Footnotes and glossary for the Chapter II of A Survey of Totschläger: a saintslayer’s songbook by Abigor (design, type, typography)

1. From the first appearance of Morison’s essay “The first principles of typography” in The Fleuron vol. 7, 1930. https://flic.kr/p/4HcLEC
   It’s critically important to note that in thirty seven years before the essay was published as a separate book Morison made various changes to his text, one of which is the switch of craft into art in his definition of typography. I’m all for craft. https://archive.org/details/firstprincipleso0000mori/page/3/
2. Gerard Unger, Theory of Type Design, nai010 publishers, Rotterdam, 2018, p. 146 — “Typography is the staging of a message on a surface.”
3. Joseph Moxon, Mechanick Exerciſes, Vol. 2., Sect. I., London, 1683, p. 6 https://archive.org/details/mechanickexercis00moxo_0/page/6/

4. Originally appeared online at http://www.bardomethodology.com/articles/2017/03/01/abigor-interview-part-ii/ this interview is also available in print in Bardo Archivology, vol. I, p. 28

5. Unger² p. 19

6. Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style, first edition, Hartley & Marks, Publishers, Vancouver, 1992, p. 130

7. Abigor interview in Invisible Oranges published on October 23 2014 at https://www.invisibleoranges.com/interview-t-t-abigor/

8. Eric Gill, Essay on Typography, Sheed and Ward, London, 1936, third paragraph in “The Theme”. Can also be found in the 1960 reprint by J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., London, p. 5. https://archive.org/details/essayontypograph0000gill/page/n8/mode/1up

The two worlds [industrialism and ancient methods of handicraftsmen] can see one another distinctly and without recrimination, both recognising what is good in the other — the power of industrialism, the humanity of craftsmanship. No longer is there any excuse for confusion of aim, inconsistency of methods or hybridism in production; each world can leave the other free in its own sphere.

9. Paget Toynbee, A Dictionary Of Proper Names And Notable Matters In The Works of Dante, Oxford, Clarendon Press 1898, p. 110. https://archive.org/details/adictionaryprop00toyngoog/page/110

10. Krichevski, Typography in Terms and Images, (in Russian), volume I, p. 122. https://bibliotekus.artlebedev.ru/books/tipografika-v-terminakh-i-obrazakh-1/63/

11. Unger² p. 145

12. Krichevski¹⁰ p. 122

13. Albert Kapr, Fraktur: Form und Geschichte der gebrochenen Schriften, Hermann Schmidt, Mainz, 1993, pp. 152 and 153. A scan of this spread can be found here — https://www.vhs-leipzig.de/cms/media/download/543/bogenschwung2.pdf

Von Christian Egenolff, dem Gründer der Lutherschen Gießerei in Frankfurt, wird berichtet, daß er 1524 begonnen habe, mit geliehenen Matrizen die »Cöllnisch-Current-Fraktur« zu gießen. Jan Tschichold schreibt 1952 in seinem »Meisterbuch der Schrift«: »Stempel dieser schönen alten deutschen Schrift vom Ende des 16. Jahrhunderts haben sich (nur in dem vorgeführten Grad) erhalten und bilden einen kostbaren Besitz der Schriftgießerei D. Stempel AG. in Frankfurt am Main. Die Schrift wird aber nicht mehr gegossen. Ein Alphabet ist meines Wissens noch nie abgedruckt worden.«

14. Die Egenolff-Luthersche Schriftgießerei in Frankfurt Am Main und ihre geschäftlichen Verbindungen mit den Vereinigten Staaten von Nordamerika. Mit 16 Abbildungen und 5 Stammtafeln als Festgabe der Schriftgießerei D. Stempel AG gedruckt zu Frankfurt A. M. im Jahre MCMXXVI

15. Goethe’s Mother. Correspondence of Catharine Elizabeth Goethe with Goethe, Lavater, Wieland, Duchess Anna Amalia of Saxe-Weimar, Friedrich von Stein, and others. Translated from the German, with the addition of biographical sketches and notes by Alfred S. Gibbs. With an introductory note by Clarence Cook. Dodd, Mead & Company, Publishers, New York, 1880, p. 215. https://archive.org/details/goethesmother00goet/page/215/

Frau Rath. Briefwechsel von Katharina Elisabeth Goethe. Nach den Originalen mitgetheilt von Robert Keil, Leipzig, F. A. Brockhaus, 1871, p. 334. https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Yp5EAQAAIAAJ/page/n352/

