Lesson 20-History & Development of Letters

* Lettering-is the forming of numbers & letters.
-is the written language of industry.
History & Development:
A. 4000 B.C.-Egyptian hieroglyphics(picture writing) is developed.
B. 2000 B.C.-Cursive hieroglyphics(hieratic writing-an Abstract writing) is developed.
C. 1000 B.C.-Phoenicians adapted the hieratic writing & developed an alphabet of 22 letters,19 of which are standard consonants of the present day alphabets.
D. 700 B.C.-Greeks later adapted the Phoenician alphabet. They introduced & developed the vowel letters & uniform writing.
-They contributed 13 letters to the Roman alphabet.
E. 200 B.C.-Romans introduced 23 letters of the present day alphabet. It was divided into 2 styles,the Old Roman & Modern Roman.
F. 19th Century-during the reign of Charlemagne,lower case letters were introduced. They were then called Carolingian letters.
G. 1722-English introduced Formal Script.
H. 1890-English introduced "sans serif"( without spurred endings ),a letter style commonly used by the Printing press.
I. 1945-Americans introduced Cartoon Script.
J. 1960-Automation letter styles were introduced.

4 Basic Letter Styles:
1. Gothic letters-are letters with uniform width & thickness.
2. Roman letters-are letter styles made up of thick & thin elements. It is useful in Newspapers,Magazines & Book Publishing.
3. Script-an artistic style of letters.
-common in Greeting cards,Wedding invitations,& in some Diplomas & Certificates.
4. Text-is the most attractive letter style & is elegant in appearance.
-they are widely used in Certificates & Diplomas.