farfel_n01_054_026

Wardrop - The Script of Humanism - Oxford 1963

p.4 revised caroline - called by the humanists - lettera antica - "the
old writing"

p.7 By the middle of the 15th C, the humanistic lettera antica
(or roman) had acquired, in the hands of professional copyists,
a momentum of its own, soon to carry its influence
throughout the Italian peninsula & beyond.

p.9 The last quarter of the 15th C was the heyday of the
richly illuminated manuscript - that perfect coalition of art
& learning.

p.11 The business of humanism - was largely conducted in the
cursive variant of the lettera antica, the variant later
to win permanence through the typographical initiative of
Aldus Manutius, under the familiar name of Italic.

p.12 italic a) italic is roman written quickly
nigins 3) simply the gothic cursive under humanistic
influence; that there was an italic before there was a
roman; and that there would have been an italic even
had there been no roman.

p.35 who supplied or inspired the design for the italic types
which Francesco Raibolini cut for Aldus Manutius
in 1501? - ?? Bartolomco Sanvito of Padua (1435-1518)

p.36 humanistic cursive - from a script for special purposes
it turned into a script for general purposes. The
metamorphosis impaled it in 2 directions. First, the
script made headway as a bookhand; then, it became
the chosen medium of polite correspondence.

p.38 ascenders - instead of being seriffed they are
kerned i.e. they terminate not in a bracket
attached to the left of the shaft, but in a turn to
the right, crowned [with] a tiny point (d) This mode,