Typefaces, Fonts, and Types: Toward a Classification of Fifteenth-Century Gothic "Types". Issue 5 (17th August 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rial Costas, Benito
• Is Part Of: Cataloging & classification quarterly. Volume 54:Issue 5/6(2016)
• Page Start: 384
• Page End: 396
• Publication Date: 2016-08-17
• Subjects: Proctor -- Haebler -- typography -- incunabula -- bibliography -- typographic analysis; Cataloging -- Periodicals; Classification -- Books -- Periodicals; 025.3
• DOI: 10.1080/01639374.2016.1190437
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0163-9374

Abstract

ABSTRACT: For more than a century, librarians and bibliographers have supposedly identified and cataloged gothic types using the Proctor-Haebler system and many incunabula collections have been described using it. It is now widely accepted that the Proctor-Haebler system's nomenclature and techniques are uniform and consistent for cataloging rare books and that it is informative about types. This article explains that although the Proctor-Haebler system may help us to identify a printer or a printing office, it confounds different typographic concepts (typeface, font, and type), uses contradictory methods, is based on weak or arguable assumptions, and does not inform us about "types."