Page:Historic printing types, a lecture read before the Grolier club of New York, January 25, 1885, with additions and new illustrations; by De Vinne, Theodore Low, 1828-1914; Grolier Club.djvu/22

18 HISTOEIC PRINTING TYPES. Types of the Theuerdaiik. Fractur. as shown by him in 1486, seems the first departure toward a series of new forms which finally led to the general use of the modern German character. The types of the Theuer- dank, 1 a poem printed at Nuremberg, in 1517, by Schoans- perger, more florid, more complex, fuller of flourishes, may be accepted as the motive if not the model for the style of type known as German Text. Modern taste would not accept this ornate letter as an improvement on the older, simpler form, but its peculiarities were gradually accepted by all German printers. Considering its angularity, the name, Fractur, which Germans give to their modern Ger- man character is well chosen. The Round Gothic letter, modified and simplified, finds use among German printers under the name of Schwabacher. The popularity of the German forms of letters was not disturbed at all in Germany by the introduction elsewhere of the Roman character. Educated readers favored Roman letters, but they were not at all acceptable to the common Black Letter a people who, as a class, were just beginning to buy books. favorite In all . countries. In all civilized countries, outside of Italy, the written text- books of schools were in black and pointed letters. All the early prayer-books and books of devotion were in pointed letters. To readers accustomed to this character, a book in Roman letter was not easily read. This prejudice still 1 This book shows more than ordi- nary skill in type-founding. There were good type-founders elsewhere : in 1490, Froben, of Basle, printed an octavo Bible in Gothic characters, of the small size known to us as Non- pareil, which makes about twelve lines to the American inch.