Week 10 An Epoch of Typographic Genius - A History of Graphic ...

A HISTORY OF
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Chapter 8 – An Epoch of Typographic Genius
SUMMARY
The eighteenth century brought significant changes to
graphic design, particularly in the realm of type design,
typography, and page layout. As chronicled in Chapter
8, these changes occurred mainly in France, England,
and Italy. In France, a shift away from the calligraphic
tradition of the old style roman, with its bracketed serifs
and relatively even stroke weights, had already begun: at
the end of the seventeenth century, Louis XIV introduced
the new Romain du Roi typeface, whose letters were
inspired by measurement and drafting instruments as
opposed to the chisel and flat pen.
The first printing of the Romain du Roi at the beginning
of the eighteenth century signified a shift to transitional
roman type design with increased contrast between
thick and thin strokes, sharp horizontal serifs, and a
more even balance to each letterform. The type design
of Pierre Simon Fournier le Jeune was influenced by
the Romain du Roi and the ornate French rococo style.
Fournier le Jeune and his contemporary, Louis René
Luce, contributed to the French monarchy’s graphic
expression of authority and opulence through their type
designs and series of letterpress borders, ornaments,
trophies, and other devices. Fournier le Jeune’s other
typographic innovations include standardization of type
measurement, the concept of type family, and a complete
design system of integrated parts of type, rules,
and ornaments.
In England, William Caslon worked in the tradition of
old style roman typographic design while increasing the
contrast between thick and thin strokes by making the
thick strokes slightly heavier. The work of Englishman
John Baskerville represents the zenith of the transitional
style bridging the gap between old style and modern
type design. His letters are wider, the weight contrast between
thick and thin strokes is increased, the placement
of the thickest part of the letter is different, and the serifs
flow smoothly out of the major strokes and terminate as
refined points.
The French Revolution brought an end to the lush
designs of the French monarchy. In Italy, Giambattista
Bodoni led the way in evolving new typefaces and page
layout, which resulted in a new category of roman type
identified first by Fournier le Jeune as “modern.” This
chapter covers the influences that led to the more mathematical,
geometric, and mechanical appearance of the
modern type style, with its unbracketed, hairline serifs
and thin strokes trimmed to the same weight as the hairline
serifs. As for page layout, open, simple page design
with generous margins, wide letter and line spacing, and
large areas of white space became Bodoni’s hallmark.
The Didot family dynasty of printers, publishers, papermakers,
and type founders began when Françoise Didot
established a printing and bookselling firm in Paris in
1713. In addition to experiments in type design, other
Didot contributions include the point system, refined
smooth wove paper by Françoise-Ambroise Didot, and
stereotyping by Firmin Didot. Bodoni and the Didots
were rivals and kindred spirits who pushed the modern
style to the limit. The poems and illustrations of William
Blake offered a counterpoint to the severe typography
of Bodoni and Didot and led the way for romanticism,
expressionism, Art Nouveau, and abstract art.
The chapter also covers the development of analytic geometry
by René Descartes, which became the foundation
for information graphics. Relying on analytic geometry,
William Playfair used graphics, such as the line graph,
bar chart, and pie chart, for presenting complex information.
The “white-line” technique of Thomas Bewick
became the major illustration method in letterpress
printing until the advent of photomechanical halftones.
KEY TERMS (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE; THE FIRST PAGE NUMBER OF THEIR APPEARANCE IS LISTED)
Romain du Roi, page 122, the new typeface France’s King Louis XIV ordered to be developed for the royal printing office.
It was characterized by an increased contrast between thick and thin strokes, sharp horizontal serifs, and an even

A HISTORY OF
GRAPHIC DESIGN
balance to each letterform.
Folio, page 122, a sheet of paper folded once vertically down the center to create four pages.
Old style, page 122, the name given to the Venetian tradition of roman type design.
