ABSTRACT
The function of this chapter is obviously very similar to that on paleography-to provide the student with an overview of the history of the actual appearance of the text in a book. This will involve not only demonstrating the evolution of styles of typography from early black-letter to modern display types, but also providing evidence to help in the actual bibliographical investigation which one hopes will follow a reading of this introductory survey. As in the chapter on paleography, the same caveat must be made: in such a brief account, it is impossible to mention every development in the history of the printed word. This obviously means that a reading of the chapter will not, by itself, provide the information necessary, for example, to date or make a correct ascription of any typeface found in a printed book. It will, however, demonstrate how certain styles evolved out of their predecessors (by imitation, corruption, or conscious reformation) and will place all the major typographic movements within the broad history of Western printing.
