You know the story of the Alphabet from its beginning so long ago in far
Egypt to the time when it came to the Romans and how it changed from
pictures to signs and from signs at last to the letters of the Alphabet.
You know, too, how hard it was for the people to write in those days when
they had no better material than papyrus, wood and stone. That was a long,
long time ago. Would you like to hear a story about what has happened to
writing since the time of the Romans and the changes that have taken place
in the Alphabet in its travels through the countries of Europe?
The first great thing of importance was the discovery of a new material to
write on. What do you think it was?--the skins of sheep and calves! That
seems strange to us and we like the paper we use today better, but think
what a great improvement this discovery was then and how much easier
writing could be done on the smooth surface of the skin with a pen and
ink. In all of the countries except Italy this change of writing material
brought about a change in the style of lettering too. The Romans alone
kept to the simple form of lettering they had always used and did not
change it when writing on the skins. The other European countries
gradually came to vary this style and make the letters more pointed,
heavier and blacker and in some cases more elaborate. This style of
lettering was called the Gothic. Do you see the difference between these
two alphabets?
[Illustration]
The Alphabet had not been in these countries long enough yet for all the
people to have learned to write. Only a very few knew the letters, and as
all the writing was done by hand, it took a long time to write a whole
book. The few books that were written were so precious that they were
chained in the churches and monasteries and the people were only allowed
to read them there. At last in the country of Germany a man by the name
of Gutenberg thought of a way to make more books and make them faster. And
this way was by printing. Just as the Alphabet spread to the different
countries so this new way of writing spread, until all of the people of
Europe were using printing machines and making many books.
In Germany the Gothic lettering had been used when the writing was done by
hand and Gutenberg copied this style in printing the first book. When the
art of printing spread to the different countries the Gothic alphabet, of
course, came with it and was accepted as the correct style of letter. The
Romans, however, still believed their Alphabet to be the better and cut
their printing type after the Roman model. So a great quarrel sprang up
between the different countries as to which Alphabet should be used, the
Roman or the Gothic. In Italy a man called Manutius tried to settle the
quarrel by making a letter which all the printers would use and he called
his style of lettering the Italic. The printers who used the Gothic and
Roman letters also used these Italic letters, but were not willing to give
up their own style and use the Italic entirely.
We are so used to seeing and using the Alphabet today that we never ask
ourselves how the letters came to look the way they do now. Look at Plate
I, which shows a beautiful Alphabet of Gothic letters made by a famous
German artist, Albert Duerer. There are twenty-nine of them, all entirely
different, but still you can see that they are all brothers and sisters in
one big family. Do you wonder how this came about? Look at Plate II and
you will learn. The first letter _i_ is made by putting together a number
of small squares in a certain way. Can you see the way the other letters
are made from this letter _i_?--the _n_ is made by putting two _i_'s
together; the _m_, three _i_'s, and the _r_, one _i_ and an extra square
at the top. Go through the rest of the Alphabet and see if you can find
out the way it is made.
Now look at Plates III, IV, V, VI, and VII showing another Alphabet by the
same artist, which he patterned after the Roman letters. He found that
they were made according to a certain rule and proportion, and it was
these he worked out in making his Alphabet. Here you see the pattern is a
large square, and the letters are drawn very carefully in them. Did you
know before there was as much figuring and measuring done in the making of
the Alphabet as there is in building a house? Look at the letter _E_, for
example, and all the circles and squares that have been measured and drawn
to make it. You will find that every letter is made just as carefully.
Here are the three _A_'s that you see in Plate III. You will find that
they are not exactly alike. Can you see the difference between them?--_A_,
1, is cut off in a curve at the top, _A_, 2, goes straight up in a sharp
point, and _A_, 3, is cut off flat. Do you notice, too, the difference in
the thickness of the letters?
[Illustration]
Look at the other letters in this Alphabet (Plates III, IV, V, VI, and
VII) and see if you can tell me about them in the way I have told you
about the _A_'s.
For many, many years, the printers in the different countries used
Alphabets the artists had made for them, without being able to decide
which they liked the best, the Roman, Gothic or Italic. On Plate VIII you
will find a little poem by Shakespeare printed in these three Alphabets.
Which one do you like the best? I am sure you will choose the one that is
the simplest, the easiest to read and at the same time the most
beautiful--the Roman. In the quarrel which had been going on for so many
years, the Roman alphabet won the victory, and that is how it came about
that the Roman is used in printing all our newspapers and books today. At
last after so many hundreds of years it has traveled through the other
countries to us. Many times you cannot recognize the letters, and they
look very different from the Roman models from which they were patterned,
but that is because we are not as careful with the measurements and
proportions as were Albert Duerer and the other Masters in that time long
ago.