Transitional roman, page 122, the category of typefaces whose style was initiated by the Romain du Roi. These broke
with the traditional calligraphic qualities, bracketed serifs, and relatively even stroke weights of old style fonts.
Rococo, page 122, the fanciful French art and architecture that flourished from about 1720 until around 1770. Florid
and intricate, rococo ornament is composed of S- and C-curves, with scrollwork, tracery, and plant forms derived from
nature, classical and oriental art, and even medieval sources. Light pastel colors were often used with ivory, white, and
gold in asymmetrically balanced designs.
Pouce, page 123, a now-obsolete French unit of measure slightly longer than an inch, standardized by Pierre Simon
Fournier le Jeune. The pouce was divided into twelve lines, each of which was divided into six points.
Point, page 123, the smallest unit in Fournier le Jeune’s system of type measurement. Six points made one line, twelve
lines made one pouce.
Type family, page 124, fonts in a variety of weights and widths that are visually compatible and can be mixed.
Engraving, page 126, a drawing made with a graver instead of a pencil as the drawing tool, and a smooth copperplate
instead of a sheet of paper as the substrate. Because this free line was an ideal medium for expressing the florid curves
of the rococo sensibility, engraving flourished throughout the 1700s.
Packing, page 128, on a letterpress, the material placed behind the sheet of paper being printed. John Baskerville used
unusually hard and smooth packing, which resulted in even overall impressions.
Paper with laid finish, page 128, paper that has a textural pattern of horizontal lines. This pattern is created during manufacturing
by wires that form the screen in the papermaker’s mold; the close parallel wires are supported by larger wires
running at right angles to the thinner wires.
Paper with wove finish, page 129, paper that has a smooth finish. The wove paper manufactured for Baskerville was
formed by a mold having a much finer screen made of wires woven in and out like cloth. The texture of wire marks was
virtually eliminated from this paper.
Calendering paper, page 129, a method of hot-pressing paper to give it a smooth, refined surface. Baskerville experimented
with calendering paper. Because he closely guarded his innovations, we can only guess what methods were
employed. Early sources suggest he may have used two copper rollers and a pressing or glazing machine that worked
in a manner not unlike ironing clothes; or as each page was removed from the press, it may have been sandwiched
between two highly polished, heated copperplates that expelled moisture, set the ink, and created the glossy surface.
Analytic geometry, page 130, this branch of geometry was developed and first used in 1637 by the French philosopher,
mathematician, and scientist René Descartes (1596–1650), and is the foundation for information graphics, which presents
complex information in a more comprehensible form.
Axes, page 130, two perpendicular intersecting lines on a two-dimensional plane that represent a point in space. The
horizontal line is called the x-axis, and the vertical line, the y-axis. Developed by Descartes and used in his analytic
geometry.
Cartesian coordinates, page 130, any point on a plane can be specified by two numbers, called Cartesian coordinates.
One defines its distance from the horizontal axis, and the other defines its distance from the vertical axis. The axes can
be repeated at regular intervals to form a grid of horizontal and vertical lines called a Cartesian grid.
Line (fever) graph, page 130, uses Cartesian coordinates to convert statistical data into symbolic graphics. Line graphs,
bar charts, and divided circle diagrams (pie charts) were introduced in 1786 by Scottish author and scientist William
Playfair (1759–1823) in his book entitled Commercial and Political Atlas.

A HISTORY OF
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Modern, page 133, a new category of roman type introduced in Europe during the eighteenth century. The word modern
was first used by Fournier le Jeune in his Manuel Typographique to describe the design trends that culminated in
Bodoni’s mature work.
Neoclassicism, page 134, a revival of classic Greek and Roman aesthetic forms characterized by order, simplicity, and
symmetry. Critics hailed Bodoni’s volumes as the typographic expression of neoclassicism and a return to “antique
virtue” (Fig. 8-23).
Maigre (thin), page 134, the Didot type foundry’s experimental condensed style fonts.
Gras (fat), page 134, the Didot type foundry’s experimental expanded style fonts.
Pied de roi, page 134, the official standard of measurement for identifying type sizes in France adopted by the Didot type
foundry. The pied de roi was divided into twelve French inches, which were then divided into 72 points.
Stereotyping, page 134, process that involves casting a duplicate of a relief printing surface by pressing a molding
material (damp paper pulp, plaster, or clay) against it to make a matrix. Molten metal is poured into the matrix to form
the duplicate printing plate. Stereotyping made longer press runs possible. The invention of stereotyping was the most
notable achievement of Firmin Didot (1764–1836).
Éditions du Louvre, page 135, printed by Pierre Didot, they gave the neoclassical revival of the Napoleonic era its
graphic design expression. Lavish margins surround modern typography, and engraved illustrations by artists working
in the neoclassical manner of the painter Jacques Louis David display flawless technique and sharp value contrast.
Romanticism, page 136, an artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late eighteenth century as
a reaction against the neoclassical emphasis on reason and the intellect combined with a focus upon the imagination,
introspection, and emotions in natural forms.
Wood engraving, page 137, an illustration technique achieved by using a fine graver to cut across the grain, as opposed
to woodcuts, which were made by cutting with the grain on softer wood. Thomas Bewick (1753–1828), called the father
of wood engraving, brought renown to his “white-line” technique, which became the major illustration method in letterpress
printing until the advent of photomechanical halftones nearly a century later.
KEY PEOPLE AND THEIR MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE; THE FIRST PAGE NUMBER OF THEIR
APPEARANCE IS LISTED)
Pierre Simon Fournier le Jeune (1712–1768), page 123, the youngest son of a prominent family of printers and type
founders, Fournier le Jeune made more typographic innovations and had a greater impact on graphic design than any
other person of his era. He pioneered standardization when he published his first table of proportions. The pouce (a nowobsolete
French unit of measure slightly longer than an inch) was divided into twelve lines, each of which was divided
into six points. In 1742, Fournier le Jeune published his first specimen book, Modèles des caractères de l’imprimerie
(Models of Printing Characters), which presented 4,600 characters that he had both designed and cut punches for during
a six-year period. His roman styles were transitional forms inspired by the Romain du Roi of 1702. His variety of
weights and widths initiated the idea of a “type family” of fonts that are visually compatible and can be mixed. Other
accomplishments include complex page designs that were richly garlanded with his exquisite fleurons, used singly or
multiplied for unlimited decorative effect; his explorations into casting, which enabled him to cast single-, double-, and
triple-ruled lines; and the largest metal type (equivalent to contemporary 84- and 108-point sizes) yet made. His decorative
types (Fig. 8-4) worked remarkably well with his roman fonts, ornaments, and rules to provide printers with a
complete design system, etc.; the concept of a complete design system (roman, italic, script, and decorative type styles,
rules, and ornaments) of standardized measurement whose parts integrated both visually and physically (Fig. 8-5).
Fournier le Jeune planned a four-volume Manuel typographique (Manual of Typography) (Fig. 8-7), but only produced
two volumes: Type, Its Cutting and Founding, 1764; and Type Specimens (originally planned as volume four), 1768. An

A HISTORY OF
GRAPHIC DESIGN
improved measurement system based on the point (instead of the line and point) was introduced in the 1764 volume.
He did not live to complete the other two volumes, one on printing and one on the great typographers’ lives and work.
George Bickham (the Elder) (d. 1769), page 126, the renowned English writing master and engraver was the most celebrated
penman of his time (Fig. 8-9). In 1743 he published The Universal Penman ... exemplified in all the useful and
ornamental branches of modem Penmanship, &c.; the whole embellished with 200 beautiful decorations for the amusement
of the curious. Bickham and other accomplished engravers prominently signed broadsheets, title pages, and large
images for domestic walls that were frequently based on oil paintings.
John Pine (1690–1756), page 126, chief engraver of seals for the king of England, was one of the best engravers of his
time. His books, including the 1737 Opera Horatii (Works of Horace) (Fig. 8-10), were produced independent of typographic
printers by hand engraving both illustrations and text. Because the serifs and thin strokes of letterforms were
reduced to the delicate scratch of the engraver’s finest tool, the contrast in the text material was dazzling and inspired
imitation by typographic designers.
William Caslon (1692–1766), page 127, Before Caslon, an English engraver of gunlocks and barrels and letter stamps
for bookbinders (among other things) took up type design and founding in 1720, type and design ideas were imported
across the English Channel from Holland. Caslon worked in a tradition of Old Style Roman typographic design that had
begun over two hundred years earlier during the Italian Renaissance. His first commission was an Arabic font for the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. This was followed closely by the first size of Caslon Old Style with italic
(Fig. 8-11) in 1722. For the next sixty years, virtually all English printing used Caslon fonts, and these types followed
English colonialism around the globe. Printer Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) introduced Caslon to the American colonies,
where it was used extensively, including for the official printing of the Declaration of Independence by a Baltimore
printer. Caslon’s type designs owed their tremendous popularity and appeal to an outstanding legibility and sturdy
texture that made them “comfortable” and “friendly to the eye.” Beginning with the Dutch types of his day, Caslon
increased the contrast between thick and thin strokes by making the thick strokes slightly heavier. This was in direct
opposition to fashion on the Continent, which was embracing the lighter texture of the Romain du Roi. Caslon’s fonts
have variety in their design, giving them an uneven, rhythmic texture that adds to their visual interest and appeal. The
Caslon foundry continued under his heirs and was in operation until the 1960s.
John Baskerville (1706–1775), page 127, After making a fortune as a manufacturer of japanned ware, John Baskerville
returned to his first love, the art of letters. He established a press near Birmingham, England, where he experimented
with printing and was involved in all facets of the bookmaking process, including designing, casting, and setting type.
Baskerville’s type designs, which bear his name to this day, represent the zenith of the transitional style bridging the gap
between Old Style and modern type design. His letters possessed a new elegance and lightness. In comparison with
earlier designs, his types are wider, the weight contrast between thick and thin strokes is increased, and the placement
of the thickest part of the letter is different. The treatment of serifs is new: they flow smoothly out of the major strokes
and terminate as refined points. Formerly a master writing teacher and stonecutter (Fig. 8-13), Baskerville’s italic fonts
most clearly show the influence of master handwriting. As a book designer in a period of intricate, engraved title pages
and illustrations and the generous use of printers’ flowers, ornaments, and decorated initials, Baskerville opted for the
pure typographic book (Figs. 8-14 and 8-15), including wide margins and a liberal use of space between letters. Other
important contributions made by Baskerville were perfecting alignment between parts of the press; achieving even,
overall impressions by using unusually hard and smooth packing behind the sheet of paper being printed; enhancing
the smooth finish of hot-pressed wove paper, and developing a dense black ink. Baskerville published fifty-six books,
the most ambitious being a folio Bible in 1763. The design of his type and books became important influences on the
Continent as the Italian Giambattista Bodoni (1740–1813) and the Didot family in Paris became enthusiastic about his
work.
René Descartes (1596–1650), page 130, the French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist who developed and first
used in 1637 analytic geometry, which became the foundation for information graphics. Descartes used algebra to
solve geometry problems, formulate equations to represent lines and curves, and represent a point in space by a pair
of numbers, the x and y coordinates, or Cartesian coordinates. The axes can be repeated at regular intervals to form a
grid of horizontal and vertical lines called a Cartesian grid.
William Playfair (1759–1823), page 130, a Scottish author and scientist who used Cartesian coordinates and other as-

A HISTORY OF
GRAPHIC DESIGN
pects of analytic geometry to convert statistical data into symbolic graphics. Playfair introduced the line (or fever) graph
(Figs. 8-19 and 8-20), the bar chart, and the first “divided circle” diagram (called a pie chart today) to graphically present
complex information. In 1786, he published Commercial and Political Atlas, in 1801 Statistical Breviary, and in 1805 the
English translation of a French book, The Statistical Account of the United States of America. Information graphics has
gained importance because of our expanding base of knowledge, which requires graphics to present complex information
in an understandable form.
Louis René Luce (d. 1773), page 131, A type designer and punch cutter at the Imprimerie Royale from 1740 until 1770,
Luce designed a series of types that were narrow and condensed, with sharp serifs, and a large series of letterpress
borders, ornaments, trophies, and other devices of impressive variety and excellent printing quality. Cast in modular
sections, these ornaments were then assembled into the desired configuration by the compositor. The density of line in
Luce’s ornaments was carefully planned to be visually compatible with his typefaces and often had an identical weight
so that they looked as if they belonged together in a design. In 1771 Luce published his Essai d’une Nouvelle Typographie
(Essay on a New Typography), with ninety-three plates presenting the range of his design accomplishments (Fig.
8-21).
Giambattista Bodoni (1740–1813), page 130: The son of an indigent printer, Giambattista Bodoni was born in Saluzzo in
northern Italy. Bodoni was in charge of the Stamperia Reale, the official press of Ferdinand, Duke of Parma. He printed
official documents and publications desired by the duke in addition to projects he conceived and initiated himself. His
initial design influence was the rococo style of Fournier le Jeune (Fig. 8-22), whose foundry supplied type and ornaments
to the Stamperia Reale. The revolt against the French monarchy led to a rejection of the lush designs so popular
during the reigns of Louis XV and XVI, and all areas of design required a new approach to replace the outmoded rococo
style. Bodoni led the way in evolving new typefaces and page layout. Around 1790 Bodoni redesigned the roman
letterforms to give them a more mathematical, geometric, and mechanical appearance. Serifs became hairlines that
formed sharp right angles with the upright strokes, eliminating the tapered flow of the serif into the upright stroke in
Old Style roman. The thin strokes of Bodoni’s letterforms were trimmed to the same weight as the hairline serifs, creating
a brilliant sharpness and a dazzling contrast not seen before. Bodoni decided that the letters in a type font should
be created through combinations of a very limited number of identical units. This standardization of forms that could
be measured and constructed marked the death of calligraphy and writing as the wellspring for type design and the
end of the imprecise cutting and casting of earlier type design. Bodoni’s precise, measurable, and repeatable forms
expressed the vision and spirit of the machine age, foreshadowing the mass-production techniques soon to revolutionize
Western society. In Bodoni’s page layouts, the borders and ornaments of his earlier decorative work were cast aside
for an economy of form and efficiency of function. The severe purity of Bodoni’s late graphic-design style has affinities
with twentieth-century functional typography. Open, simple page design with generous margins, wide letter and line
spacing, and large areas of white space became his hallmark. Lightness was increased by using a smaller x-height and
longer ascenders and descenders. Bodoni designed about three hundred type fonts and planned a monumental specimen
book presenting this work. After his death, his widow and his foreman, Luigi Orsi, persisted with the project, and
in 1818 published the two-volume Manuale Tipografico (Manual of Type) (Figs. 8-23 and 8-24). This monumental celebration
of the aesthetics of letterforms and homage to Bodoni’s genius is a milestone in the history of graphic design.
François Didot (1689–1757), page 131, established a printing and bookselling firm in Paris in 1713, which evolved into a
family dynasty of printers, publishers, papermakers, and typefounders.
