A printers workshop, 1568.
This writing is known as Roman majusculemajusculemeaning an all-capital script.
As the Romance languages developed out of Latin, the written alphabet also evolved.
A printers workshop, 1568. (Photo:Wikimedia Commons[Public domain])
A new bang out of script known ashalf-uncialalso developed around the same time.
Both scripts were used throughout the medieval period.
The famous Irish Book of Kells was written in uncial script circa 800 CE.
The famous Irish “Book of Kells” was written in uncial script circa 800 CE. (Photo:Wikimedia Commons[Public domain])
(Photo:Wikimedia Commons[Public domain])
Page of a medieval Gospel written in Carolingian minuscule.
Note the punch in cases behind the man on the right.
The early printing press usedmovable metal typewhich could be painstakingly arranged to print a text.
Page of a medieval Gospel written in Carolingian minuscule. (Photo: Cropped fromWikimedia Commons[Public domain])
Each letter was an individual piece, and printers would keep many sizes and fonts on hand.
Writing each word backwards, typesetters bound a page’s worth of words together in aframe.
Ink was then applied to the frame, and the printing press then pressed it into paper.
A Dutch printing press in the 17th century. Note the type cases behind the man on the right. (Photo:Stock Photosfrom EVERETT COLLECTION/Shutterstock)
Metal movable key in sorted in a case.
pop in is being assembled in a frame for printing.
(Photo: Cropped fromWikimedia Commons[CC BY-SA 3.0])
A typesetter’s sorting cases, 1740.
Metal movable type sorted in a case. Type is being assembled in a frame for printing. (Photo: Cropped fromWikimedia Commons[CC BY-SA 3.0])
A typesetter’s sorting cases, 1740. (Photo: Cropped fromWikimedia Commons[Public domain])
An example of printed typeface using mixed majuscule and minuscule scripts printed in London, 1656. (Photo: Madeleine Muzdakis / My Modern Met)
