Arete Visual History of the Latin Alphabet

Archaic period
200 BC
100 BC
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
2100
Erklärung der Visualisierung

Archaic Latin

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Capitalis Monumentalis

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Rustic Capitals

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Roman Cursive

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Capitalis Quadrata

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Medieval Regional Scripts

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Uncial script

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Half-Uncial

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Carolingian Minuscule

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Gothic Majuscule

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Early Gothic Minuscule

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Rotunda

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Textura

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Gothic Cursive Script

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Bastarda

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Humanist Minuscule

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Humanist Cursive

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Renaissance Antiqua

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Fraktur

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Baroque and Classicistic Cursive

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Baroque Antiqua

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Classicistic Antiqua

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Sans-Serif

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Slab-Serif

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Modern Handwriting Scripts

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Fibula Praenestina

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Forum-Cippus

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Roman Monumental Script (concave transitional form)

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Roman Monumental Script

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Early roman Majuscule Cursive

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Classic Roman Cursive

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Roman Monumental Script (transitional form)

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Classic Capitalis

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Roman documentary script from Pompeii

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Classical Roman Document Cursive

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Love verse in Roman cursive

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Scriptura Actuaria from Pompeii

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Capitalis Monumentalis from the Trajan Column

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Roman Classical Cursive of a papyrus document

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Roman Uncial Script

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Roman Monumental Script (Ornamental Form)

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Roman Uncial Script

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Roman Uncial from the “St.-Cyprians-Epistels”

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Roman Capitalis Quadrata

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Rustic Capitals from “Vergilius Vaticanus”

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Capitalis from “Vergils Aeneis”

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Half-Uncial from “De Trinitate” by Hilarius of Poitiers

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Carolingian Minuscle from the “Homilien of St. Maximus”

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Half-Uncial from the “Lindisfarne Gospels”

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Uncial Script

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Uncial from St. Cuthbert’s Gospel

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Early Carolingian Minuscule

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Irish Half-Uncial from the “Gospel of Matthew”

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Carolingian Minuscule of Corbie Abbey

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Square Capital (ornamental shape)

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Irish Semi-Uncials from the “Book of Kells”

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Carolingian Minuscule from “The Life of St. Martin”

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Carolingian Minuscule from the “Moutier-Grandval-Bibel”

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Classic Capital from “Aratea”

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Square Capitals

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Romanesque high form of the Carolingian Minuscule

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Gothic Book Minuscule

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Carolingian Minuscule from 12th century homilies

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Curial Minuscule

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Beneventana from the Brevier of Montecassino

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Early Gothic Minuscule from the Nibelungen Manuscript C

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Littera Beneventana

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Early Gothic Minuscule from the Psalterium from Schaffhausen

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Italian Chancery Script

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Early Gothic Majuscule of a tomb slab

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Textura from the “Alphonso-Psalter”

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Textura from the “Codex Manesse”

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Textura from the Metz Pontifical

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Gothic Majuscule of a Building Inscription

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Textura from the Chronicle of the World by Rudolf von Ems

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Gothic Majuscle

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Gothic Cursive from a Plenarium of Hermetschwil Monastery

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Lettre Bâtarde

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Textura

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German handwritten Bastarda

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Humanistic Minuscule

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Textura from the Gutenberg Bible

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Venetian Antiqua from “De praeparatione evangelica”

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Venetian Antiqua from “Epistulae ad familiares”

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Rotunda from Euclid’s “elementa geometrica”

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Lettre Bâtarde from “Vigilles de Charles VII”

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Aldin’s Antiqua from “De Aetna”

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Humanistic Minuscule from the ”Book of Hours of Giovanni II. Bentivoglio”

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Aldin’s Italika from “Book of Horace”

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Constructed Renaissance Majuscules from “Divina Proportione”

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Prayer Book Fraktur

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Renaissance Italic

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Cancellaresca from the copy book of Giovanni Antonio Tagliente

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Cancellaresca from the manuscript of “De revolutionibus orbium coelestium” by N. Kopernikus

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French Renaissance Antiqua

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Cancellaresca from the Cataneo Manuscript

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Callipgraphic Rotunda from “Ein nützlich und wolgegrundt Formular”

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Secretary Hand from the Copy Book by Beauchesne & Baildon

