Open Press 1700-1800

The Influence of the Romain du Roi was evident throughout the eighteenth century and into the nineteenth. 
Influence of calligraphy as a model for letters forms, and with it the association of formats from the influence of manuscripts.

William Caslon (pic)
Upon the first Caslon death in 1766, William Caslon II succeeded to the leadership of the English foundry.
1734 Completed Caslon Typeface Specimen

John Baskerville (pic)
Baskerville’s letters belong to the group called transitional.
One of his special contribution was the development of hot-pressed papers.
1757 Baskerville Typeface Specimen

The Fourniers (pic)
France 1764, Pierre Fournier the youngest published the ‘Manuel typographique’ the first part of which covered subjects of type and type-founding established a scale.

The Didots (pic)
F.A. Didot was a french type-founder/printer, he was comissioned by the king himself to produce a series of French Classics.
1780 he adapted the point system for sizing type system by width.
His two sons carried on the work of the printing plant and the type foundry.

Giambatista Bodoni (pic)
Son of an Italian printer he early experimented with type-cutting
1818, ‘Manuale Typografico’ represent great technical advances, better casting, fitting, better ink and press work.
1798 Bodoni Typeface Specimen

Newspaper in England
New periodicals in England which introduced a significant dimension into journalism: 
The spectators, 1711 (pic) or New England Courant, 1721 (pic),

Thomas Bewick (pic)
Bewick made blocks for several books before he began his association with William Bulmer.
Wood engraving as practiced by Bewick represented a new technique and it played an important role in every kind of illustration printed on letterpress from the end of the 18th century until the successful introduction of photoengraving nearly a century after.

The Caroline Minuscule

After Charlemagne came to power in 768, he asked a revision of the books of the Church.
The result was the Caroline minuscule, a true small type with definite classic ancestry she was used as the same way as the lower case (capitals started the sentence)

Post-Caroline Hands:
by the 11th century the calligrapher managed in reducing round forms and then finally eliminating them, to acquire a completely different rhythm.
Roman Capitals have been described as having a breathing rhythm, the gothic lower case has the pattern of a picket fence
It was known in the 14th cent as black letter, that served as model for the type used in the Gutenberg 42-line Bible

The Renaissance of Roman Hand : ’scrittura umanistica’
15th Century the Renaissance had rekindled enthusiasm for classic culture and calligraphers sought
The humanistic script was a more compressed letter than its caroline predecessor but significantly rounder than the northern gothics