Nun ein Wort über unſer Geſpräch bey Deinem Hierſeyn über die lateiniſchen Lettern. Den Schaden den ſie der Menſchheit thun will ich Dir ganz handgreiflich darthun. Sie ſind wie ein Luſtgarten der Ariſtokraten gehört, wo niemand als Nobleße — und Leute mit Stern und Bändern hinein dürfen, unſere deutsche Buchſtaben ſind wie der Prater in Wien wo der Kayſer Joſeph drüber ſchreiben ließ »Vor alle Menschen« — wären Deine Schriften mit den fatalen Ariſtokraten gedruckt, ſo allgemein wären ſie bey all ihrer Vortrefflichkeit nicht gegeworden — Schneider — Nähterinnen — Mägde alles ließt es — jedes findet etwas das ſo ganz vor ſein gefühl paßt, gehen mit der Literatur Zeitung — Doctor Hufnagel u. a. m. pele mele im Prater ſpatzieren ergötzen ſich ſeegnen den Autor und laſſen ihn hoch leben!!! Was hat der Hufland übel gethan ſein vortreffliches Buch mit den vor die größte Menſchenhälfte unbrauchbaren Lettern drucken zu laſſen — ſollen den nur Leute von Standt aufgeklärt werden? ſoll den der Geringe von allen guten ausgeſchloßen ſeyn — und daß wird er — wenn dieſer neumodiſchen Fratze nicht einhalt gethan wird. Von Dir mein lieber Sohn hoffe ich daß ich nie ein ſolches menſchenfeindliches Produkt zu ſehen bekomme.

Note that the German editions say the letter is dated March 12 1798, while the English editions say March 13.

16. Kapr¹³ p. 9 —

Denn den gebrochenen Schriften haftet das Odium des »Deutschnationalen« an.

17. ibid. p. 78 — Das Beibehalten der Fraktur würde im Ausland als Chauvinismus aufgefaßt werden, es würde als Hochmut und Eigenbrödelei abstoßend wirken.

18. ibid. p. 42 —

Das Vordringen der Fraktur zur bevorzugten deutschen Bibelschrift war natürlich mehr als eine Mode-Erscheinung. Die Schrift für die »Heilige Schrift« empfing etwas vom Abglanz dieses heiligen Scheins. Wer als Kind schon den Katechismus in Frakturschrift las, später die Bibel in dieser Schrift studierte, schließlich im Gesangbuch in derselben Fraktur die Texte der zu singenden Lieder fand, auf den übertrugen sich die Wertvorstellungen der Text-Inhalte auf die Formen der Schrift. Die Fraktur wurde für ihn zur heimatlichen, zur deutschen zur evangelischen Schrift.

19. ibid. p. 64 — häßliche Mönchsschrift

20. Erik Spiekermann, Stop Stealing Sheep and Find Out How Type Works, fourth edition, The Other Collection Publishing, Berlin, 2022, page 65. https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/fonts.google.com/en//knowledge/stop_stealing_sheep.pdf

21. Bringhurst⁶ p. 193

22. Kapr¹³ p. 80 — glatt und fremdländisch.

23. Josef Müller-Brockmann, Rastersysteme für die visuelle Gestaltung, Niggli, Salenstein, 1981, 18th edition 2021, p. 45

24. Jan Tschichold, Meisterbuch der Schrift, 2. neubearbeitete Auflage, Otto Maier Verlag, Ravensburg, 1965, p. 39 —

…wir die lateinischen Schriftarten in zwei der Wirkung nach recht verschiedenen Arten benutzen könen: als reine Großbuchstaben- und Kleinbuchstabenschrift. Versalien der gebrochenen Schriften lassen sich nicht für sich verwenden. Wird dort ein Unterschied verlangt, so muß dieser durch die Wahl eier anderen Schriftgröße bewirkt werden. Daß wir mit einer einzigen Schriftgröße in der Antiqua Wirkungen wie die des letzten Beispiels erzielen können, bildet einen besonderen Vorzug dieser Schrift.

25. ibid. p. 10 —

Es kommt in der guten Schrift auf das genaue Gegenteil dessen an, was mindestens bis vor einiger Zeit allgemein gepredigt wurde: nicht auf den Ausdruck der (meist bescheidenen) Persönlichkeit, sondern auf völlige Selbstaufgabe, wenn man will Selbstverleugnung, im Dienste der richtig erfaßten Aufgabe.

