OLD STYLE TYPESTYLES

Around 1439 the world of type design was revolutionised with the invention of Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press. The potential born from this technological advancement called for new requirements in typeface design, mainly the concept of there being more to a typeface than a general understanding of how each letter should be formed when been written by hand.
These font styles, created between the fifteenth and seventeenth century are referred to as ‘Old Style’.

Old style typefaces where, like most progressions in design and technology, an advancement from previously accepted forms of typefaces, which where, until now written by hand. For this reason, the concept of adhering to manuscript models was the basis for all Old Style typefaces.
Old Style type faces fall into two main categories; Black Letter and Roman.
The Black Letter foundation was the type style included in Gutenberg’s major work, the 42-line Bible. These typefaces are characterised by their emphasis on a solid angular structure with decorative elements that mimic the form of hand written, broad nibbed scripture writing used by the small amount of literate people at that time. The first type designs cut into wood and metal where almost literal copies of the pen drawn strokes of the scribes.

The second important category of Old Style typefaces is the ‘Roman’ style.
When printing found it’s way to Italy later in the centaury, the typing styles where influenced by a more round and curved Roman style and moved away from the original forms of the Germanic Old Style typefaces. Whilst both typefaces share common traits and are characterised by an oblique line structure that mimics the angle of a scribes pen, in the case of the Roman contemporaries, there is minimal variation between thick and thin strokes, and a now unfamiliar case structure in which lower case ascenders will often stand taller than capitals. In addition and as evidence indicating a lack of knowledge towards the importance of simple and legible type for the production of block text, there is also a common trend of cupped serifs on lower and angled serifs on higher ascenders.

A detail from Gutenberg’s 42-line Bible.
http://typographia.oszk.hu/html/uk/gutenberg_uk.htm

Thomas Kilburn