THE ROMAN LETTERFORM I / Xxxiv

GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / THE ROMAN LETTERFORM i / xxxiv

The Roman Letterform

1 Roman Scripts 1

2 Monumental Capitals 8

3 Trajan’s Column 16

4 Lineage 20

CIRCA 250 BCE – 100 CE Roman Scripts After situating the Latin alphabet, the Romans put their letters to work in the form of several hand-written scripts.

250 BCE 0 CE 100 CE Monumental Capitals Square Capitals Rustic Capitals Capitalis Monumentalis Capitalis Quadrata Capitalis Rustica

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 (left) Roman square capitals inside the Vergilius Augusteus, circa 300 CE. (right) Roman rustic capitals inside the Vergilius Romanus, circa 400 CE. GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / THE ROMAN LETTERFORM / Roman Scripts 4 / 34

100 CE Rustic Capitals • Began in 1st century, gained popularity in 4th century • The popular script • Lacked mechanical precision of the monumental capitals • Influenced by pen and ink writing on papyrus or parchment • Thinner and more compressed • Descenders extending below the baseline

250 BCE Monumental Capitals Roman Monumental Capitals are used in public inscriptions and signage. They were the drawn by sign-painters and chiseled by stone carvers.

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 “...The simple geometric lines of the capitalis monumentalis were drawn in thick and thin strokes, with organically unified straight and curved lines...” GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / THE ROMAN LETTERFORM / Monumental Capitals 11 / 34

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 “...Careful attention was given to the shapes of spaces inside the letters and in between the letters...” GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / THE ROMAN LETTERFORM / Monumental Capitals 13 / 34

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 “...A Roman inscription became a sequence of linear geometric forms adapted from the square, triangle, and circle...” GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / THE ROMAN LETTERFORM / Monumental Capitals 14 / 34

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 “...Combined into an inscription these letterforms molded the negative shapes around and between them into a measured graphic melody of spatial forms, achieving an eternal wholeness.” – Phillip Meggs GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / THE ROMAN LETTERFORM / Monumental Capitals 15 / 34

100 CE Roman Letterform Proportions The height-to-width relationship of each letterform, known as the letter’s set, was standardized by the Romans in their monumental inscriptions.

Square set A C D G H N O Q U V X Y Z

Narrow Set B E F K L P R S T

Wide Set W M

Thin Set I J

113 CE Trajan’s Column A prime example of Roman monumental capitals appears in an inscription at the base of Trajan’s Column. An inscription that has captivated typography enthusiasts for centuries.

113 CE Trajan’s Column A prime example of the Roman letterform appears in an inscription at the base of Trajan’s Column.

113 CE Trajan’s Column

INSCRIPTION The Senate and the People of Rome to the Emperor, Caesar Nerva, son of the deified Nerva, Trajanus Augustus, Germanicus, Dacicus, Pontifex Maximus, invested with the power of the tribune seventeen times, hailed imperator six times, elected consul six times, father of the fatherland, to demonstrate how lofty a hill and (what area of) ground was carried away for these mighty works.

250 BCE – PRESENT Lineage Roman monumental capitals defined the standard of letterform proportions seen throughout the next millenium.

OLD STYLE TRANSITIONAL MODERN

Minion Baskerville Bodoni Jenson Mrs. Eaves Didot Dante Georgia Times New Roman

ABCDEFGHIJKLM NOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklm nopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 Photograph taken c. 1920 shows graffiti from Pompeii with painted Roman square capitals. Most of the graffiti was destroyed during World War II. GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / THE ROMAN LETTERFORM / Lineage 34 / 34

THE ROMAN LETTERFORM﻿ I / Xxxiv

THE ROMAN LETTERFORM I / Xxxiv