It is no accident that as my physical connection to typography increased, so did my access expand to a widening degree to the terminology for typographic anatomy. From the standpoint of writing in english, at the macro level very little vocabulary is necessary to speak about characters and letterforms. We understand them to be units that represent sound—our main concern is the combination of letters into words, not of the individual letterform. As one moves closer, in the designing of a layout and composition of the text on the page, the choice of typeface, size and positioning of the lines for printing, it becomes necessary to expand the vocabulary to include more parts of the form and of the space the forms occupy. But before this designed page can be printed, it must be set, letter by letter.
Prior to the invention of the ‘matricesised’ printing process, for about 400 years (1450-1880)[24], letterpress was the most common method. To the printer and type setter, it was important to recognize the anatomy of the physical metal letter in order to discuss it’s proper positioning, cleaning, and finally printing of the characters. Additional vocabulary was necessary to talk about the 3-dimensional forms role in the printing process so that printers were able to improve upon, trouble-shoot, and discuss the physical process of printing. In order to discuss typography at the level of the character we use another system of terms to describe the certain parts of anatomy in type. [1] The current use of typographic terminology for anatomy stems from a resurgence of type design and typography as a profession, and enables us to speak of the specific characteristics of each letterform we are creating. Although a piece of lead type is no longer a necessary part of the setting or printing process there has been a rebirth in the use of typographic terminology for the anatomy of type in the design of new typography. [2]
Upon my introduction to typographic anatomy, I began to see the written word as the explicit manifestation of man. Letters as an extension of thought, as the proof of ideas, as Ellen Lupton affirms in Thinking with Type, “Typography is what language look like.” [3] [4]
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[1] Cathie Ruggie-Saunders Intro to Letterpress. Class Materials, SAIC. (Spring 2009)
[2] Discussions and Round Table: Matthew Carter, Sumner Stone, Juliet Shen, and Richard Kegler. Wayzgoose, Fall 2009. Hamilton Wood Type Museum (11/22/09)
[3] Lupton, Ellen. Thinking with Type. Princeton Architectural Press, New York. China. (2004)
[4] Elam, Kimberly. Geometry of Design. Princeton Architectural Press, New York. Hong Kong. (2001)