26. ibid. — Lettering, like all art, is not for the impatient.

27. Krichevski¹⁰ p. 133. https://bibliotekus.artlebedev.ru/books/tipografika-v-terminakh-i-obrazakh-1/68/

28. Jan Tschichold, Ausgewählte Aufsätze über Fragen der Gestalt des Buches und der Typographie, Birkhäuser Verlag Basel und Stuttgart, 1975, p. 168:

Um dem Dilemma der Querbilder zu entgehen, hat man auch zu fast quadratischen Formen gegriffen, gegen die man ebenfalls protestieren muß. Wahre Monstren von Büchern sind entstanden, die jeden Bücherfreund schaudern machen.

English translation from: Jan Tschichold, The Form of the Book. Essays on the Morality of Good Design, translated from the German by Hajo Hadeler, edited, with an introduction, by Robert Bringhurst, Lund Humphries, London, 1991 (p. 167 maybe)

29. ibid. p. 200:

Gegen quadratähnliche Bücher sprechen drei Argumente. Das erste meint die Handlichkeit. Quadratische Bücher können von der ungestützten Hand nicht bewältigt werden, noch viel weniger als das häßliche Format A 5.

30. Müller-Brockmann²³ p. 58

31. Tschichold²⁸ p. 209 — Das Zwitterformat A 5 ist ganz schlecht, nur das Zwitterformat A 4 ist manchmal nicht völlig ungeeignet.

32. Unger² p. 29

33. Tschichold²⁴ p. 45

Es ist nicht zulässig, in den gebrochenen Schriften das Schluß-s dort zu setzen, wo nach der Rechtschreibung ein langes ſ beziehungsweise eine der Ligaturen ſi ſſ ß ſt stehen muß. Diese Barbarei breitet sich zusehends aus, und ihr muß begegnet werden. Jeder gute Schriftenmaler und jeder Graphiker sollte strengstens darauf achten, daß er keinen Verstoß gegen diese unumstößliche Regel begeht. Der Hinweis, daß in Frankreich, England und Amerika in den gelegentlich vorkommenden Wörten in Textur das eigentlich nötige lange ſ durch das Schluß-s ersetzt ist, ist nicht stichhaltig. Diese Länder sind der gebrochenen Schrift entwöhnt und können sie schon nicht mehr leicht lesen.

34. Kapr¹³ p. 97

Leider dringen aus England und den USA Frakturanwendungen zu uns, bei denen auf das lange s völlig verzichtet wird. Doch dies sollte kein Grund sein, solche Fehler zu tolerieren. Besonders häufig findet man diesen Fraktur-Schluß-s-Kobold bei Laden-Aufschriften, auf Schutzumschlägen bei Büchern und im Fernsehen, dies kann nur als Zeichen mangelnder Kenntnis im Fraktursatz gewertet werden.

35. ibid. p. 212 — Im Satz gebrochener Schriften ist das lange ſ unverzichtbar.

36. ibid. — Die Verwendung der Ligaturen ist unerläßlich.

37. Eric Gill, Essay on Typography, Sheed and Ward, London, 1936, p. 21. Can also be found in the 1960 reprint by J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., London, p. 26 — https://archive.org/details/essayontypograph0000gill/page/25/mode/1up

The glossary is copied mostly from Bringhurst⁶ and Unger.²

acute An accent used on vowels — á é í ó ú ý ǽ — in Czech, French, Gaelic, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Navajo, Spanish and other languages, and on consonants — ć ń ŕ ś ź — in Basque, Croatian, Polish and romanized Sanskrit. In romanized Chinese it is used with vowels and a nasal — á é í ń ó ú ǘ — to mark the rising tone. It is also used with Cyrillic consonants — ѓ and ќ — in Macedonian, and with all the vowels in Greek. Upper- and lowercase versions of the basic six acute vowels appear on standard ISO Latin text fonts. Pan-European fonts usually include both upper- and lowercase forms of the basic five acute consonants and the old Icelandic vowel ǽ. The acute schwa (ә́) and open o (ɔ́) and the Athapaskan high nasal vowels are present only on specialised fonts. [U+0301]

alternate Variant of a character in a font, often provided as a contextual or stylistic substitute.

