sms16@po.CWRU.Edu (Steven M. Schwartz) (01/12/91)
Wondering if anyone out there is familiar with the history of typesetting and fonts, particularly "Optima". This is for a graphics project; Optima will be used on Aldus Pagemaker. The layout must be done in Optima and describe the history of its development. Optima was designed by Hermann Zapf if that helps any. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated... time is of the essence.
clouds@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Kathy Strong) (01/12/91)
In article <1991Jan12.001000.11113@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> sms16@po.CWRU.Edu (Steven M. Schwartz) writes: > > Wondering if anyone out there is familiar with the history of typesetting >and fonts, particularly "Optima". This is for a graphics project; Optima will >be used on Aldus Pagemaker. The layout must be done in Optima and describe the >history of its development. Optima was designed by Hermann Zapf if that helps >any. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated... time is of the essence. Hmmm, that name sounds vaguely familiar ... :-) I popped out of usenet and onto the University of Texas on-line library catalog, where I found 21 books by Hermann Zapf, including several copies each of About alphabets: some marginal notes on type design (Z250 A2 Z3613 1970) and Hermann Zapf and his design philosophy (Z250 A2 Z379 1987) (yes, he wrote it) I bet either of those would be a good place to start your research. Also, there's a guy named Clifford Burke who wrote a series of articles on various typefaces for Publish magazine. Some of them are collected (somewhat abridged) in a book called _Type from the Desktop_ which is probably available at your local bookstore (thanks, David :-). --K -- ........................................................................... : Kathy Strong : "Try our Hubble-Rita: just one shot, : : (Clouds moving slowly) : and everything's blurry" : : clouds@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu : --El Arroyo : :..........................................................................:
dhosek@linus.claremont.edu (Don Hosek) (01/13/91)
In article <42430@ut-emx.uucp>, clouds@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Kathy Strong) writes: > In article <1991Jan12.001000.11113@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> sms16@po.CWRU.Edu > (Steven M. Schwartz) writes: >> Wondering if anyone out there is familiar with the history of typesetting >>and fonts, particularly "Optima". This is for a graphics project; Optima will >>be used on Aldus Pagemaker. The layout must be done in Optima and describe the >>history of its development. Optima was designed by Hermann Zapf if that helps >>any. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated... time is of the essence. > Hmmm, that name sounds vaguely familiar ... :-) > > I popped out of usenet and onto the University of Texas on-line library catalog, > where I found 21 books by Hermann Zapf, including several copies each of > About alphabets: some marginal notes on type design (Z250 A2 Z3613 1970) This book has about a page or two on the creation of Optima. Another place to look for information would be the Adobe Type 1 font format book (some brief notes on the problems of digitizing the font). (As another aside, the version Xerox sells for its printers does some really interesting things with bitmaps to get a decent appearance.) > Hermann Zapf and his design philosophy (Z250 A2 Z379 1987) (yes, he wrote it) Never seen this so I can't comment. A good general outline of type history is in _An Atlas of Typefaces_ (forget the author), although I suspect this volume may be out of print. Unfortunately, it does not cover Optima directly, but the development of letter forms is well described. -dh --- Don Hosek To retrieve files from ymir via the | dhosek@ymir.claremont.edu mailserver, send a message to | Quixote TeX Consulting mailserv@ymir.claremont.edu with a | 714-625-0147 line saying send [DIRECTORY]FILENAME where DIRECTORY is the FTP directory (sans "anonymous") and FILENAME is the filename, e.g. "send [tex]00readme.txt". There is a list of files in each directory under the name 00files.txt Binary files are not available by this technique.
