Roman Lettering: A study of the letters of the inscription at the base of the Trajan Column, with an outline of the history of lettering in Britain - Softcover

L. C. Evetts

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0273012657 ISBN 13: 9780273012658

Publisher: Taplinger, 1979

Synopsis

This is the 1979 paperback reprint of this title from Pitman Publishing, 87pp, ISBN 0273012657. Contents: Essentially, the nucleus of this study of Roman lettering is the appreciation of the peculiarities and construction of the lettering from which British alphabets have been derived. The book gives a unique analysis and exposition of the culminating achievement of Roman lettering craft - the inscription on the base of Trajan's column in Rome, chosen because it is felt to represent the culminating achievement in Roman letter-craft. After an introduction which states the historical context, the author gives a letter by letter description of the alphabet, showing its construction, which should clearly allow the student to understand the letters in a skeleton form. The type of construction devised is compatible, as far as possible, with practical conditions of working. The proportional widths of the letters have been arrived at from a structural point of view, instead of the allocation of a given space for certain groups of letters. The author has been mindful throughout the book of the influence various tools have had in the formation of the Roman letters. The reader should note that it is not known whether the Romans used geometrical methods in preparing lettering for elaborate inscriptions, but it is known that they used certain geometrical instruments for letter-craft, so it’s reasonable to assume that their letters might have been considered as geometric units. The letters on Trajan’s column do not conform wholly with instrumental drawing, however, the slight deviations are identical in each interpretation of the same letter throughout the inscription and this suggests that they are employed for a specific reason. The book concludes with a historical chart showing the development of lettering from Roman times to the early 20th Century

Edition details

• Publisher: Taplinger
• Publication date: 1979
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0273012657
• ISBN 13: 9780273012658
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: L. C. Evetts
• Number of pages: 87