apostrophe Also called raised comma or single close-quote. A mark of elision in English, French, Italian and many other languages. It grew from that use in English to become also a sign of the possessive. (It’s = it is, but John’s = Johnes = belonging to John.) A superimposed apostrophe (not to be confused with the acute) is the standard symbol in linguistics for a glottalized consonant.

baseline Whether written by hand or set into type, the Latin lowercase alphabet implies an invisible staff consisting of at least four lines: topline, midline, baseline and beardline. The topline is the line reached by ascenders in letters like b, d, h, k, l. The midline marks the top of letters like a, c, e, m, x, and the top of the torso of letters like b, d, h. The baseline is the line on which all these letters rest. The beardline is the line reached by descenders in letters like p and q. The cap line, marking the top of uppercase letters like H, does not necessarily coincide with the topline of the lower case. Round letters like e and o normally dent the baseline. Pointed letters like v and w normally pierce it, while the foot serifs of letters like h and m usually rest precisely upon it.

blackletter Blackletter is to typography what Gothic is to architecture: a general name for a wide variety of forms that stem predominantly from the north of Europe. Like Gothic buildings, blackletter types can be massive or light. They are often tall and pointed, but sometimes round instead. The categories of blackletter include bastarda, fraktur, quadrata, rotunda and textura. Also known as gothic — Generic term for “broken scripts”— in other words, styles of Latin script in which curves are generally broken, as opposed to the commonly round curves of roman. Mostly characterised by strong contrast between thick and thin strokes, and often giving a dark overall colour to text (hence another English term for gothic, “Blackletter”). Historical varieties of gothic are: Textura, Rotunda, Schwabacher, and Fraktur (Civilité was kind of gothic cursive.) Gothic type was used widely in Europe until the eighteenth century but, by early twentieth century, Germany was the last bastion of gothic type (principally Fraktur).

body (1) In reference to foundry type: the actual block of type-metal from which the sculpted mirror-image of the printed letter protrudes. (2) In reference to phototype or digital type: the rectangular face of the metal block that the letter would be mounted on if it were three-dimensional metal instead of a two-dimensional image or bitmap. Retained as a fiction for use in sizing and spacing the type.

body size In graphic terms, the height of the face of the type, which in letterpress terms is the depth of the body of the type. Originally, this was the height of the face of the metal block on which each individual letter was cast. In digital type, it is the height of its imaginary equivalent, the rectangle defining the space owned by a given letter, and not the dimension of the letter itself. Body sizes are usually given in points — but European type sizes are often given in Didot points, which are 7% larger than the points used in Britain and North America.

contrast Difference in weight between the thick and thin parts of a typeface; little difference means a low contrast while a great difference means a strong contrast.

convention The knowledge shared by readers of a particular script, the generally accepted forms of letters and other characters. This know-how, embedded in the brain, ensures that reading is a custom, close to an automatism, and that readers have no difficulties processing the letters and lines of text while concentrating on its content. This is the social component of type design, dependent on reading as a widely practised activity.

craft Making things by hand, requiring particular skills and knowledge. Having all phases of making something in one’s own hands, planning, execution, and production.

diacritic A mark placed over, under, next to, or through a letter to change the phonetic value of that letter. Some diacritics, such as the ´ (acute) are called accents.

diaeresis / umlaut A diacritic used with vowels — ä ë ï ö ü ẅ ÿ — in many languages, including Albanian, Dinka, Estonian, Finnish, German, Swedish, Turkish, Welsh, and less frequently also in English, Greek, Spanish, Portuguese and French. Linguists distinguish between the umlaut, which marks a change in pronunciation of a single vowel (as in the German Schön) and the diaeresis, which marks the separation of adjacent vowels (as in naïve and Noël). The typographic symbol is the same, but in reference to English and the Romance languages, the correct term is usually diaeresis, while umlaut is correct in reference to most other languages in which the symbol is used. Also called tréma, its French name.

