comprehensive book Nicolete Gray puts lettering back into its cultural context, demonstrating how it changes in relation to western art and society and providing examples of lettering from a broad spectrum of techniques and sources.
Starting with Ancient Rome and coming right up to the present day, Mrs Gray presents and astonishingly wide range of material, from medieval manuscripts to neon sighs, and from classical Roman stonecutting to modern storefronts. In particular, she focuses on the changing forms of the capital letter and analyses the social, artistic and technical reasons behind its evolution.
A History of Lettering is the first book of its kind to deal with the core of the subject: the letters themselves. It traces letter forms through the centuries, looking at periods of experiment, retrenchment or return to historical or theoretical sources, paying special attention to the influences contributing to these changes. Mrs Gray provides new insight into the history of the capital letter during the medieval times (a subject normally omitted by paleographers) and offers new perspectives on the development of Insular, Romanesque and Gothic letter forms. The text also presents the first general survey of early inscriptions and an analysis of the lettering of the fifteenth, sixteenth and twentieth centuries, hitherto unclassified.
Over 300 illustrations, many reproduced for the first time, give the reader a selection of the most remarkable achievements in lettering art. A special feature, too, is the charts describing and illustrating experimental periods, sure to be of interest to designers requiring a more comprehensive vocabulary to deal with the challenge of digital typography.
A History of Lettering is essential reading for scholars, historians and art historians, and an invaluable reference book for anyone concerned with the fascinating and persistent challenge of lettering.
Starting with Ancient Rome and coming right up to the present day, Mrs Gray presents and astonishingly wide range of material, from medieval manuscripts to neon sighs, and from classical Roman stonecutting to modern storefronts. In particular, she focuses on the changing forms of the capital letter and analyses the social, artistic and technical reasons behind its evolution.
A History of Lettering is the first book of its kind to deal with the core of the subject: the letters themselves. It traces letter forms through the centuries, looking at periods of experiment, retrenchment or return to historical or theoretical sources, paying special attention to the influences contributing to these changes. Mrs Gray provides new insight into the history of the capital letter during the medieval times (a subject normally omitted by paleographers) and offers new perspectives on the development of Insular, Romanesque and Gothic letter forms. The text also presents the first general survey of early inscriptions and an analysis of the lettering of the fifteenth, sixteenth and twentieth centuries, hitherto unclassified.
Over 300 illustrations, many reproduced for the first time, give the reader a selection of the most remarkable achievements in lettering art. A special feature, too, is the charts describing and illustrating experimental periods, sure to be of interest to designers requiring a more comprehensive vocabulary to deal with the challenge of digital typography.
A History of Lettering is essential reading for scholars, historians and art historians, and an invaluable reference book for anyone concerned with the fascinating and persistent challenge of lettering.
- GenresDesign
256 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 7, 2019
A wonderful text sorely in need of a full-color update/reprint.
November 22, 2023
decent enough book but very dry - well illustrated and good charts but just couldn't hold my attention very well.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews