THE SHAPING OF OUR ALPHABET

A well-shaped lure for the art-oriented is this book on the history of our alphabet and the type in which it has been set. From the Phoenician phonetic alphabet to our present rather anomalous gestation of the Roman alphabet the author traces the history of letters. He proceeds onward with printing in the Renaissance (with a look back at the Caroline type of the Middle Ages) through the ears of French, Netherland, English contributions, always with an eye to history as in Bodoni's relation to the Revolution or Caslon to the Georgian outlook. Chapters on particular types are often set in them, which is instructive and fun.