The letter ÿ is a vowel sometimes used in archaic French and still required in the modern form of a few personal names and place names. It is also an alternate form of the ij ligature in Flemish.

display face A typeface made more to look at than to be read, and to be used in fairly large to very large sizes.

double acute An accent used on the vowels ő and ű in Hungarian. It is sometimes called the Hungarian umlaut — an unhelpful name, since the umlauted vowels ö and ü also appear in Hungarian. Not to be confused with the double prime nor with the close quote.

foreign type

font (also fount) A set of sorts or glyphs. In the world of metal type, this means a given alphabet, with all its accessory characters, in a given size. In relation to phototype, it usually means the assortment of standard patterns forming the glyph palette, without regard to size, or the actual filmstrip or wheel on which these patterns are stored. In the world of digital type, the font is the glyph palette itself or the digital information encoding it. (The older British spelling, fount, has not only the same meaning but also the same pronunciation.)

glyph The particular version of a character. The basic shape of the A, for example, appears in many different guises as glyphs. Type designers make glyphs.

immersive reading Also called sustained or deep reading; concerns the reading of substantial quantities of text, causing you to concentrate, and taking up most if not all of your attention, to the point of excluding other perceptions or activities.

initial The first and enlarged letter of a text, often decorated. One of the means to indicate the beginning of a chapter.

interlinear space The space between lines of text, often measured from baseline to baseline, consisting of the type size, sometimes with additional space. If a typeface has a large x-height, for example, interlinear space may be increased, just as it may be in order to aid the reading of text with wide measure (long lines). Added interlinear space used to be called leading, originally consisting of strips of lead inserted between lines of metal type, although leading is now often synonymous with interlinear space in desktop publishing.

kerning The adjustment of space between pairs of characters that would otherwise leave a gap in a word or a line of text (To) or would be too close for comfort (r:).

layout The way in which text, images and accompanying space are arranged on a page or screen.

letterform The shape of a letter (not only of the Latin script), either written or designed as part of a typeface.

long s This taller form of s looks like f without its crossbar. (Note however that the roman form usually does have a spur on the left.) Long s was commonly used in English (uſed in Engliſh, uſed in Engliſh, USED IN ENGLISH) through the end of the eighteenth century. It was then the normal form of s in initial and medial positions. Short s was used at the ends of words and (usually) as the second s in a pair. Long s + short s forms the ligature ß, still used in German. Long s itself is still routinely used in blackletter though archaic in roman and italic.

rhythm In type design, a visual impression created by the sequential recurrence of similar and contrasting letter shapes, combined with the spaces within and between them. Alfred North Whitehead once defined rhythm as a “fusion of sameness and novelty;” in other words, it is not equivalent to mere repetition, although a dominant aspect of rhythm in type design is the regular repetition of the main vertical elements of letterforms.

script (typeface) A type design derived from studied writing, showing the influence of pencil, pen, different kinds of brush — or any instrument that can be turned into a writing tool; and often with fluid movements as a consequence of rapid writing.

sharp s The ss ligature, long s + short s (ſ + s). It was once essential for setting English and is still essential for German. Not to be confused with the Greek beta, β. Also known as eszett, which is wrong. Note that not all instances of ss in German turn to ß.

sidebearings The margin of empty space around a glyph in a font, measured from the glyph contour's leftmost, rightmost, topmost and bottommost points to the sides of its bounding box

stroke A trace of a pen made with a single uninterrupted movement of the hand. Used to describe the principal parts of letterforms in type design.

type This was the term used for metal letters to be composed for letterpress printing. It referred to them collectively or generally, as in typecasting or a typewriter. It is now used also for digitally made letters.

type design The design of typographic letterforms and other signs; also referred to as typeface design. The fact that “type” is the object of design implies that letters per se are not the purpose, but rather unified groups of letters and other typographic characters (fonts and groups of fonts).

type family A group of related fonts, roman and italic, from light to black, all with the same characteristics or interpretations thereof. The designation family often refers to a larger group of fonts than those in a typeface. There is the extended type family, wherein several scripts can work together.

type specimen Printed leaflet, brochure, or book with examples of typefaces in the sizes cast by a particular typefoundry. Specimens on the web are much more flexible and often include the possibility to try out fonts.

typographer A practitioner of typography (not of type design). A designer who devises a plan for this kind of work. Before the mid-1980s such a plan was often effectuated by others working in the graphic industry. The personal computer has brought execution of the plan into the hands of the designer.

typography The arrangement and detailing of text (combined with images and space) according to a premeditated plan, originally for printing on paper (as in books and newspapers), and now also for screen display.

umlaut See diaeresis / umlaut

x-height One of the main dimensions in a type design, together with the height of the capitals. It is the basic height of the lowercase letters, minus ascenders, descenders, and overshoots. The x-height can vary in terms of its proportion of the total height of a typeface, and it does not have a fixed position within that height.