Caddegrauc ascflcpo ilpadreantico
lacero'ilpetto. et pun dimoruiluoko:
Etdifst,ahí sordo a di pitta nemico
Dc/îin predace ttreo, dcftimnaiuflo,
D epino a impoutrírmi intuito шія-,
Р creine р іи to fio me non hai disc tolto
Daautfloßraue mio tenace incora

Viuchcnonlccc.ctpiuàìiononuorrci.
Dando a lui gltanni miti,

Che dclsuolcucinanzi ttmpohai scatto*.
Lajso aìhor poteuio morir felice :
Hc-rutuo sol per daralmondo tfsempie
quanièi pigliofar aui piulungoinduaio ;
5'huom de perdere in breut ilsuortfuaw
Dolce, «poi rimanerapcw et .scempio.
О uecebiczza oflinata et infelice
A chemiserbianchormidaradice;
Sei tronco incuifusiiua la miafbeme
£ secco, etjcloct'.rnodciijncctprcmt-
Q uel pianserßia le trifle et piesortìki
Cui le treccie in j ut P о tenerafrondt,
E11altre membra un duro Icono auolst ;
Tal con li scoalìet con l'aure et con tonde
Mi/fra, et con /yen ti etcon le [tette
DcltuorattoJujjijirlatuasidoUc-
P cr duelTimauo mdutrosi riuolst;
E t uider Manto i boschi ette camfaant
E rrar conglioccbi rugiadosi et molli ■
Hadrìalc riucci colli

24. Humanistic cursive hand [222]

42

N

The Italics

i

At this point in these introductory notes we must interrupt the story
ofthe roman letter in order to record that of an offspring. We have
seen whence the Italian humanists derived the models for their beauti¬
ful scripts—the neo-caroline hands—and how these humanistic scripts
were used by the printers as models for their types. When these formal
hands were written quickly the speed reacted on the shapes ofthe let-
ters.The changes may be summarized thus: the letters were compress¬
ed, the round letters like V, for example.became elliptical (0), there was
a tendency to ligaturing, or joining ofadjacentletters.letter shapeswere
simplified, and in addition there was a tendency for these hands to in¬
cline towards the right, though this characteristic is by no means typi¬
cal—some are upright and some lean backwards. In this development
of writing—the cursive or chancery hands (so-named from their em¬
ployment in the Papal Chancery)—we have the birth of what we are
now accustomed to call our italic types.

Mr A. F.Johnson has divided italic types into four principal groups
(a) The Aldine (b) the Vicentino group (c) the group which is the con¬
temporary of old-face roman, and (d) the modernized italics.1

THE ALDINE ITALICS

Not only was Aldus a scholar, a printer, and a publisher but he was also
a first-class business man. Economic and not aesthetic motives dic¬
tated his design ofthe new type form. Wishing to print editions ofthe
classics in small compass and appreciating the space-saving possibilities
»In Type Designs: their History and Development.

43