Type Rules!
The Designer's Guide to Professional Typography
Chapter One
A BRIEF HISTORY OF
TYPE
The story of type doesn't actually begin with type per se, but with the
beginning of mankind and civilization. Type has only existed for
about 550 years, but its beginnings are rooted in the life of the caveman
himself, as it was his developing needs and habits that led civilization
on a path toward the evolution of the alphabet and subsequently the invention
of type and printing. It is certainly possible to learn to use type effectively
and even tastefully without knowing about its roots; but to fully
understand and appreciate type today, it is important to know something
of the past.
Milestones in the history of type are highlighted throughout this chapter.
Some of the dates, chronology, and details vary from source to source,
but the spirit of the events remains the same; these events have taken mankind
on a glorious ride from the crudest forms of cave drawings to the bits
and bytes of type in the digital age.
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