Françoise-Ambroise Didot (1730–1804), page 134, son of François Didot. In 1780 he introduced a highly finished, smooth
paper of wove design modeled after the paper commissioned by Baskerville in England. The Didot typefoundry’s constant
experimentation led to maigre (thin) and gras (fat) type styles similar to the condensed and expanded fonts of
our time. Around 1785 Françoise-Ambroise Didot revised Fournier’s typographic measurement system and created
the point system used in France today. Didot discarded the traditional nomenclature for various type sizes (Cicero,
Petit-Romain, Gros-Texte, and so on) and identified them with the measure of the metal type body in points (ten-point,
twelve-point, and so on). The Didot system was adopted in Germany, where it was revised by Hermann Berthold in 1879
to work with the metric system. In 1886 the Didot system, revised to suit the English inch, was adopted as a standard
point measure by American typefounders, and England adopted the point system in 1898. Fonts issued from 1775 by
François-Ambroise Didot possessed a lighter, more geometric quality, similar in feeling to the evolution occurring in
Bodoni’s designs under Baskerville’s influence. Bodoni and the Didots were rivals and kindred spirits. They shared com-

A HISTORY OF
GRAPHIC DESIGN
mon influences and the same cultural milieu. Their influence upon each other was reciprocal, for Bodoni and the Didots
each attempted to push the modern style further than the other. In so doing, each pushed the aesthetics of contrast,
mathematical construction, and neoclassical refinement to the ultimate level.
Pierre Didot (1761–1853), page 134, the older son of François-Ambroise Didot, he took charge of his father’s printing
office. After the Revolution, the French government honored Pierre Didot by granting him the printing office formerly
used by the Imprimerie Royale at the Louvre. There he gave the neoclassical revival of the Napoleonic era its graphic
design expression in a series of éditions du Louvre (Fig. 8-27). A year after the Manuale Tipografico appeared, the 1819
Spécimen des nouveaux caractères ... de P. Didot l’aîné (Specimens of New Characters ... by P. Didot the elder l’aîné)
was published in Paris.
Firmin Didot (1764–1836), page 134, the younger son of François-Ambroise Didot, he succeeded his father as head of
the Didot type foundry. Firmin Didot’s modern typography is even more mechanical and precise than Bodoni’s. Firmin’s
notable achievements included the invention of stereotyping. This process involves casting a duplicate of a relief printing
surface by pressing a molding material (damp paper pulp, plaster, or clay) against it to make a matrix. Molten metal
is poured into the matrix to form the duplicate printing plate. Stereotyping made longer press runs possible. The Didots
used their new stereotyping process to produce much larger editions of economical books for a broader audience.
William Blake (1757–1827), page 135, a visionary English poet and artist who published books of his poetry in which
each page was printed as a monochrome etching combining word and image. Blake and his wife either hand colored
each page with watercolor or printed colors, and hand bound each copy in paper covers. The lyrical fantasy, glowing
swirls of color, and imaginative vision that Blake achieved in his poetry and accompanying designs represent an effort
to transcend the material of graphic design and printing to achieve spiritual expression. The 1789 title page from Songs
of Innocence (Fig. 8-29) shows how Blake integrated letterforms into illustrations. Blake was a harbinger of nineteenthcentury
romanticism. His bright colors and swirling organic forms are forerunners to expressionism, Art Nouveau, and
abstract art.
William Bulmer (1757–1830), page 137, was chosen by publishers John and Josiah Boydell and George and W. Nicol to
print, in nine volumes, The Dramatic Works of Shakespeare, 1792–1802. He also printed a series of volumes, including
William Somerville’s The Chase of 1796, in which the clean, spacious design of Bodoni and Didot was tempered by a
traditional English legibility and warmth and used illustrations by his close friend, Thomas Bewick.
Thomas Bewick (1753–1828), page 136, the father of wood engraving (Fig. 8-31). His “white-line” technique employed
a fine graver to achieve delicate tonal effects by cutting across the grain on blocks of Turkish boxwood. Woodcuts were
made by cutting with the grain on softer wood. Publication of his General History of Quadrupeds in 1790 brought renown
to Bewick and his technique, which became a major illustration method in letterpress printing until the advent of
photomechanical halftones nearly a century later.