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Lettera Mercantesca from the “Compendio del Gran Volume de l’arte bene et liggidramente scrivere”

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Gothic Majuscle (Ornamental Form) from “Kunstrichtige Schreibart”

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Cancellaresca Moderna, “Schrijfvoorbeeld met kapitaal H, Hans Strick”

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Antiqua of the French Renaissance Type

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Italica of the French Renaissance Type

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Chancelleresque Pleine from “Les ecritures financieres, et italienne-bastarde dans leur naturel”

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Romain du Roi

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English Round Hand from “The Universal Penman”

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English Baroque Antiqua from “Publii Virgilii Maronis Bucolica, Georgica et Aeneis”

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Baroque Antiqua from the “Baskerville Bible”

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Bâtarde Italienne from “L’art d’écrire réduit à des démonstrations vraies et faciles”

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Fraktur from the “Zürcher Zeitung”

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Walbaum

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German Kurrent script from a letter of Goethe

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Sans-Serif “Two Lines English Egyptian”

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Bodoni from the Manuale Tipografico

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Slab-Serif “Antique”

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Spencerian from “Real Pen Work. Self-Instructor in Penmanship.”

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Akzidenz-Grotesk

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Bold Fraktur from the type foundry D. Stempel AG

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Alte Schwabacher

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Sütterlin Script from “Neuer Leitfaden für den Schreibunterricht”

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Garamond der Stempel AG

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Fraktur from the book title of the novel “Steppenwolf”

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Ideal-Schreibschrift

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Firmin Didot

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Rockwell

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Zentenar-Fraktur

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Latin Foundation Script of the Iserlohn writing circle

