Wooden type was the beginning of embellished publications. In this survey, I’ll be exploring its influence on typography and culture.
How it came to be
Wood block printing became revolutionized and more decorative with the invention of the lateral router. It was created by Darius Wells in 1827. This innovation encouraged more creativity when it came to type and allowed for mass production. More ornate fonts could be carved and used which led to more variety in publication designs.
Why was it so important
Wood was far cheaper and had a better finish compared to metal type. It has a smooth finish and could be carved into much more easily compared to metal printing, especially since the uneven cooling created distortion in type. The accessibility of wood made printing much easier.
Connections to Culture and Typography
Posters and pamphlets played a huge role in communicating information to the masses, as there was no world wide web to spread local news. Thus, finding efficient and cheap ways to print was sought after by publishers. As mentioned before, wood type contributed to faster printing and the lateral router made mass production more feasible. This made it so that local messages and propaganda can be spread more easily within communities.
Wood type, because of its efficiency, impacted society and culture as it was a new way to communicate news, job postings and information relevant to a specific neighbourhood. The posters started few in number and were mainly hung in highly populated areas within towns. Later, they were manufactured in larger quantities, they started to make their way into other people’s houses and were used to decorate their walls.
Personally, I think the lateral router that allowed to easily embellish type faces in posters led to huge developments in typography and visual hierarchy when it comes to professional publications today. They also allowed for the spread of culture through visual type and the mass production made it easier for it to last through history.
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