wdr@wang.com (William Ricker) (01/15/91)
sms16@po.CWRU.Edu (Steven M. Schwartz) writes: > Wondering if anyone out there is familiar with the history of > typesetting and fonts, particularly "Optima". This is for a graphics > project; Optima will be used on Aldus Pagemaker. The layout must be > done in Optima and describe th e history of its development. Optima > was designed by Hermann Zapf if that helps any. Any ideas would be > greatly appreciated... time is of the essence. Quoting from the Letterpress Build of New England, Volume 7, Autumn 1990, in the "Dear Ms. Lonelychase" column entitled "Typesetting on the Linotype: Pitfalls and Pleasures": "For most printers and for most purposes the flaws in Linotype design were trivial and far outweighed by the efficiency of the machine. The attitude of the Linotype Corporation was, in effect, 'There are no problems, and anyway we have fixed them.' In fact, the company did make considerable efforts to get around their machines inherent limititations. Many talented typographers were commissioned to devise typefaces specially for the Linotype. Electra and Cladonia by W.A. Dwiggins, Fairfield by Rudolph Ruzicka, and Optima and Palatino by Hermann Zapf were all designed with an eye to mitigating the Linotype's weaknesses. All are far better than any of the the original designes issued by the American branch of the Monotype Corporation. Optima's unkerned 'f' looks almost natural, and Palatino's wide, open, calligraphic italic is lovely. To improve some of the traditional typefaces, most notably Baskerville and Janson, both favorites of fine printers, Linotype went to even greater lenghts. Special italic characters were cut on separate matrices to permit the narrower set width expected of italics. Tow- and three-letter logotype mats were made to permit the effect of kerning; for a single size of Janson over 100 alternate mats were made. These refinements were expensive to buy and cumbersome to use; not many typesetters bought them new, and not many have them no. The do, however, help make Linotype nearly as good as 'real' typesetting." ---- Context: "Real typsetting" refers to hand-set foundry type, or in comparison to Linotype, the movable type set by a Monotype composition caster which can be adjusted by hand by a master compositor for aesthetics in proof. (Monotype casters will cast kerned italics by default, whereas Linotype can only generated what is now called a kerned letterform if logotype mats are cut for each combination -- the hardware equivalent to modern "kerning tables".) The lack of kerning on Linotype casters, combined with existing letterpress faces which require kerning, especially in Italic was a serious aesthetic objection to linotype for "fine pritning". The practice of cutting bold and uppercase letterforms on the same matrices, to reduce cost & complexity, resulting in Bold being too closely set, was a common secondary objection. Many of the objections to Linotype for fine work apply to lesser systems for driving laser printers -- those that do not use full "kerning tables" will result in odd white-spaces (or lack...) around w's, and at the transitions from italic to roman and reverse. This may explain why I really like Palatino. As a side note, the face Lucida was designed expressly for Laser repro, and thus is to lasers as Optima, Palatino, et al were to Linotype. (The body signatures of the Guild newsletter are composed electronically in Lucida for offset -- laid out and ornamented as if for fine printing. The covers & tip-ins & binding are hand-done fine work.) "The Letterpress Guild of New England is a group of professional printers, hobbyists, and others interested in the art and craft of letterpress. We meet for monthly studio trips, talks, and to shar information and comradery. ... Dues are $15 per year [including subscription to the finely composed & printed newsletter I quote from]. Checks may be made payable to The Letterpress Guild of New England, and mailed to P.O. Box 788, Cambridge, MA 02238. Copyright (C)1990 by the Letterpress Guide of New England." Excerpted without permission, but under the doctrine of excerpt for review. One of the other designers mentioned above, Dwiggins, was a Boston area local -- and the annual lecture in his honor, and commemorating the birthday of Boston's favorite son & printer Ben Franklin, and Printing Week, is this week, at the Boston Public Library. (Lecture co-sponsored by the BPL Rare Books Dept., the LPG/NE, and several other local graphics/printing groups.) I believe the lecture is at 8PM, in the BPL auditorium, on Thurs. 1/17; the LPG/NE has an open house at their press at the Boston Center for Adult Education on the oh-hundred block of Comm. Ave beforehand, 5:30 to 7:30 PM. Those of you who are interested in the history, and perhapd future, of typography and printing AND are withing travel radius of Boston might be interested in dropping in. --- /s/ Bill Ricker My little 5x8 Kelsey Platten press is as yet un-named. With only 20a of Condensed Bodoni Bold 18pt in drawers so far, I'm not sure I quite qualify as a full hobby press yet. Anyone with type standing or in drawers they'd like to donate are welcome to contact me to arrange shipping ;-) -- /bill ricker/ wdr@wang.com a/k/a wricker@northeastern.edu *** Warning: This account not authorized to express opinions ***
em@dce.ie (Eamonn McManus) (01/19/91)
dhosek@linus.claremont.edu (Don Hosek) writes: >A good general outline of type history is in _An Atlas of >Typefaces_ (forget the author), although I suspect this volume >may be out of print. Unfortunately, it does not cover Optima >directly, but the development of letter forms is well described. I have a copy of `An Atlas of Typeforms' by James Sutton and Alan Bartram. It is a 1988 edition of a book first published in 1968; as far as I know the only difference is that there is a short note at the front saying that the book is no longer a working tool, but a classic record of typeface history, since the technology it describes is now obsolete. The original 1968 edition was published by Percy Lund, Humphries & Co Ltd. The 1988 edition I have was published by something called Wordsworth Editions (address: 8b East St, Ware, Hertfordshire, England). I picked it up in a Bargain Books shop so I think it might have been remaindered. , Eamonn