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Neue Hammer-Unziale

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Univers

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Duc de Berry

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Mrs Eaves

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DIN Next Slab

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Culture Society Technology
Technology
100 BC: The papyrus scroll as the predominant book form.
Image source: Wikimedia
Culture
50 BC: The most famous and largest library of antiquity, the Library of Alexandria, has a collection of about 700,000 scrolls, mostly in Greek.
Image source: Zeichnung von O. Von Corven
Technology
400: Origin of the bound book in the form of the ‘codex’. Sheets of parchment – or rarely papyrus – are stapled or bound between two covers.
Image source: Wikimedia / Kungl. biblioteket
Society/Politics
476: Fall of the Western Roman Empire, which ends with the deposition of the Western Roman Emperor Romulus Augustulus.
Image source: Wikimedia User Marcok CC BY-SA
Culture
800: Emergence of illuminated splendid volumes. In monastic scriptoria, monks and nuns write and copy books by hand. The texts are often elaborately illustrated.
Image source: Wikimedia / Cleveland Museum of Art
Society/Politics
800: Charlemagne is the first Western European ruler since antiquity to attain the imperial dignity. The Frankish Empire reached its greatest expansion under him.
Image source: Wikimedia - User Beckstet
Culture
1088: Foundation of the University of Bologna. It is considered the oldest university in Europe.
Image source: Wikimedia
Technology
1200: Paper production in Europe. Paper was invented in China as early as 140 AD and reached Europe via the Indian and Arab cultures. Since it is significantly cheaper and more available than parchment, it becomes established as a writing medium from the 14th century onwards.
Technology
1450: Invention of letterpress printing with movable type. The book thus becomes a mass article and lays the foundation for the modern knowledge society.
Image source: Wikimedia
Society/Politics
1453: Byzantium falls after barely two months of siege by the Ottoman army. End of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Image source: Wikimedia
Culture
1500: Epoch of the Renaissance. Intellectual and artistic rediscovery of the ancient world. Associated with this emerges a humanistic educational program and a flowering of literature and the arts.
Image source: Wikimedia
Society/Politics
1517: Age of the Reformation, a church renewal movement. Publication of the Bible in several national languages. Printed books and pamphlets led to a strong spread of Reformation ideas.
Image source: Wikimedia
Culture
1520: Publication of the first writing master books. Using examples shown in prints, the authors demonstrate various scripts and their possible applications.
Image source: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
Culture
1650: Early mass media. The world's first daily newspaper is published in Leipzig.
Image source: Wikimedia
Culture
1700: Epoch of the Enlightenment. The basis for gaining knowledge here is rational thinking and empirical observations. The Enlightenment can be seen as the starting point for the following scientific revolution.
Image source: Wikimedia
Society/Politics
1700: Age of absolutism. The state was reduced to a single person - the ruler acting out of God-given power.
Image source: Wikimedia
Culture
1751: Publication of the ‘Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers’ in 35 volumes. Probably the most famous early encyclopedia, it contains contributions from 144 editors, the so-called encyclopedists.
Image source: Wikimedia
Technology
1775: Epoch of the Industrial Revolution. Technical inventions enabled very efficient machine processing and production and formed the basis for the emergence of factories. This is accompanied by profound and lasting changes in economic and social conditions.
Image source: Wikimedia
Society/Politics
1789: French Revolution. Based on the values and ideas of the Enlightenment, civil liberties and the establishment of a republic are demanded. Radicalization leads to a regime of terror.
Image source: Wikimedia
Technology
1798: Invention of the Fourdrinier paper machine. It replaces the manual scooping process with machine production. Paper thus becomes significantly cheaper and of higher quality, especially with regard to mass printed products.
Image source: Wikimedia
Society/Politics
1800: Emergence of compulsory schooling. A general educational mandate is derived from this, leading to a significant increase in literacy.
Image source: Wikimedia
Technology
1822: Beginning of mass production of steel nibs in England. Special punching machines are used to mass-produce nibs (up to 28,000 per day) from thinly rolled steel strips. Over the course of the century, steel nibs replace the quills that had been in use until then.
Image source: Wikimedia
Technology
1849: Invention of the fountain pen. The fountain pen enables continuous writing by transferring ink from a reservoir to the paper by means of a metal nib.
Image source: Wikimedia
Technology
1850: Development of rotary printing. A very fast production speed can be achieved through constantly rotating printing cylinders and a continuously moving paper web. This is used above all for printing long runs.
Image source: Wikipedia
Society/Politics
1850: Age of colonialism. Seizure of foreign territories, especially by European powers. This resulted in the subjugation, expulsion or murder of the resident population by the colonial masters. Associated with this is the spread and enforcement of the Roman alphabet in large parts of the world.
Image source: Wikimedia
Culture
1919: Founding of the Bauhaus, an influential educational institution that strives for a unity of art and craft. In the process, a radically modern formal language is also used in type design.
Image source: Wikimedia
Society/Politics
1945: Founding of the United Nations. In response to the wars, terrorist regimes and genocides of the first half of the 20th century, the United Nations is founded as a global, international organization for the protection of human rights and the observance of international law.
Image source: Wikimedia
Technology
1950: Emergence of phototypesetting. The individual characters are laid out on a stencil and transferred to a carrier film by means of an optical process. Reproduction templates are then created on the basis of the film.
Image source: Wikimedia
Technology
1984: Launch of the Apple Macintosh, first commercially successful computer with graphical user interface. Development of first digital fonts for desktop publishing.
Image source: Marcin Wichary CC BY 2.0
Culture
1990: Invention of the World Wide Web, a text-based information and communication system that in principle makes all the information it contains globally accessible.
Image source: Screenshot
Alte Schwabacher (Detail)

Letterform Archive

Alte Schwabacher - type specimen of the foundry Genzsch & Heyse

Letterform Archive

Alte Schwabacher - type specimen of the foundry Genzsch & Heyse

Letterform Archive

Alte Schwabacher - type specimen of the foundry Genzsch & Heyse

Letterform Archive

Alte Schwabacher - type specimen of the foundry Genzsch & Heyse

Letterform Archive

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Alte Schwabacher

The Schwabach typeface was created in the 15th century and is rounder and broader than the Gothic Textura. As an example, the small o is round on both sides, whereas in the textura it is angular on both sides. A typical letter is the small g crossed at the top. Schwabacher was superseded by Fraktur from the middle of the 16th century, but was used until the 20th century. The typeface shown here comes from the specimen book of the foundry Genzsch & Heyse and was probably cut at the end of the 19th century.

Name of Script or Typeface

Schwabacher

Alternative Names of Script or Typeface

  • Alte Schwabacher

Object Name

Schriftmusterbuch der Schriftgießerei Genzsch & Heyse

Class

Bastarda

Category

Typographic

Context/Utilisation

  • Typeface
  • Letterpress

Year

ca. 1915

Location

Hamburg, Germany

Technology

  • Bleisatz